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Bruce was gone
Dead.
And he wasn’t coming back.
Dick let out a long exhale, staring at his reflection overlayed over the Cowl, which was sat in its glass display case. He wasn’t Batman.
Batman isn’t him.
But choice is a privilege for those without dead mentors, it seems. For now, Dick is Batman, and it’s terrifying. Ripping the mantle out of Jason’s hands was only half the battle, but adopting it was so much harder.
It’s safe to say the Omega has never been this stressed in his life before.
The cave was so empty, these days. All of a sudden, a bat let out a drawn out shriek. It seemed to awaken the others, causing a discordant melody that echoed of the caves lofty walls, filling the dead silence which had infected the cave for far too long. The air was stale, a result of disuse. Dick tried to stay in Blüdhaven if he could, the cave reminding to much of earlier days, the days before he was orphaned for the second time.
But he had ended up in the cave, after fighting his brother, his beloved little wing, making sure he didn’t corrupt the mantle of Batman, making sure he couldn’t twist the cowl into a symbol of violence. He had managed to defeat Jason, but everything came at a cost. The image of his little brother’s demoralised face as he let go and plunged into the inky depths of Gotham River played over and over in his mind. He wanted to save Jason. Bring him home. Shower him with love, scent him, over and over again to make up for lost time.
But he couldn’t. Jason was lost. Corrupted by the Lazarus pit, distorted into a completely different version of himself. A version that couldn’t feel warmth, or love, or anything else. It seems to Dick as if Jason only knew one emotion now: rage.
Dick knew it was time for him to be Batman. To follow in his Father’s footsteps. He just didn’t know if he could.
His pack Alpha was dead, and the breaking of that bond had almost put Dick in the grave himself. The visceral rip he had felt as the bond was gouged out of his heart, as the angry-pain-scared pull that his father was giving off flickered to nothing at all- the pain had caused Dick to collapse as he let out an animalistic keen that garnered no response. The stress-induced heat that had occurred after was bad - life-threateningly so. Only Alfred’s gentle nursing, accompanied by his gentle earl-grey scent had pulled Dick out of his raging fever and relentless punching cramps. Dick was endlessly grateful to the Beta for everything he had done, and being a solid rock in the Pack as grief ripped through all of them.
Things went from bad to worse, after Tim left the manor, insisting on finding clues that Bruce was still alive. Dick almost considered his brother his own pup due to their age difference, so he had keened and called to him for days after he left, feeling all the pain of an omega losing their child. He could no longer pull Tim into his nest and ground himself using his bitter coffee scent, which was laced with undertones of milk, due to his age. No, the young omega had ventured out on his own, leaving Dick to try and pick up the pieces of his shattered pack.
He knew there was once a time where everything had been perfect and everyone was happy, but it felt so far away now.
The love and security of a pack felt foreign to him.
Patrol had been particularly rough that night, and Dick had ended up taking a dagger to his thigh, and, as a result of Alfred’s first aid, was absolutely hopped up on painkillers. This caused him to completely give in to his omegan instincts- nest, keep the pup safe, and rest.
“C’monnnn” Dick sleepily slurred, already laid out in the pack nest.
Jason let out a childish giggle at the Omega’s uncharacteristically sluggish tone and scampered into the nest, immediately curling up beside Dick like it was the most natural thing in the world.
And perhaps it was, because Dick started purring, scenting Jason and cooing over him like he was a nestling- even though he was just a year or two away from presenting. The pup leaned into the crook of Dick’s neck and breathed in the honey-sweet scent he was giving off. No undertones soured it- it was the scent of safety and pure Omegan content. Jason relished in it.
Dick was tired- the combination of exhaustion from his injury and the painkillers made it hard for him to stay awake. He could see Jason was in the verge of unconsciousness as well- strong omega pheromones acted as a sort of sedative to pups-and Dicks were certainly having the intended effect on Jason as he grew sleepier and more limp by the second.
Just before he fell into a safe and restful sleep, Dick felt the mattress shift and a new scent flooded the room. It was alpha- but only smelt of protectiveness and love. Dick knew it was his Father, joining them after writing up the report for the night. His whole pack was in the nest! Dick let out a small happy purr.
Everything was perfect. Everyone was happy.
Dick was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of shuffling behind him. He knew who it was from the slightly sour milk scent that filled the vicinity - Damian. Damian’s scent was always carried sour undertones; the kid carried anguish and resentment that no-one could really fix.
Dick knew Damian was lost too- perhaps even more than he was. The kid acted strong, wise beyond his years, and like nothing hurt him. But Dick knew. He knew what it felt like to have the safety and care of parents ripped away from you. Damian wasn’t coping- he was simply doing a flawless imitation of someone who was.
Dick’s anxiety has always come on suddenly. Everything was always fine,
until it wasn’t.
The cold slap of reality hit Dick in the face like a tidal wave. He was packless. Gone were the days of cuddling up in the nest with his dear brother and Father. No - Father was dead and both his brothers had abandoned him.
Everything was wrong.
He had failed as a son, as a brother, as an omega.
Was the air in the cave always this hot? Was it always this hard to get air into his lungs? The cowl now towered above him as Dick found himself collapsed on his knees. Panic was overtaking him as every breath felt like sharp icicles piercing his lungs.
A stress heat? Again? Dick would think that he was getting pretty tired of them if his mind was any clearer.
“Grayson?” He heard a small voice behind him question with a slight quiver.
Dick’s scent - which had constantly carried undertones of distress since Bruce had died - now fully soured. It called for Pack, for love, for comfort. All things Dick was severely lacking. Dick let out a low keen, his anguish fully on display, heat clouded mind not holding anything back. He desperately tugged on all of his obsolete pack bonds - even Jason’s - alerting them of his distress and panic and begging them to do something, anything, to help him.
But it was useless.
——-
Damian watched helplessly as his older brother collapsed to the ground. Despite how old he pretended to be, Damian was still just a pup, and watching his pseudo- caretaker fall to the floor in clear distress shook him to the core.
Dick had been scenting and treating Damian like his own child- trying to comfort him in the wake of their Father’s death, acting stronger than he was, but Damian knew Dick wasn’t holding up well. He had heard the sobs coming from Dick’s room late at night, and the heart wrenching Pack calls that echoed through the empty manor when Dick thought no one was awake to hear them.
Despite Dick’s comforting, Damian could still not get rid of his sour smell. He hated it. It was blazing proof of his emotional weakness. Proof he was still a stupid, childish puppy who let his emotions show so blatantly through his scent. He was not acting as the brilliant Wayne heir he has been raised to be, he could almost picture his Mother’s sorely disappointed face.
He could tell his scent upset Dick too - which was almost the worst part of it all.
Damian had never officially become Dick’s pack-mate, after they had lost Bruce everything was too raw, everyone was too highly strung, to worry about forming new Pack-bonds. Grief had consumed all of them, any hope or acceptance of new family members snuffed out. So Damian was an outsider too - packless - having abandoned the Al Ghuls.
Damian felt utterly powerless as he watched Dick keen, and let out an involuntary whine. He knew his scent had probably completely soured now, he reeked of anxious puppy. He cursed himself on his mind, but he knew the barely stable facade he had been trying to hold up had crumbled as soon as the Omega’s raw, painful scent had reached his nostrils. Even of they weren’t pack, this amount of pained omega pheromones would make any pup become unsettled, let alone a pup like Damian who was already severely troubled.
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, and for the first time in his life Damian was at a loss for what to do. It frightened him down to his very core
Hot tears began to fall, rolling down his cheeks like mini avalanches. Pained high-pitched whines and fruitless pack calls spilled out his mouth. Frustration overtook him as the whines grew louder. Everything he tried had failed, all his coping mechanisms, did nothing to ease the ache in his heart. He was just a pup - a pup who needed his pack.
He furiously wipes his eyes, trying to erase the signs of weakness he had let show so shamelessly. It was embarrassing - unbecoming - as his mother would say. The Wayne heir should not cry, the future head of the Al Ghul dynasty should be unflinching, and Damian had just failed both of his legacies.
When he looks up from his all-too-rough wiping, he sees that the Omega’s ice blue eyes had latched on to him. Dick eyebrows were pinched, and his mouth was stretched into a frown. He looked to be in pain.
Dick regards the pup, and seems to have smelt the anxious-lost-packless scent in the air if the wrinkle in his nose in anything to go by.
Then Dick reaches out his arms towards the pup and croons.
—-
He could fully feel the heat settling into his body now. Stabs of pain erupted from from his abdomen. His vision was hazy, like he was watching everything that was happening from somewhere far away, somewhere safer, somewhere where the pain couldn’t reach him.
A particularly unforgiving cramp brought him back, punching him the gut. It reminded that he was here, in excruciating pain and here.
Dick wrapped his arms around his stomach and took a deep breath trying to ground himself through the pain. Some how it only made him feel worse.
Everything smelt wrong. Every scent in the air was a sour one, not the constant pack-love-content scent that used to warm the cave in days gone by.
The most offensive scent of all was the practically caustic packless puppy scent that was permeating every molecule of oxygen that Dick breathed in. Dick’s hindbrain screamed, demanding him to comfort the puppy, omegan instincts overriding everything in this heat-induced haze.
Before he knew it, a high-pitched croon had escaped Dick’s lips. He wanted the puppy in his arms yesterday. Using all his strength, he forced himself to look up at the puppy.
Something in him snapped as he saw the tears that were currently falling from his child’s eyes.
Who had made his puppy cry? Why had he let his puppy cry?
Another croom slipped out of him. The another, and another. He removed his arms from his still cramping stomach and held them outstretched, creating a perfect mould for his puppy to be poured into, if he would only come over to his omega.
The pup looked utterly bewildered by Dick’s behaviour, which was strange, because this was his puppy and surely he would give his puppy hugs all the time?
Dick scented the air again, trying to discern the pup’s emotional state. It was only the he was hit again with the packless undertones in the puppy’s scent.
This wasn’t his puppy.
This wasn’t anyone’s puppy.
Dick looked at the puppy again. He had a look of quiet desperation on his face, and was still crying, albeit silently. His black hair was overgrown, sticking out in all directions and dark circles punctuated his under-eyes. Who wouldn’t accept such an adorable, vulnerable puppy into their pack? Dick knew he surely would.
So why was the pup still packless ?
Dick let out a loud croon at the realisation, even letting his desperation seep into his scent. This was the type of croon that pups usually tripped over their feet to obey, and finally the puppy started to skittishly make his way over.
As soon as the puppy was in reaching distance, Dick practically pounced on him, pulling him into his arms, pulling him into safety. They ended up in a heap, a mess of tangled limbs. The puppy let out a startled cry, but Dick didn’t care, immediately rubbing his chin on the pup’s hair, scenting him, claiming him as his puppy, as his pack.
He let out comforting reassurances
It’s okay, I’ve got you now, shhh
“Grayson, what are you-“
The puppy was cut off of as Dick repositioned him put the pups nose over his scent gland and pushing out the most comforting scent he could muster. It was laced with undertones of stress and pain, but it still seemed to have the desired effect, as the puppy let went boneless in Dick’s arms.
Pup secured.
What was next?
Nest. He needed to get to his nest.
He assessed his surroundings. This wasn’t his nest. This place was frigid, and he knew the stone walls were not going to comfort his puppy.
Upstairs. He needed to get upstairs.
—-
Damian was currently cuddled up in Dick’s arms only registered one sensation: warmth.
It was warmer than he had felt in a while. Certainly warmer than he had ever felt at the league, and definitely the warmest he had ever felt in the bat cave.
He nuzzled further in Dick’s scent gland, trying too inhale every little bit of the scent he was so kindly pushing out for Damian. It smelt like freshly-cooked popcorn with undertones of sawdust. To Damian, it smelt like safety.
He felt Dick’s body shift underneath him, his shaky legs trying to lift them both up off the hard and unforgiving floor of the cave.
He knew Dick was in pain- he could smell it. It underpinned the Omegas scent like a bad memory, lingering like an unwanted visitor. He felt the shake in the arms that were wrapped around him, and all of a sudden he realised the hot sensation was by warmth- it was heat. Dick was in the midst of a stress heat and trying to use his strength to carry a puppy that wasn’t even his and he’s shaking and he’s gonna die and Damian’s going to be the one that killed him and-
Damian lets out an uncharacteristicly forlorn whimper and starts trying to wriggle himself out of the omega’s hold. Getting his limbs too move was hard, given how sluggish he was in account of the pheromones, but he was still doing a pretty good job of pushing away, all things considered.
“Unhand me this instant, Grayson” he tried to demand, straining to keep his voice in its usual haughty cadence. He needed to get Pennyworth, or call Drake, or find anyone better equipped to deal with this situation.
Dick responded by gripping him tighter, letting out a small comforting, croon. His scent was all acceptance-pack-safety and for a second, Damian wanted to believe he actually loved him.
All of a sudden Dick’s scent shifted and turned downright sedative. This wasn’t a scent to comfort pups- it was a scent to put them into a deep sleep. It was a scent that could only be produced by omegas, used in heat when they needed to get all the rest they could.
It worked. Damian could immediately feel his eyes getting heavy as the promise of rest lulled him. He was tired down to his bones, and sleep sounded so appealing right now and if he just closed his eyes he could have it-
His emerald eyes fluttered shut as darkness welcomed him.
——
Dick’s heart swelled with fondness as he gazed upon the puppy that was snoozing in his arms. He looked so much younger when he was asleep. A small ache joined the fondness in his chest.
With his puppy successfully soothed, getting to the nest was his next goal.
His legs still shaking, Dick managed to stand up. The world swam, but he was nothing if not a fighter. Holding Damian close, he tried to make his way to the long sprawling staircase that led to the manor.
Climbing up a jagged mountain in the depth of an icy winter is difficult. Clawing your way up through thick smoke as fire threatens to engulf your very being is pretty hard. Getting to the stairs is impossible. Every step felt like an affront to Dick’s aching bones, as his knees desperately tried not to buckle under the weight of, well, everything.
He eventually accepted that the climb up the winding staircase would fail. He just needed somewhere soft, for both him and his puppy.
But the cave was sharp, there was no getting around that. It was the base of the possibly the toughest (and most emotionally constipated) alpha on Earth, for crying out loud! It was, by nature, rugged and intimidating and it didn’t comfort and cradle the way the family nest did.
One place in the cave was slightly gentler, however. The medbay. It was tense and haunted and bloody, but sometimes, in the quietest of moments, it was soft.
It was only a few steps away. After raiding the linen cupboard, he made his way over to one of the medical cots, over-starched sheets bundled under the arm that wasn’t cradling Damian. He got to work, carefully arranging the slightly scratchy sheets into a makeshift nest. It was too small, too scentless, and not as comfortable as he would’ve hoped. And in Dick’s current condition, it was a lifeline.
He, with all the care he would use with a particularly fragile china doll, laid his puppy down in the nest. Then, he started to get in himself. Another wave of cramps ravaged him as he crawled into the nest and whatever remaining energy he had was swept out from under him right there. Languidly, he pulled the puppy into his arms, shielding him from the big, dark dangerous world. It was getting exponentially harder to keep his eyes open, and he started to drift, beginning to let the calm release of sleep begin to pull him under.
Just before he was fully submerged, he nuzzled his pups hair and whispered through it
“I love you-“
Damian, his heat clouded brain supplied. He knew this pup, he realised. This pup was his pack, this pup was his home, this pup was his Damian.
“I love you, Dami”
——
The sound of measured footsteps clattering towards him is what pulled Dick from his blissful sleep. He let out a low growl, a purely omegan sound, and tuned his scent to aggressive-protective-donotapproachifyouwanttokeepallofyourlimbs. He was not going to let this unknown stranger harm his still slumbering puppy, as he resolutely curled closer around Damian’s sleeping form.
The stranger kept approaching, unperturbed by his scent or his growl. Dick’s growl became more intense, more rugged. It was all a facade, really. Dick knew he wouldn’t be able to fight in this state, when he could still feel sharp buzzes of pain in his abdomen, and when his temperature had risen, and when he was just so hungry-
“Master Dick,” came a curt voice “Care to explain what’s going on here?”
Oh.
“Alfie…” Dick slurred, lazily flipping himself onto his back and rolling his glassy eyes to meet the kind, elderly ones looking back at him.
Alfred came closer, laying a starch-white gloved hand on the omega’s sizzling forehead. His face became slightly pinched, wrinkles becoming marginally tighter, before he let out a small huff.
“Another one?” the beta questioned
Dick gave a small nod in reply, letting out a pathetic whine.
“And I see you have involved Master Damian in this as well..” Alfred sighed
The pup in question has his face nuzzled into Dick’s back, a slight furrow in his brow. He began to stir, and slowly his head came up from behind the omega.
“Pennyworth?” He questioned, slowly blinking as he tried to clear the sleep from his eyes.
Alfred smiled kindly at Damian, and then gently reached down to pet him on the head. Contrary to his usual protest at this kind of gesture, Damian almost leaned in to the touch, just enough that he would still have plausible deniability that he was not, in fact, seeking comfort.
All of a sudden, his little emerald eyes widened.
“Pennyworth! There was something wrong with Grayson, he was on the floor-“
Upon hearing Damian’s frantic rambling, Dick (impressively swiftly, considering his condition) flipped around and grabbed the little pup and started scenting him, rubbing his chin on his ebony hair in a sort of nodding motion.
Damian’s cheeks became vaguely flushed as he remembered what had happened.
“It appears Grayson is okay now, Pennyworth” Damien declared, eyes looking anywhere but the elderly butler’s face.
“I see, Master Damian” Alfred conferred, a whisper of a smile grazing his lips “I think it’s about time we got you boys upstairs”
——————
After a lot of breaks, encouragement and time, Dick was able to make it upstairs and was swiftly corralled into the kitchen to eat before the peak of the heat came. Alfred had produced two bowls of steaming soup from who knows where (Dick sometimes swore Alfred was actually a sorcerer in disguise) and presented them in front of the boys. Dick ate what the cramps would allow, the pain making impossible to stomach more than half the bowl. Nonetheless, Alfred seemed satisfied and started leading him to the Family nest with Damian following close behind
Dick all but collapsed onto the bed, his brain feeling muddled and wrong, reduced to its most basic instincts. Someone had put a bunch of nesting supplies next to him, including clothes from every member of the pack, even some from Tim and Bruce, and without thinking Dick started to methodically arrange the pillows, blankets, shirts and jumpers, allowing his hindbrain to guide him. After lots of adjustment (if every corner pillow wasn’t a perfect 45 degree angle the nest wouldn’t function, thank you very much) he had constructed the perfect heat den. Well, almost perfect.
——
Damian watched almost sceptically as Dick tottered around his bed, placing pillows with military level precision. He knew nothing about heats. He didn’t encounter any omegas in the league, as they were strictly banned from the upper palace, being deemed a symbol of weakness. Damian didn’t still subscribe to this idea of course, as he had fought alongside Nightwing and knew he was anything but weak.
He guessed this was some sort of instinctual behaviour for Dick, and for all omegas, as Alfred had automatically dropped off nesting supplies before he went to go grab some water bottles.
Eventually, Dick went to lay down in the middle of his blanket-pillow-fort-thing, seemingly satisfied with his work. Damian also spotted a few articles of clothing dotted around the bed, including a few of his own T-shirts, but decided not to question it. Dick looked comfortable, and Damian decided it was probably time for him to leave. Dick would want to be left alone. Probably.
As soon as Damian started to walk through the doorframe, Dick made that awful, gut wrenching croon again. It tugged on something inside him, something innate, an instinct he had tried to shove down for so long.
The pup in him wanted to run to the omega, cuddle up into his arms, be scented by him, be loved by him. But the rational part of him knew that was childish, it was something only tiny nestlings who didn’t know anything better wanted-
Dick made a high pitched keen and Damian remembered the strength of the omegas arms surrounding him, his safe popcorn scent engulfing him, how he had felt solace for the first time in his life-
“Dami, please,” Dick whimpered desperately.
And all at once, Damian’s legs were carrying him over to the bed as he slowly climbed in, giving into his basal instincts, and collapsing into the omega’s awaiting arms.
Damian let Dick scent him, letting the notes of safe-love-protect wash over him in waves. The omega held him like he was never gonna let go him again. He nuzzled into the crook of his neck relaxing as the omegas scent started to its job. He felt his eyes grow heavy.
For the first time in a long time, Damian ‘s scent sweetened, the rancid undertones receding, and he felt whole, as if he had finally found what he had been missing his whole life. Dick started purring lightly as he inhaled the pleasant pleased pup scent. Damian responded with his own puppy purr, a sound of ultimate contentment.
Dick, somehow, held him tighter
“Sleep now, honey,” he whispered.
Damian obliged.
——-
The next few hours were sort of fuzzy for Dick. He vaguely remembered Alfred coming in, can kind of picture the butler gently scenting him and Dami, maybe recalls him saying to call him if they needed anything.
He feels the warm weight of a slumbering puppy on his chest, experiences an overwhelming protectiveness possessing him accompanied by a monumental fondness that no one could shake, and also sleeps a little, he thinks.
When he comes back to himself, the heat is still there, just not as intense as air was before. His mind feels marginally clearer, but it is still a bit mushy, like someone took him out of the oven five minutes early.
Curled up in his arms is Damian. His puppy is still asleep, still emitting that sweet milky scent. Emitting that sweet, milky, packless scent. A frown tugged at Dick’s lips and his scent marginally soured as he realised he his puppy was still packless.
His scent took on a tone of excitement as he realised he could fix that.
———
“Dami,” a soft voice called, breaking through the heavy unconscious haze that Damian had found himself in.
His eyelids felt glued shut, and he didn’t really want to arise, but that quiet voice, tone reminiscent of a dam calling to their pup, kept pulling him up, bringing him back to the present.
He peeled his eyes open slowly. The room was dim, in a comfortable, homely way, the old lamp in the corner casting a warm orange glow on everything. The room swirled with scent, layering the room with a kind of security that made it seem like no one was ever going to harm him again.
Jade met sapphire as Damian looked upon the omegas face, him mouth settled in a soft smile.
“There you are, baby” he cooed, gently reaching down to pet Damian’s hair.
Damian would’ve liked to argue that he, in fact, was not a baby and was actually already ten, but Dick’s pheromones were still weighing him down and the hair petting was nice, so he let it slide.
“Dami, I have something I want to ask you” Dick declared, his tone suddenly taking on a hint of seriousness.
Damian almost flinched. He had known this was coming, but he was hoping it would happen later and he could live in the fantasy that the omega actually loved him for a fraction of a second longer. He had shown weakness and now Dick was going to ask him to leave the manor forever. It was his own fault, really, and he should’ve been more careful and-
“I wanted to ask if you’d like to join our pack”
Damian swore he felt brain go blank as it tried to process what it had just heard. It much of shown on his face too, as Dick’s scent became almost overbearing, pumping out a mix comforting-reassuring like his life depended on it.
“I mean you don’t have to… but I’d love it if you were part of our pack Dami,” he beamed, “of course, if you joined, Alfie, Tim and Bruce would become your pack members as well,” His voice seemed to stumble when saying the latter two names, but the pup too enthralled to notice.
A pack was all Damian ever wanted. He would never admit it but his instincts craved a family, and the love and comfort that came with one. Now the offer was laid out in front him, ready for the taking. He would’ve thought he was dreaming, if not for the very real sensation of warmth that surrounded him.
“Yes I… I would like that very much Grayson” Damian almost choked out, pushed down emotions suddenly bubbling up in him again, and childishly spilling out.
Tender arms surrounded him.
“That’s great, Dami” Dick assured, his own voice beginning to become thick with emotion aswell, “that’s great,”
And that has Damian crying again. Except now they are tears of joy, not tears of stress, confusion and helplessness. He hides his face in his now brother’s chest, inhaling every molecule of his scent, imprinting it in his alveoli. He wanted to be in this moment forever.
————
They stay like that for a while, his puppy cuddled in his arms. Dick lets out periodic coos and reassurances, just letting his little brother be, allowing him work through his newfound emotions.
“Dami, do you want to do it now?” Dick eventually asked, once the little hiccups and sobs slowed, his voice slowly pouring out like honey.
“Do what?” Damian questioned, pulling his head away from the Omega, an adorable look of confusion on his face, and Dick’s heart shattered and melted all at once.
The kid had no idea the most basic thing in pack dynamics- claiming bites. God, they really had failed him, hadn’t they?
“You know to join a pack, a pack member has to claim you?” Dick patiently explained. “And to do that, they have to perform something called a claiming bite,”
Damian just cocked his head, and Lord did Dick wish he had a camera in his hands right now.
“Don’t worry, it’ll only feel like a little scratch, and it will go-“ Dick gestures to the bit of shoulder right above his clavicle “right here,”
He felt the scar of Bruce’s claim mark there, and something inside of him ached a little.
“I see,” Damian considered, his voice even and measured, “so you would be the one performing this bite?”
Dick smiled and nodded. Of course he would be the one to claim his pup!
“In that case, it sounds acceptable,” Damian concluded with a curt nod, that made Dick want to pinch his cheeks and tousle his hair. “Let us get on with it,”
“Okay, baby,” Dick responded, his still unnaturally warm hand guiding Damian so he was positioned with his back facing Dick.
He gently tugged down the loose T-shirt he was wearing into Damian’s shoulder was peaking out.
“You’re sure, Dami?”
“I’m sure, Grayson,”
The omega leaned down over Damian, his scent thick with happiness. Carefully, He clasped his mouth against Damian’s shoulder, and bit down. Damian winced as the Dick’s incisors broke skin, but any discomfort was soon quelled by the euphoria of new pack bonds snapping into place. There was a full feeling in Damian’s chest as love overflowed within him, and he felt strangely complete, like a piece of him he never knew he needed had finally be placed, and he was whole. He felt an invisible string connecting him to all his pack members. There was, of course, one bond for Grayson, one for Drake and even one for Jason. There was also a barely discernible, ghostly bond connecting him to… somebody. It was too faint to tell. He instinctually gave Grayson’s bond an experimental tug, eyes lighting up as Dick responded by sending love and reassurance down the line. He was almost intoxicated by the feeling of having a pack, of having a safe haven, and entered a sort of haze where the only thing he registered was the overwhelming feeling of affection he felt bubbling up inside of him.
When he starts waking up to the world around him, he feels the sharp swipe of a disinfectant wipe on his shoulder.
“You back, pup?” the calm voice behind him asks, deft hands laying a bandage across the bite site.
Damian gave a non-committal hum. He felt exhausted, despite having spent the majority of the last twelve hours asleep.
“You’re tired, huh?” the voice laughed “Don’t worry it’s normal to feel that way after forming new pack bonds, especially after receiving multiple bonds like you just have,”
Damian began to lean back into the presence behind him, which responded by scenting his hair.
“I am going to get one confused call from Tim later…” he lamented, although he almost sounded gleeful at the prospect of getting with touch with his second youngest brother.
Damian could feel sleep threatening to take him again, so before he fell into total unconscious, he gave his and Dick’s bond one last cautious tug, just to confirm he wasn’t dreaming and he really did have a pack now.
Dick let out a deep purr and all at once Damian knew it was safe to fall asleep.
And Dick knew he had found his brother, had found his pup, had found his Robin.