Chapter Text
No matter what his family said, Jason wasn’t an idiot. He knows that he shouldn’t expect things he doesn’t deserve. Especially not with them.
Years have passed and not a single bat has approached Jason in hopes of reintegrating him back into the pack.
Jason can take a hint.
They don’t want him. At least not in that aspect. Jason knows he’s useful in the field. Useful for his brute strength. Useful for information from the streets that only he could provide. And most of all, useful for taking the hits intended for Batman’s pups.
But other than that, Jason’s useless.
That’s why he’s in a safe house. Alone. Laying in his sorry excuse of a nest, drenched in sweat and tears and nothing that would comfort him.
It hurts.
He can feel his scent blockers aggravating his gland and Jason clenches his eyes shut, trying to force the pain to leave. It doesn’t work.
If anything, it does the opposite. It amplifies everything. The sweat surrounding him, the tears threatening to fall, the deep ache in his chest. Jason can feel it all. Taste it, even.
A whine escapes his throat but he’s not worried. There’s no one around to hear him.
Jason might be alone and hurting but at least Jason was alone and safe.
But, much to his dismay, it doesn’t stay like this for long. It was almost time for Jason to patrol. And Jason couldn’t skip. He wouldn’t allow himself to. Not when he was on a truce with the bats.
He forces himself up, swallowing down the scream that threatens to leave his throat. He had to get ready. The bats were waiting for his appearance and his people were counting on his protection to keep them safe.
He wasn’t going to let them down.
Patrol was calm.
That should’ve been the first sign that something was about to go wrong.
Jason should’ve known better than to think that today would’ve been an easy night out. That for once, the world decided to give him a break.
He’s such an idiot.
It didn’t even take a minute before Oracle is in his comms, informing him about the Arkham breakout. She tells him to help out the rest of the Bats, her tone icy cold when she says, “Keep them safe, Hood.” Oracle orders. “I don’t care if you get injured or not. Just make sure they’re not harmed.”
He can read between the lines. Your disposable is what Barbara means. You’re not pack. Your life is not worth more than theirs.
And she’s right.
That doesn’t stop her words from stinging but Jason couldn’t argue with her. Not when Barbara was only telling the truth. Jason came back wrong. He knows.
His body moves on autopilot. An Arkham breakout hasn’t happened in months and Jason foolishly began to believe that maybe the security finally got updated.
He was wrong.
Luckily, they were able to catch all the rogues and throw them back into their cells without too much damage.
Unluckily, Ivy got to Jason. He was fighting Harley when he was hit with heat pollen out of nowhere. He knows that Ivy, just like the rest of the world, assumed that he was an Alpha. She couldn’t have known the disastrous effects it would bring him.
His vision blurs together and forces him to lean against a nearby wall. What was he going to do?
His scent- fuck.
Jason prays that the blockers weren’t damaged tonight, hoping that they would be able to hide his pre-heat smell.
He hears Nightwing checking in on the pups. Asking if they were okay, examining them to make sure that they weren’t injured too badly.
The man approached Damian and Damian stops Dick before he can even start his mother-henning. “Cease your efforts, Grayson. I am fine. Those rogues do not have the capabilities to even land a hit on me.”
Tim scoffed, amusement clear in his voice. “You sure? Cause I’m pretty sure that you got thrown to a wall earlier.”
Damian glared at his brother, “Lies.”
“You want to check the footage?” Tim continued to tease as Dick tried to hide his smile. “We can pull it up and-“ Damian tackles him before he could finish and for a split second, Jason imagines himself next to Dick, watching both of the pups play fight.
He shook his head, curling into himself so he could hide from their sight. Those thoughts were dangerous.
Jason knows that he had to get up soon. The mission might be over but he still had to do the mission debrief with the bats.
And those, in his opinion, were always worse than the actual mission themselves.
Jason hates going to the cave. He knew that the manor were the Wayne’s den while the cave was the Bat’s. Although, that knowledge didn’t mean anything. Because either way, Jason wasn’t welcome.
Being in a den that he wasn’t welcomed in. That same den belonging to the alphas that have continuously hurt him throughout the years. It makes his skin crawl. His instincts were begging him to leave and Jason wishes that he could listen.
He doesn’t want to deal with the distrusting scents that made him feel suffocated. He doesn’t want to deal with the hurtful remarks directed at him. The comments meant to cut deep and bleed.
Even knowing all of that, Jason continues to venture deeper into the cave. He could handle the bats for 30 minutes. He had to.
“You took your time.” Damian snarls. Jason ignores him the same way he ignored the frail ummi-pup bond between them. That doesn’t bother -his- the pup though. It just encourages him to keep spitting poison toward the omega.
“Damian,” Dick warns “Behave.” The pup rolls his eyes but kept his mouth shut.
Jason takes a seat at the only empty chair left. It was conveniently next to Batman and Nightwing, the pack alpha and his second in command. He forces his body to relax. The scent blockers will keep his designation hidden.
The table stares at him and Jason sighs. “What?” He asked, annoyance seeping into his voice.
“You know the rules.” Batman says, “No weapons in debriefs. Including your helmet.”
Jason’s eyes flash with anger. This rule was only for him to follow. And everyone knew it. Everyone also knows that Jason couldn’t do anything but follow the alpha’s orders. He was the one that didn’t belong.
Without a word, Jason throws his guns into the table and removes his helmet. He meets the man’s gaze. “Happy?” Bruce didn’t need to know about the hidden weapons on him.
The alpha ignores him, diving straight into the debrief. Jason tries to pay attention but the pheromones were getting to his head. Reminding him that he was an unwanted omega in hostile territory.
He‘s lucky that they didn’t make him take the domino mask off.
“Are you even paying attention, Hood?” Bruce snaps at him, irritation clear in his scent.
“Obviously,” Jason tried his hardest to keep his voice calm. He didn’t want to further anger the alpha.
Damian’s eyes are narrowed. “If you’re paying attention as much as you claim to be then what was Father just saying.”
Everyone was looking at him now. Their scents grew impatient as they waited for an answer that they knew he couldn’t provide. He burns with humiliation.
“Relax.” Cassandra’s voice cut through the tension in the room. “Everyone tired.”
“And whose fault is that” Damian demanded, “Hood was the one that took forever to get to the cave. He was the one that disappeared the moment the mission ended! In fact,” Damian sneered, his voice increasing as he glared at Jason with so much venom that the omega had to suppress a flinch. “How do we know that he wasn’t that one that released the rogues in the first place?”
Jason clenches his fists and he felt whatever remains of their bond dissipate. He knew that this was bound to happen but Jason still clung to idiotic hope that somehow, someway, the bond would repair itself again.
“Damian,” Someone warns “Leave it.”
The youngest doesn’t argue and Jason wonders if he felt the bond between them break too. Dick put his hand on Damian’s shoulder but it was immediately shrugged off. “I’m not wrong.”
“And no one said you were,” The man tries to encourage. He says something else but Jason couldn’t focus enough to hear it.
The pheromones were grating against him, messing with his head. And the newly broken bond doesn’t help either. It was like a million ants were crawling on his skin and it became obvious that Jason had to leaveleaveleave! He wasn’t safe here and all of a sudden, he was moving before he can even register what he was doing.
“Jason!” Bruce growls. “Where do you think you’re going? We’re not done.”
The alpha doesn’t bother hiding his scent. He’s radiating anger and irritation. It takes everything in Jason to not drop to his knees in submission. Instead, he growls, forcing as much annoyance into it as he can.
The bats believe that he’s an alpha and Jason will do anything so they can still believe that ruse.
“Let him go, Bruce,” Dick says, not even bothering to glance at him. “He’s not useful and no one can deal with his bullshit right now.”
Bruce hesitates but nods. Jason doesn’t waste a second. He grabs his gear and his eyes meet Cassandra’s for a few seconds and there’s no doubt in his body that she knows.
Jason turns away. He doesn’t have time to dwell on that information right now. He can deal with it later. When he’s away from the bats. When he’s safe.
He rushes to his safe house. The one that Jason is certain the bats don’t know about. It doesn’t matter how much surveillance they have on Jason. He knows all their tricks and can evade them with ease. It comes in handy at times like this.
Jason thought he had more time. Ivy’s pollen or not, it takes more than a few hours to induce a full-blown heat.
He’s sweaty and tired and when he lays down on his empty nest, he swallows down the whine climbing up his throat.