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Chapter Text

Damian whimpered and crumpled to the ground when his first heat hit him. It filled him with internal fire and he couldn’t run and fight against. He twisted on the cold, stone floor of his room and tried to swallow down the cries for his mother. 

Mother didn’t like puppy sounds. She definitely didn’t like puppy sounds that made Damian look pathetic. 

He had faced worse pain than this. He could live through this too.

Damian curled in on himself and tried not to think about the lava running through his veins. 

He knew what this fire meant. He had had nightmares about feeling it, about waking up one day and realising that his whole life had shattered apart, about his own body damning him.

Grandfather had said that omegas were only good for breeding. Their duty was to produce strong pups for the League, to bend to the will of alphas, to give up their bodies for the good of the League.

He had seen what the League demanded, which is why he had been terrified of the possibility of waking up and feeling fire. 

Sour omega in distress scent filled the room and it nearly made him throw up. He could hardly believe that this was his own scent now.

“Damian?” his mother’s voice filtered in through the roaring in his own head. “Damian, are you ready for—”

She opened the door, and frozen as she stared down at him. 

Mother . His instincts perked as her familiar comforting scent began to fill the room. Mother. Please. Help. 

He tried to keen for her, but a new wave of heat rolled through him and turned the sound into a pained sob. Tears were leaking out of his eyes and splattering onto the hard floor below him.

Why wasn’t Mother coming? Why wasn’t she helping take the pain away and getting him to somewhere softer? Why was she just standing there? Didn’t she see that he needed her?

Damian tried to get up, but shaky arms couldn’t hold his weight and he toppled back onto the ground in a miserable heap. 

Mother. Please. 

His mother slowly began to move, stalking forward and regarding him like he was a stranger.

“An omega, Damian? That is the most disappointing result.”

Damian writhed on the ground, barely able to keep from screaming as pain ripped through him again. His instincts whined to be held and comforted and to feel safe under a strong alpha.

“Please, I need help. I... it… it hurts.”

She shook her head, dismissing him with the motion. “Of course, it hurts Damian. That is normal.”

“Mama, please,” he begged and his mother’s delicate nose wrinkled.

“Quiet Damian. I am your mother, but you are a pup no longer. You should focus on your imminent mating.”

Mating? His mind screamed and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But he was a pup. He may have presented, but he wasn’t full grown. He hadn’t gained his adult scent. He didn’t even have all of his permanent teeth yet. He was so small, he couldn’t imagine having pups himself.

Terror raced through him and he couldn’t help the panicked keen from his throat.

“I hope that you give the League fine puppies, my son,” she said with a smile that made him shiver.

She turned her back to him, and fresh tears pricked at him as he saw her walking away. Just leaving him laying on the floor like he was something that had lost all of its value.

Well, almost all its value.

Talia called some of her servants and sent them into the room with Damian. He flinched at the strangers staring at him, feeling more exposed than he had ever felt in his life. He wanted nothing more than to burrow somewhere where no one could find him, and ride out the rest of his heat.

“Please place Damian in one of the breeding chambers and fetch my pet from his room. I think they will be a fine pair for my son’s first heat.”

Something in Damian told him that maybe he should have fought when the servants placed him in this cold room that stank of omega terror. The pungent smell had soaked into the walls and made him want to hide, but he could hardly move his limbs, let alone struggle. 

His heat had settled into a pulsing, throbbing ache that weighed on him like bricks. The world moved slowly around him and blurred like he was looking through a fog. 

His panic from before had settled into something defeated.

This would happen and if he didn’t get pregnant this time, then it would happen again.

And again. And again. And again. Until he had pups while still being a pup himself. 

For the rest of his life. Just a cycle of being at the mercy of others.

Just another one of those sad, hollow omegas that Damian saw within the League halls until eventually, his body would just give out.

Silent tears fell onto the bed that the servants had placed him on and he clutched the thin blanket to him. 

He didn’t want to be an omega. He didn’t want to live the rest of his life stuck in empty rooms waiting until his heat came and he was thrown into a bed with an alpha. 

He just wanted to feel safe again.

He keened into the empty room, knowing that an answer wouldn’t come. He didn’t quite know which was worse: the rippling heat that made him feel like he was being torn in two or the dread of knowing that the next person to walk through that door would be an alpha to mate him.

There was a scuffle outside the door, a heavy bang, and the scrape of it being pulled open. One of the guards popped his head in and smirked at Damian huddled on the bed.

“Not so high and mighty now, little bitch?” he sneered and Damian pressed into the blankets. “I hope he makes you scream. He’s certainly big enough for it.”

Damian didn’t respond. He only fought to keep his breath even against the panic that was clawing within him.

This was it. The last moments that Damian would have to be a pup before he became a mated omega and an object to be controlled by the League. They felt like his last moments of freedom.

One of the guards laughed and the sound bounced off the walls of the small space. Another scuffle and the sound of someone being pushed inside the room. 

The alpha growled, and the sound sent a fearful shiver down Damian’s spine. 

This alpha was huge. Impossibly taller than Damian, practically a mountain and full of muscle. Damian would have no chance against him if he fought. 

He wasn’t going to fight, but some hopeful part of him had thought about trying to struggle away. 

The alpha scented the room, his snarl deepening and fists clenching. 

Damian tried to remain silent, but he couldn’t help a small whimper from rising out of his throat.

His blood froze when the alpha’s gaze immediately snapped on to him.

No. 

No, no, no.

Panic was rising, clawing at his ribs. His heart was pounding, threatening to break out of his chest. He wanted to move, to escape, to get away from the alpha that was stalking forward, but he couldn’t move a muscle.

His lip trembled, teeth chattering in his mouth as he flattened himself to be as small as possible. Tears were beginning to form at the corners of his eyes and he didn’t have the pride left to try to stop them.

Another terrified puppy sound left him and he flinched as the alpha came within arm's distance. 

Damian waited for hands to force him down and bruise his skin. He waited for pain and having the last bit of his puppyhood ripped away. He waited to be used and thrown away because omegas weren’t worth more than a heat-soaked night. 

But the alpha didn’t. 

He came towards Damian slowly, eyes unreadable as they surveyed his body. He tilted his head to the side and then chuffed, the sound that alphas made to pups. 

The pup in Damian answered immediately, making him chirp in response.

The alpha lost his aggression, all of it washing out of him in a couple of seconds. Damian still flinched when the alpha came close, especially when his hands approached. Damian squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for coming pain, but it never came. The alpha didn’t grab, though. He didn’t flip Damian over or force himself on top of him. 

He just gently caressed Damian’s cheek, leaning down to nuzzle against it and washing away the sour distress that clung to his skin.

Damian blinked, not struggling against the soft ministrations, but also not fully believing that they were happening.

He knew this alpha. He was Mother’s pet project, her weapon she was honing into perfection.

Damian knew he could be violent. He's seen blood painted on his hands and dripping from his teeth, but... he has a hard time fitting the image from nightmares with the soft, rumbling alpha that washes away the distressed omega scent that always clings to his skin these days. 

It reminds him of Mother, before he presented as an omega and became a disgrace. It reminds him of things he used to deserve. Maybe this alpha hasn't noticed that he's not a pup anymore or that the scent coming off of him is omega. Maybe if he remains still and pliant the alpha will be continued into being fooled that he's still a pup and a child. 

Maybe he could even fool himself for a little bit.

He keened for the soft alpha, for once not caring how young he sounded because this alpha never punished him for being a pup.

The soft alpha responded instantly, purring into Damian’s chest and filling his heart with warm, comfortable vibrations. He snuffled into the pup’s hair and tucked Damian under his chin, so the pup’s nose rested against the scent gland on the alpha’s collarbone. The alpha’s strong arms clutched him close and held him like he would never, ever let the pup go.

The alpha was treating him Damian was his own like it didn’t matter that he was an omega in heat.

Which was impossible because Damian knew what alphas did to omegas in heat.

He didn’t know how, but the alpha must not realise what Damian was. 

Damian knew that the alpha was broken. My mother had told him that this alpha had been hurt and that his head wasn’t right since. She was trying to fix him, so he could be a perfect soldier for the League although she was often frustrated by his progress.

The alpha didn’t speak. He only reacted to specific stimuli and some of Mother’s commands. It wouldn’t be too unbelievable to think that his sense of smell could be damaged too. 

Damian cautiously rubbed against the alpha’s neck. There was no way that the alpha would be able to mistake the scent if he could smell at all, and yet, the alpha didn’t even pause in the aggressive grooming and scenting he was lavishing onto Damian.

He must not know. That was the only explanation.

Damian knew what he should do. He knew Mother would want him to reveal himself as an omega and initiate the mating. 

And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to stop the gentle affection the alpha was nuzzling into his hair. 

Like he was a puppy again. 

Damian trilled, a sound mother had banned years ago for being too young and flinched out of habit. But a strike never came. The alpha only rumbled happily beside him and gently nestled them both into a hastily made nest that the alpha had made out of the few blankets he had. There wasn’t nearly enough for a proper nest, but this room had meant to bed an omega, not to nest a pup. 

The alpha had growled unhappily when he realised it but still tucked Damian in the barely-there nest. He rubbed side on the outside of the nest, marking it so everyone else knew that there was an alpha protecting the pup inside. 

When he was finished, the room didn’t smell like distressed omega anymore, only the warm spice of alpha affection and protection. Damian watched from the nest as the alpha made the final changes and then, slumped inside. The alpha instantly sought out Damian, wrapping his arms around him and bringing him into his chest.

Damian chirped, light and airy, and the alpha chuffed back, curling around him tighter. 

The alpha was surrounding him, scent and warmth soaking into Damian’s body. He should feel intimidated, but he only felt completely protected by a strong, but gentle alpha. Damian fell asleep, feeling like a pup that deserved protection. He never wanted this feeling to end.

Damian woke up to an alpha snarl and a harsh hand wrapped around his wrist.

Everything in him stilled as he realised what was happening. His dream of being a pup was gone, shattered, and tossed away, because now it was time to be mated. He wanted to go back to the night before. He wanted to feel safe again.

“Oh fuck.” There was a yelp, a deep, harsh alpha growl, and the hand around his wrist released him. 

Damian jerked his arm back, trying to curl into the smallest ball possible, as a flurry of movement occurred above him.

Suddenly, the soft alpha from before was crouched over him, bent protectively over Damian and snarling in pure fury. Damian expected to be yanked at again, to be forced onto the bed, but the alpha didn’t lay a hand on him.

He only remained still as he growled at the other people that were in the room with them. 

Safe. He realised. The alpha was trying to keep him safe. His soft alpha hadn’t betrayed him, he wasn’t going to let Damian get hurt.

He keened in distress, trying desperately to tuck himself under the growling alpha that was crouched over him. The room was dim, filled with shadows and a small bit of light from a tiny window. The chamber had seemed so intimidating yesterday, cold and hostile, but now it was seeped in warm alpha protection and Damian never wanted to leave. 

The alpha tucked him into his chest and he clung to the older male’s thin shirt. There were shouts and yells and the serious commands of League assassins, as one of them ordered the others to hold the alpha back. They were all met with snarls, and Damian hid his face against the alpha’s pounding heart.

Suddenly, another set of hands was trying to grab at him and he struggled against them. The shouts grew, the sound filled all of Damian’s head. He whined, but it was drowned out by the fight breaking out around him. 

Someone latched on to him, and even though he clung to the alpha with all his might, he couldn’t stay. 

He was dragged away and out of the room, keening desperately for the soft, protective alpha.

The alpha’s grieving, pained howls echoed through the halls as he was taken away.

Mother was displeased when Damian showed no signs of becoming heavy with pups. She put him in a room alone and waited till his heat came again. It came much quicker than Damian thought possible, and soon he was pulsing in fire all over again. 

Servants took him back to the warm, protective chamber, where his soft alpha was waiting for him. 

He felt safer as he was placed in the alpha’s arms again. 

The cycle repeated. And repeated. And repeated. Many, many times. Damian was almost constantly in heat and his small body was constantly weighed down with the exhaustion of it. 

His instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong about that. Omegas were only supposed to have heats every three or four months, and he was having one nearly every two weeks.  His body ached all the time, and he could hardly move for more than a couple of moments before he was panting. 

His alpha seemed to be concerned about it too. Every time the alpha received him back, he crooned worriedly and fretted over Damian’s sore, tired body.

He probably should be concerned too, but he couldn’t find it in himself to dredge up much care. Because heat meant going back to his soft alpha. Heat meant warm and comfort and a gentle rumble surrounding him at all sides. Heat meant protection.

So he would gladly stay in heat if that meant that he could be a pup with his alpha for a little bit longer. 

It all ended when his mother decided that her pet needed to go into the Lazarus Pit. 

Because in one simple act, Damian knew his soft alpha was gone, and snarling filled his nightmares again.

Jason woke up with fury burning through his heart. The world came back to him in sickening, sharp focus, colours blurring and solidifying and making the fury flare brighter. 

He was on his knees with the glow of the Lazarus Pit curling behind him. His shirt was gone and he snarled at everything that dared approach him, feeling more exposed and dangerous than he had ever felt before.

Green liquid dripped from his body, creating noxious puddles on the ground below him. He could still feel the ghost of it flowing through his veins, filling his lungs, pulling him down..

Down…

Down…

And settling into something dark and sinister.

“Hello, Jason, have we come back to ourselves?”

“What have you done to me?” he snapped, his instincts roared against the green vile that had taken root inside of him. The alpha inside him screeched that something was terribly wrong, and the fury that licked at his stomach was desperate to lash out on to anything.

He wanted to stand, but he could force his body to move from where he was kneeling on the floor.

Talia hummed, stepping towards him and tracing a delicate along his neck.

A growl rose from his throat, but the other alpha only smiled in response. 

“I restored you, Jason. Aren’t you grateful?”

Jason had to hide his shiver.

“Fuck you.”

There was a tense moment, and then, suddenly the female alpha was surging forward with her hand tightening around his neck. Jason yelped, as his back slammed into the ground behind him and the harsh fingers tightened on the nape of his neck, forcing him to submit. 

He whimpered as his control on his limbs left him and he was forced to remain prone under the alpha who could kill him in a second. 

Terror licked in the corner of his head as memories flashed in his mind. 

Forced to remain frozen as men leered above him, darkly giddy with the possibility of “conquering” another alpha even though Jason was still just a pup. 

Forced to remain frozen as Willis held a broken bottle over his exposed back, ready to take out drunken rage on him.

Forced to remain frozen as a laughing psychopath drew back a crowbar wet with Jason’s own blood.

And now…

Forced to remain frozen again. 

“Good alpha,” Talia purred, brushing a hand through his hair. He hated that hand, but couldn’t do anything to shake it off of him. “We will work on that obedience, but for now, I have a present for you.”

He shivered and had a terrible, sinking feeling at what a ‘present’ could mean.

“Get up,” the alpha commanded and Jason stumbled to his feet. His body ached from the Pit and felt hollowed out from the green fury that burned inside him. “Follow me.”

Jason silently followed, hating how pliant he was being but willing to do anything to keep those hands from making him submit again. 

Talia led him to an area that stank of distressed omegas and the fury inside him rose instinctively. He didn’t fight it this time, because he was more than willing to punch whoever made omegas feel like this.

Talia stopped in front of a door that absolutely reeked of terrified omega and gave him a smile. It took him a couple seconds to realise what was happening, what she wanted him to do, and he slowly began shaking his head.

“No, I won’t…”

“You’ll enjoy it, Jason. I promise.”

And before he could protest anymore, guards were pushing him forward. He tried to struggle, but he couldn’t fight against the hands all around him or the needle that Talia pierced into his skin.  The drug took effect immediately, making the alpha in him take acute interest in the distressed omega in heat.

“Fuck you!” He snarled at the door, desperately trying to ignore the sickly scent. He knew what alphas did when they were locked in a room with omegas in heat, the way they lost control. He knew what drugs could do to alphas, how it could turn them into little more than animals looking for a fuck. He knew that alphas hurt others, and even though he had promised himself he would be that type of alpha, he wouldn’t have a choice.

He hated it. He didn’t want to become that and force another person to…

But he could already feel his alpha instincts perking and forcing him towards the omega curled on the bed. His steps were shaky as he mentally screamed that he didn’t want to do this, he didn’t want to be that type of monster. 

The omega whimpered, curling into the bed and staring at him in pure fear. He tried to huddle further into blankets, but he didn’t have anywhere to hide. He would surely smell Jason. He would smell the lust and the interest and he had every reason to be terrified of it. 

Jason crawled onto the bed, his mind sinking into the haze of alpha.

It was happening. He couldn’t control it as he leaned forward, nosing at the omega’s neck and…

Pup.

His instincts stilled, the fog of the drug clearing from his head.

There was a pup. Trembling. Shaking. In heat even though he was still a baby. 

Pup. Baby. His pup.

Jason tilted his head, trying to get better access to the puppy’s neck so he could scent him properly. The boy keened in fright, calling for an alpha to protect him.

His instincts slammed into him like a semi-truck when an answering chuff rose in his throat. 

The omega puppy was calling for him. He was the pup’s alpha. He was supposed to be protecting the boy.

Memories slowly filtered in, fighting through the drug that addled his mind. 

Memories of a crying, whining puppy that was forced to be in heat for way too long. Memories of building a nest and trying to wash the distress away. Memories of having one good and perfect thing to call his and protect. 

Puppy. This was his puppy.

His growl turned into a rumble, and Jason curled the boy’s quaking body into his chest. The puppy yelped, tried to struggle away, but then eventually gave up in heartbreaking resignation.

The puppy whined and exposed his throat in submission. 

Jason hated to see his pup being forced to submit against his will, and gently tilted the pup’s head forward and towards the scent gland on his collarbone. 

“Habibi,” he whispered into the pup’s ear, and the puppy stilled in his arms. “My precious little pup.”

The pup shifted in his arms, facing him so he could look into Jason’s face. Tears streaked from the corner of his eyes, and wet against his cheeks. His small face hadn’t even lost the pudge of baby fat, and they had thought he could be mated?

Anger ripped through Jason at the sight, but he forced himself to swallow it down in order to keep the pup in his arms calm. 

“Alpha?” the omega whimpered, his voice holding a thin and fragile hope. “You remember?”

Jason made the rumble in his chest louder, and promised himself that he would never let himself forget this pup ever again. 

“Yes, puppy. Yes, I remember.”

All the fearful tension left the boy’s body and suddenly the pup was clinging to him, curling against his heart, and keening desperately for him.

Jason answered every single one of the pup’s whines, promising him again and again that he wouldn’t leave again, he wouldn’t forget again.

Jason had his mind back now. He still had a fury that wanted to rip him in half, but the protective, parental alpha tamped it down and kept it from consuming his brain. The pup was saving him, in more ways than one. 

Eventually, the pup settled into him, purring in contented warmth. He didn’t even know Jason’s name, but once he realised that Jason was the same alpha from his memories he had placed all his trust into him. The puppy was perfect. The puppy was his. And Jason would die before Talia got her hands on him again.

They needed to leave. 

They needed to go home.

Jason looked out the window, imagining a glittering manor. He remembered a father that made him feel safe and a brother that chased away nightmares and a grandfather that made sure he never went hungry again. 

He remembered a family.

Silently, Jason settled into the small nest on the bed and rubbed the puppy’s back until he fell into a deep sleep. 

He needed his rest because, by tomorrow’s dawn, they would be gone.  

Chapter Text

Dick wished that he could say that Friday Family night was a tradition before Jason was taken from them. He wished he had the foresight to pay attention to his little brother, to see the cracks in Jason’s face before he chased after a mother he never knew.

Maybe, if Dick had been better, Jason would have trusted Dick enough to call him and confide in him. Maybe Dick could have persuaded him not to go. Maybe Dick could have taken the crowbar blows for him.

But he didn’t.

Dick had failed and he didn’t even get to see his little brother be put in the ground.

So Dick had initiated Friday Family night, in some flailing desperate hope that he could be better for Timothy.

He had to be better for Tim.

He couldn’t help but think that if he failed another boy would die too young.

Dick turned off his motorbike, putting the helmet under his arm. The cool Bristol air stuck against the sweat on his skin and made him shiver slightly. He was eager to get into the warm manor and wrap Tim in a hug and feel the slight omega purring up against him. The alpha in Dick hated leaving Tim for so long, and he was practically whining for the chance to reunite back with his little brother. 

Looking up at the Manor, he searched for signs of the occupants within it, but all the lights were off. 

Which was… strange.

Dick was a little late, but not that late. Bruce would be out on patrol, but Tim should be home waiting for Dick to come back. He had texted in the family chat that he was coming but had gotten held up in Blud for a couple of hours. 

He stared and eventually shrugged. 

Maybe Tim was just watching a movie on the other side of the Manor or something. All the family rooms did face the back lawn, so Dick wouldn’t see the lights from the roadside. 

He didn’t think about it more when he put his key in the door and stepped into the unusually quiet house. It was still in a way that it never was, and a sliver of unease slipped into Dick.

The alpha in him wanted to chuff and call his packmates to him, but he held it in. 

There was nothing to be nervous about. He was probably just being paranoid. 

Dick shoved off his jacket, placing it and his helmet in the front coat closet. When no one appeared, Dick began making his way to the kitchen, intent on stealing a snack before he back to search for Tim. 

He walked into the kitchen and froze before he could take more than a couple of steps.

Because, sitting on the floor with a hand still in a cereal box, was a pup. 

Dick blinked. 

The pup blinked.

Dick blinked again. 

What the…

And then the pup was bursting into tears and keening in frantic high-pitched sounds. 

Guilt swooped through Dick as he desperately tried to calm the screaming, frightened child. His hands flailed uselessly and as he came closer the pup just seemed to get more afraid of him.

“Hey, baby,” he tried, but his voice was mostly drowned out by the pup’s frantic calls. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. No need to cry.”

Telling the pup that he didn’t need to cry, unsurprisingly didn’t make the pup stop crying.

It did make the pup’s noises change slightly, shifting from the fearful whimpers into the beckoning whining for an alpha.

A whine for an…

Shit.

Dick had a split second to whip around before he was being tackled to the ground by a hulking, snarling alpha. Pain flared in his lower back as they slammed into the wooden cabinets and Dick heard his teeth snap together with the force of it. He hissed in pain, trying to shove off the alpha and fight back from the jaws that seemed keen on ripping out his throat. Dick couldn’t help a growl from coming out as his alpha screamed for him to strike back and defend himself. 

But the other alpha was huge with probably 50 pounds on Dick and he had the fury of a parent whose baby was in trouble. Dick didn’t actually want to hurt the other alpha, not without all the facts.

They struggled on the ground, Dick trying to flip the other alpha over in order to force submission, while the other alpha seemed to be doing his damndest to try to rip into Dick’s throat. And behind them, the pup wailed for comfort.

It was obvious that the other alpha was trained; it was the only reason that he was holding his own against Dick. It could very easily turn much uglier. 

He needed to de-escalate. And fast.

So even though his alpha screamed at him to keep fighting, Dick forced himself to go lax, expose his neck and the delicate scent gland on it. He made a low whine, all submission, and vulnerability.

“I surrender,” Dick said, keeping all the aggression out of his voice, “I submit. I will not harm you or him.”

The larger alpha froze before leaning in to snuffle at Dick’s neck before backing off. 

“Dick?” asked a voice that Dick didn’t think he’d ever hear again.

He snapped his head forward, finally looking at the other alpha that wore the face of a dead boy. 

Except he wasn’t dead.

He was bigger, taller, stronger, but Dick found Jason everywhere he looked. 

But… that wasn’t possible.

It wasn’t…

Was it?

Dick couldn’t help a broken-off chuff from escaping his chest, a call to bring a dead pup close to him. 

The alpha crouched a couple of feet in front of him wasn’t a puppy anymore. He was a heartbreaking prediction of what Jason could have been if Dick had been better. What was this?

A ghost breathing in front of him? A delusion? A haunting, hopeful fantasy?

It couldn’t be real, and yet the revenant inched towards Dick.

Fearfully, the alpha, no, Jason tucked himself under Dick’s chin just like he did when he was still a puppy, and everything in Dick broke.

“Jason,” he whimpered, clinging on to the solid ghost of his brother that never stopped breathing against him. “Jaybird. Little Wing. Is it really?”

Tears slipped out and fell into the thin shirt that his brother was wearing. Dick’s chest spasmed with sobs and the overwhelming urge to constantly whine for his brother, just for confirmation that he was there to respond back. Jason met his chuffing with an achingly young pup trill, that Dick hadn’t heard in years.

“Yeah, Dickie. It’s me.”

Dick leaned his head forward, searching for Jason’s scent gland. His brother instantly responded, exposing the vulnerable area to Dick and leaning his head on Dick’s shoulder. His alpha whined to scent the long-lost pup, and Dick had no reason to hesitate any longer. 

He carefully nosed at Jason’s collarbone. Cinnamon, wood, wet city sidewalk, and a note underneath it that was just uniquely Jason . Everyone’s scents were unique to them, there was no possible way that this was anyone but Jason, Dick’s little brother. 

A new wave of shock and relief crashed through Dick and he almost drowned at the force of it. There were so many questions, and yet all Dick wanted to do was hold Jason close and fill his pack scent with the piece that had been missing for years.

Jason hummed under him as Dick began to aggressively nuzzle him like he was a tiny pup and not a full-grown alpha that had attacked him moments before. Dick knew that Jason was indulging him with it, but that didn’t stop him from continuing with both scenting and grooming his little brother. 

“Don’t you have questions?” Jason asked, and there was something fearfully delicate in his voice.

Dick paused in mid-nuzzle. “Of course. But they can be saved for later.” He went back to trying to tame Jason’s unruly hair. 

“I… I didn’t come back right, Dick. Talia used the Lazarus Pit against me and she wanted me to… I’m not good anymore.”

Dick shushed him with an older alpha growl. “Don’t even think that, Jason. You came back, and that’s what matters.”

Jason whined into Dick’s neck and it broke his heart to hear it. “She broke something in me, Dickie. I would have been lost if I hadn’t found…”

Jason’s eyes suddenly widened and he was struggling out of Dick’s arms. The alpha in his instantly hurt as the pup tried to get out of his arms and he audibly whined when Jason moved away.

The other alpha scoffed, grumpily coming back to bump his forehead against Dick’s. “Relax, Big Bird, I’m just getting the pup.”

Dick paused, the whine falling off in his chest. 

The pup. 

His mind snapped back to the pup whose crying had turned into whimpers as Jason hushed him. It was an image that Dick didn’t ever think he would see in his life— Jason hugging a too-small pup to his chest while making parental chuffs to calm him down. 

His instincts immediately honed on to the pup and then, melted into warm affection. He approached the seated pair cautiously, taking cues from Jason that it was okay to come closer. His brother didn’t growl at him and soon Dick was leaning into Jason’s side to see the pup.

The pup watched Dick with wary green eyes but didn’t burst into tears again.

“Who is this, handsome boy?” Dick whispered, and he noticed the way that Jason subconsciously puffed up in pride. 

“This is Damian. I saved him from the League, but in a lot of ways he saved me too.” Jason’s face turned grim. The pup shifted in his arms and frowned up at him.

“No dark thoughts, brother. We’re not there anymore. You can't let your mind travel back.”

“Yes, habibi,” Jason said almost automatically, something mechanical in the response. There was a story there. A history that was deep and dark and just between Jason and Damian. Dick could almost see the nightmares flickering between the two's eyes and it made his heartache for them. Jason took a second, just to breathe slowly, before seeming to come into himself more. “Yeah. Ok. Introductions.”

His eyes flickered between Damian and Dick again. “And Damian, this is Dick. He’s my big brother. I’ve told you about him before.”

“He’s the annoying one that has named himself after a phallic euphemism?”

Jason choked on a laugh and Dick gave him a flat look. The pup between them was still considering him carefully. 

“Thanks, Jason,” he deadpanned, and the other alpha snorted. 

“Come on, Dami.” Jason nudged the puppy. “That’s not the only thing that I told you about Dick.”

Damian tilted his head to Jason’s shoulder, and something about the action was still tense, telling Dick exactly how unsure the baby was about the new alpha. 

“He’s… kind. The first alpha you ever trusted,” Damian’s small hand, clutched at Jason’s shirt, wrinkling the fabric. “I can trust him.”

Jason smiled down at the boy, and Dick couldn’t help but grin and fight the happy tears that threatened to spill.

Jason had… said that? He had remembered Dick like that? 

He remembered Dick as good and not a brother who failed him. He…

He couldn’t put everything into words. 

So he didn’t. He leaned heavily in Jason’s side, nuzzling against his brother’s neck like he was a puppy. His brother already thoroughly smelled like him, their smells mixing together like pack, but Dick couldn’t help the bone-deep fear that he may never get to do this again. 

His brother was here. The puppy was here. They were all here together and Dick was never going to let them go.

Dick rumbled deeply, his purrs vibrating into both of his little brothers. Gently, he leaned down and nuzzled the top of the puppy’s head, scenting into his hairline. The alpha in him warmed when he felt himself silently accepting the pup into his pack and smelling their scents all mix together.

It was something that was damn near perfect.

Dick hummed, listening to the boy’s adorable little puppy chirps. Another pup in the Manor, Bruce was going to be so happy. 

The thought hit him like a lightning bolt and he jerked up. 

“We have to tell Bruce,” he said while scrambling to his feet. Jason didn’t stand and only gave him a curious look. 

“Tell Bruce what?”

“That you’re here!” Dick yelped, pacing in the kitchen. “That you have a puppy! Oh my god, and Tim! Tim needs to know too! And Alfred!”

“Oh, they already know.”

Dick froze mid-step.

“They what?”

“They know. We’ve been here for five days.”

“...”

“...”

“Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything!”