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Dick grew up in the traveling circus—visiting kingdom after kingdom, traversing through countless villages and woods, breathing in the air of high mountains—until tragedy struck his parents during their show for the king and citizens of Gotham.
The rope had been tampered with. Dick was left orphaned, in a kingdom with grim looking buildings and gruesome people, who took him from his home and didn’t do anything to help find Dick the killer or let him see the rest of the circus, please—
His saving grace was the king, who took him in and eventually brought the killer to justice. Dick hadn’t trusted King Bruce at first, he wanted to leave Gotham, he wanted his parents—
But King Bruce confined in him, telling Dick about the tragedy that struck the king’s parents, how he saw himself in Dick and Dick slowly uncurled to listen, to respond, to trust he’d be safe with Bruce.
The castle smelled stale, devoid of the many scents mixing into a warm aroma like the circus had, so Dick kept close to the castle’s occupants and regularly scented his room to keep it comfortable.
It seemed to brighten up Bruce’s mood whenever Dick swiped his wrist over his neck. He was rather clumsy when he returned the action, but Dick found it comforting. Bruce was different. Especially compared to other royalty.
When Dick presented as an omega, Bruce still deemed it important that they would continue their fighting lessons, which according to all the history lessons Dick had been taught was uncommon for omegas to partake in if they were royal.
Sure, Dick wasn’t royalty by blood, but being considered pack still made him a legitimate heir.
Bruce told him that no matter what designation one had it was good to know how to think and fight. To have contingencies.
Dick trained hard. In a way it felt like he was performing, putting on armor was like putting on a pained mask, fighting with swords he made into a show, spinning and twisting. He was more air than ground and it truly threw off his opponents when despite the armor he wore he managed to be quick on his feet and hands, flipping over heads.
The fighting lessons paid off, making Dick one of the best trained fighters in Gotham, proven every time someone dared to challenge him for his title, and Dick formed his own team of knights, calling them the Titans. They served Gotham well alongside neighboring kingdoms and villages, always responding to a call for help.
Though they weren’t always victorious, no matter how much training they had.
A royal omega’s debutante ball usually occurred when the omega came of age to accept courtships and was able to bear pups. Bruce made sure his charge was on the older side of the debutantes when Dick presented as an omega, putting it off a few years, considering the court was basically frothing at the mouth to mate him off. Bruce called them too overeager.
Dick was glad for it. It meant he had more time to practice his skills as a knight before he was expected to receive and accept courtship offers.
He was still plenty nervous on the night before the ball, fiddling with tomorrow’s robes and collar.
A collar and no bite beneath it meant he was officially on the market. He touched his throat and turned away.
For all the traditions Bruce ignored to raise Dick into the omega was today, this one he wouldn’t budge on.
Maybe it was because he could observe anyone wanting to stake a claim on Dick like this or that’s what Dick at least theorized, considering Bruce kept reiterating Dick to choose his mate wisely.
It did relieve Dick that he didn’t have to accept any offer tomorrow. At least for now.
He slept rather fitfully in his nest, but when the morning came and went, greeting the noon soon enough, staff entered his room to help dress him in his robes.
They fastened his corset, did his hair, put jewelry onto his ears and fingers and fastened the collar around his neck. Dick stared at his reflection. He tilted his head and went to meet Bruce, so the king could lead him to the ballroom.
“You look beautiful.”, Bruce complimented as soon as he saw the omega and Dick smiled slightly, slotting his arm around Bruce’s arm.
“The staff have good taste.”, He replied in a hush as they walked toward the big doors.
Showtime.
Bruce reached up to squeeze his hand as the doors opened. Their names and titles were announced, then the reason as to why the ball was held.
Dick’s eyes glanced around the room from above. There were a lot of guests.
Bruce led him down the stairs and Dick slowly released his arm.
Guests immediately came over to greet them and compliment Dick on his appearance, some even dared to ask Dick for a dance.
Dick only accepted the dance offers made by his Titans.
The night went well enough until Dick spotted him.
His breath caught in his throat and suddenly it felt like the collar was choking him. Of course he’d show up.
Their eyes met. Or in his case his single eye zeroed in on Dick.
Dick quickly glanced away, hoping someone would offer a drink or a dance so Dick could slip away without making too much of a commotion.
“Your highness.”
Dick deflated and looked up at the omega towering over him.
Slade, the king of Defiance and the father of two Titans, someone who would have declared war with Gotham—because of the death of his firstborn son that unfortunately involved the Titans—if his remaining kids hadn’t joined Dick’s knights.
Dick pursed his lips. “Your majesty.”
Slade’s lips curled into a smirk. “You paint a pretty picture, prince Richard. So different to your usual armor.”
“I’m quite capable of changing clothes, your majesty.”, Dick replied.
Slade huffed out a laugh. “I can see that. I don’t doubt your capabilities. You have taught Rose a lot and her and Joey think highly of you. It isn’t often an omega forms a group of knights and excels in leading them. I’m rather intrigued. Have been since I learned of you.”
Slade had been enraged with them after he saw the corpse of his son, who the Titans had failed to save. He had blamed them for his death, had threatened war, but Joey and Rose managed to deescalate the situation and made Slade see reason.
Dick licked his lips and Slade’s eye followed the action.
“We do try to do good.”, He spoke. “And I also think highly of Joey and Rose. Without them the Titans wouldn’t be what we are today.”
“A shame I’d say.”, Slade’s eye glinted.
“Yes.”
“Well, I don’t want to take up too much of your time, prince Richard, especially since it’s your debutante ball.”, He looked around the ballroom. “And you’re quite the popular omega.”
“It comes with the status of being a prince.”
Slade shook his head with a laugh. “I do believe in your case it’s much more than that.”
And with that Slade walked off, leaving Dick to stare at him, blinking wildly.
The rest of the night went by fast after that and Bruce caught Dick so they could leave the ballroom together.
The following morning Dick woke up to countless letters asking for his hand in marriage, his neck for a mating bite.
He declined most of them, keeping only some in reserve so it wouldn’t cause an outcry amongst the court. He would decline those later.
Dick would rather focus more on training together with his Titans. So after dealing with sending out rejections, he walked over to the training arena near the castle and entered the armory to select a weapon to train with. Some of his Titans greeted him, busy with cleaning their weapons.
Huh, that escrima set looked new, laying there in the armory next to Dick’s other weapons. He tested them out and found them to be perfect.
“Do you know who these belong to?”, He asked Rose, who took one look at them and rolled her eyes.
“Dad got you these.”
“Oh…”, Dick took a closer look at them. “Well tell him my thanks. These are rather lovely.”
It didn’t stop there, surprisingly. The king of Defiance continued to send over gifts, mostly quality made weaponry that Dick got a good use of, amongst the gifts were also baked goods that he shared with the rest of his team and pretty silks in vibrant colors that reminded Dick of his childhood with the circus.
The gifts were rather thoughtful. Sweet.
Dick had no idea why the king was sending them though. Every month, without fail he’d be delivered a gift.
Well, the man did tell him he was impressed. More or less. Considering Slade was a fellow omega who had been trained to fight he might have seen some sort of kinship with Dick, especially after witnessing two of his kids get close to the prince.
He didn’t pry. This was a whole lot better than Slade wanting to declare war on them.
Dick got busy with both the Titans and the added responsibilities he had as a prince. Bruce had given him territory over Blüdhaven, wanting Dick to oversee it and Dick quite enjoyed it. It was a lot, but Dick liked being busy. It kept him focused and running.
Bruce also kept busy, taking in pup after pup while Dick was overseeing Blüdhaven and his Titans. Apparently Bruce got hit with empty nest syndrome quite hard.
Dick loved to tease him about it, but honestly he adored his little siblings and always invited them into his nest, scenting them and easing their worries with an omega’s purr.
His heat had come earlier this week so he had taken some time off to ride it out, and Bruce had used the opportunity to ask him to accompany him to the winter ball.
Dick had accepted. It would do him some good to spend time with his little siblings. Keep them away from court people too.
The night came soon and the omega dressed in furs. He clasped his collar around his throat and wore the locket Slade had gifted him a month prior before meeting Bruce and his little siblings out in the hall.
Since his debutante ball almost three years ago he hadn’t been to many other balls and even then he didn’t stay long.
They walked to the doors and stepped into the ballroom.
“Want to dance?”, He asked Cass, when their introductions were made. She nodded and took the omega’s hand.
They spun around the dance floor for quite a while before a voice interrupted them.
“May I have the next dance with the prince?”
Dick’s eyes widened and he turned to stare at Slade, whose eye immediately locked onto the locket Dick was wearing and smiled.
Cass nodded and her hands left Dick’s own, sending them a curious glance as she stepped aside and Slade took her place.
Dick slowly placed his left hand on Slade’s shoulder and his right hand into Slade’s hand. Step by step they began to dance around the ballroom.
Slade’s eye looked up from the locket to narrow at Dick. “I still haven’t gotten a formal response from you, your highness. But I can see you’re liking my gifts at least.”
Dick blinked. “A formal response?”, He questioned, then added on. “Yes, I do quite enjoy them. They’re rather thoughtful.”
Slade hummed. “Well you ought to know it’s only proper to respond to a courtship offer when you accept the gifts so readily.”
The music came to a stop and so did they.
Dick blinked. Courtship offer? His eyes widened.
“Those gifts—“, He choked. “They were courting gifts?”
He still had some letters he hadn’t written a response to. But—but!
“But aren’t you an omega? Why are you courting me!?”, Dick squawked, sending Slade a wide eyed look.
Sure Dick knew of same designation couples, but they were rare and far in between, especially at court. Court liked to keep things traditional and Dick was pretty sure all the lessons he got on court etiquette and tradition made him able to repeat them in his sleep.
But then again he wasn’t much of a traditional royal omega himself. He got to know the rules to be able to break them after all. Bless Bruce and his need to make sure Dick knew how to protect himself.
“My tastes were never about designations, only for competence and you, my little bird, are quite intriguing.”, Slade replied, eye glinting with mirth.
“You—but your former wife was an alpha, was she not?”, Dick stuttered.
“Her knot wasn’t the thing that made me desire her, it was her competence.”
And yes, all things he knew about Queen Adeline, Joey’s mother, was that she was a formidable fighter and ruler. She had disfigured Slade after all or so the court rumors said.
Dick shook his head, hand moving up to his throat. “I’m flattered that you think of me as competent then. But I can’t…”, He trailed off.
Slade raised an eyebrow.
Dick flushed. So, well he couldn’t quite say he wasn’t interested in fellow omegas. His own tastes always went for people he was close with, who he built a connection with first.
“I’m rather young.”, He argued. “And we don’t know each other that well.”
“You’re well above the age of consent and I do know you well enough that I want to court you.”, Slade responded. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “And I’d like to know even more.”
Dick’s ears burned.
He hadn’t ever envisioned this happening. Not when their first meeting almost ended in a war. He turned his head away, shooting Slade a look.
“If you beat me in a fight I will accept your courtship offer.”, He settled on saying.
Slade met his calculative look with a grin. Dick shivered at the glint of his fangs.
What would Bruce think of this? Oh God.
He didn’t know whenever he wanted to actually beat Slade and that rattled his mind. His gifts had been nice, Dick had to admit. So maybe it was that. Though he would have Slade work for it, to win the fight. To win his right to a courtship. To prove he really meant it.