Chapter Text
Tim groaned as he sank to his knees on the cold wet pavement. His senses were dulled, and the submission he’d been fighting for several blocks was finally breaking past his efforts, making everything hazy and frightening and WRONG.
Okay, maybe he’d made a mistake in fighting with their pack alpha. Again. And maybe he’d been a BIT too persistent about Bruce being alive. Maybe he’d been asking for it. But even though Dick wasn’t strictly HIS alpha, Tim had felt the familiar sting of utter abandonment when he’d been bitten.
“Sit STILL, Timothy. We will return for you once the guests have gone.”
“Take a rest now, champ. Your mother will pick you up tonight.”
“We will return on Thursday. Oh for pity’s sake, Timothy, it’s just a bite. You should be RELAXING.”
Tim forced himself to move, struggling onto a fire-escape. Roof. He needed to get to a roof. An omega trapped in submission-haze, alone, in the dead of Gotham’s night, would attract VERY unwanted attention.
Tim barely made it to the gravel-covered rooftop before collapsing with a whine. The submission was overwhelming now, and he knew it would take hours to wear off. Crap. He couldn’t lie here for hours. Why the hell had he run away? Even being ordered to his room at the manor would be better than stranding himself alone with no alpha to give him orders; no one to keep him safe.
But he’d been so scared.
Footsteps suddenly stalked over the rooftop, and Tim was unable to stop another fearful whine. His muscles refused to move. No, please no, don’t touch me, please…
“Hey,” a gentle voice said; rough, but soothing. It was very familiar. “I’m not going to hurt you, pup. Breathe.”
Tim was pretty sure he was breathing. Maybe a little too fast, but still. Another whine escaped his chest. He couldn’t help it; he was so scared. Submission meant abandonment.
“Who bit you, pup?” the deep voice asked, and it vibrated with a command that Tim was compelled to answer.
“Dick,” he murmured wetly, distantly realizing that saying so was a mistake of some kind. Stupid stupid STUPID. Tim was a horrible omega. He couldn’t stop making mistakes.
“Fucking… WHY?” the voice demanded, frustrated.
Oh. Tim had messed up again.
“No, baby bird, don’t cry,” came the next words, and they were much gentler now. “Please don’t cry. I’m sorry I… I’m not mad at you.”
“He hates me,” Tim squeezed out, his words almost too slurred to sound human. His already-racing pulse picked up speed. “I know I’m a bad ‘mega, but… but I…”
“Oh, kid, no,” the voice broke in sadly. “You’re not bad, you’re just… Do you want me to leave? I’ll leave.”
“No,” Tim whimpered immediately, hyperventilating now. “Please, please don’t leave me again, I’ll be good, I’ll be… please… I’m so sorry…”
“Fuck,” the voice murmured, and the roof was suddenly filled with the scent of a worried, irritated, protective ALPHA.
That’s Jason Todd, Tim’s brain realized. That’s the man who tried to kill you for taking his place.
All the critical thinking in the world couldn’t stop the desperate whine that came from his throat. He wasn’t afraid now. He was longing. He needed a command to follow, an Alpha to make happy, or he would be stuck in these panicky feelings for… for too long.
Jason sighed as he sat Tim up with surprisingly gentle hands. “There are so many things to unpack about this situation, and I’m not sure I wanna be sober for all of it, but listen. Tim. Timbo. Timmy. Why are you afraid? I mean… besides the obvious wandering-around-Gotham-with-a-submission-bite part, which… we will definitely be talking about later.” A slight pause, and the scent swirling around Tim spiked with anxiety. “Are you scared of ME?”
“No,” Tim managed to whisper, his head lolling towards the ground as he sunk deeper into the haze. “Can’t… Parents… always LEFT… I can’t… I wasn’t GOOD enough… I’m…” Tim suddenly found that his breaths weren’t working. He was panicking. He felt dizzy. He was so scared.
“I can’t cancel this submission for you, buddy,” Jason was saying, his gruff voice sympathetic. “but I can let you crash at my place to ride it out. Dammit, what kind of alpha does this to their PACK?”
“Dick’s n’t my alpha,” Tim slurred out between panicked breaths. “Bruce.”
“Shit,” Jason muttered sadly. “I’m so sorry, Tim, I… look, I can… No, you wouldn’t wanna go back to Dick; he just bit you against your will. Fuck.”
“Jason,” Tim begged tearfully, barely able to breathe through the heavy weight of fear in his chest. “Please help me. PLEASE. I can’t… I can’t… I can’t.” He shuddered as he fought for an inhale, then used that breath to KEEN. It was a cry for pack; a pack that wasn’t coming.
Jason tightened his grip on Tim’s arms, but that did little to help. When no one answered his call, Tim desperately chirped at the source of the alpha scent in his nasal passages.
A chirp to be claimed.
Jason’s frame balked. “Tim, are you… NO, you don’t want that. I’m not a good alpha; I’m not even a good PERSON. Did you forget that I tried to kill you?”
Tim’s lungs were beginning to burn, and his chirps, though weaker, became more desperate as he swayed. His scent practically poured please-protect-me-claim-me-PLEASE-ALPHA-PROTECT, and it was beginning to overwhelm his older brother.
Just when Tim was running out of strength, a soft alpha rumble answered his chirps, soothing the worst of his trembles. The worried scent from Jason shifted to protect-claim-MINE, and Tim instantly tipped his head back, exposing as much of his throat as he could.
A gentle thumb rubbed across the long thin scar there; a scar inflicted by Jason’s own hands. A soft voice ventured, “Are you SURE, kid?”
Tim keened desperately, tilting his head further, and that was all the encouragement the alpha needed. He leaned forward, rumbling possessively, and bit down on the juncture of Tim’s neck.
The slight pain barely registered as the alpha venom spread, spurred on by Tim’s racing pulse. It sent the omega into a second round of submission, this one deeper, because this was a pack claim. Tim felt the new bond flare to life in his head, and a weak purr started in his chest. He could finally BREATHE.
Jason was scenting Tim’s neck now, dragging his wrists over the omega’s scent-glands in lazy strokes. The purring in Tim’s chest increased as he was bathed in PROTECT-LOVE-PUP-MINE-MINE-MINE.
God, this was the best claim he’d ever gotten. And, yeah, maybe it wasn’t super smart. Jason HAD tried to kill him once, after all, and Bruce could still be out there, even though his bond was cold in Tim’s head. But maybe Tim could be selfish for once. Maybe he could give in to something HE needed.
He relaxed as he was hefted up into strong arms. He’d definitely needed an alpha.
************
Jason huffed in a poor semblance of irritation as he carried the kid home. As worried as he was about this turn of events, he couldn’t really stay MAD, not when the scent of please-love-me-please-stay filled his nose.
And an omega, no less. Jason had already known the kid’s designation, but it was different when making a claim. Jason’s alpha instincts RUMBLED at the feeling of an omega pup to protect.
He slipped into his apartment through the door, being absolutely sure to remain unobserved, and locked the door behind him. Then, reluctantly, he placed the dozing pup on the couch. The poor kid needed a nest, some food, and pack, and Jason’s instincts were SCREAMING at him to provide.
Unfortunately, that also meant setting the pup down. Which. Jason had never imagined finding this hard to do.
Tim didn’t like it, either, apparently, because he whined weakly when Jason began to leave.
“Shhhhhhhh,” the older brother hushed, leaning closer to swipe his wrist over Tim’s cheek. “I’ll be right back, pup. Stay.”
Drunk on submission haze, Tim obeyed, lying still. Jason hurried into his room, changed out of his patrol gear, and set about making a nest on his bed. He hadn’t slept for a few days, so it definitely needed fixing, and some recently-scented clothes for lining, of course. He himself never slept with anything extra, because he didn’t have a pack. HADN’T had one. But he had Tim now, and Tim needed his alpha’s scent, so a few hoodies went into the lining of the nest before Jason was satisfied.
He went to get a bottle of water before returning to the couch. To his alarm, Tim was trying to sit up, visibly fighting the submission-haze. His earthy scent was soured with fear.
Jason instantly hurried closer, rumbling a gentle alpha command in the back of his throat. Tim whined in response. Shit. Were those tears?
The bewildered alpha sat on the couch, pulling the distressed omega close & pressing down on the bitten shoulder in a soothing sign of dominance. His scent radiated protect-safe-warm-submit, and after a long moment of breathless trepidation, Tim slouched, spiraling back down into full submission.
Jason rumbled at him, pleased. It made the little omega smile. Jesus… When did I get so SOFT?
The alpha held the water-bottle to Tim’s mouth, shaking off his tired thoughts to properly care for the kid. “Drink.”
When Tim obeyed this command, Jason’s rumbling strengthened, and it caused the pup to go completely slack with a soft chirp. God, the kid was fucking ADORABLE. He was being so good, too, and it soothed Jason’s anxious instincts in a way that was unfamiliar to him. He felt… settled. Like his entire life up this point had been buzzing with the need to run, to fight, to move move move.
Now there was only soft-warm-protect-keep-safe, and Jason… wasn’t tearful. He WASN’T.
Jason gently helped the kid to stand, walking him to the bathroom, then leaving him there with some clean clothes & an order to change. When Tim came back out, now drowning in Jason’s PJs, the alpha abandoned all further restraint on his instincts.
Tim purred weakly when he was scooped off of his feet, and Jason allowed himself to rumble as loudly as he could. He set his omega down in the middle of the nest, climbed in, and wrapped himself so tightly around the little pup that suffocation was a near thing.
Jason knew he’d done the right thing when Tim pressed his nose against the alpha's scent-gland & purred with abandon.
Jason, beyond pleased, scented his new omega pup with his wrists nonstop until the teen finally sank into sweet sleep.