Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Dick’s missing.”

Those two words were enough to make Batman pause and finally look at Jason. Tendrils of darkness slowly crept over Bruce’s shoulders, shadowing his face underneath the cowl till all that could be seen were two intimidating slits of white. “What.” The deep voice of the batman growled out.

 “He’s gone. His apartment’s empty, keys returned and his Nightwing suit was hidden in a safe in the wall. His scent smelled a couple of days old. I went and interrogated his landlady and apparently Dick returned his keys last night around midnight. He didn’t tell her where he was going or anything but she said he did seem upset and angry.” Jason’s eyes glared accusingly at the figure in the shadows.

“Same story at the Bludhaven precinct, they received an email from officer Grayson at midnight with his resignation and found his badge, gun and uniform at his locker this morning. Oracle tried to track his trackers but can’t seem to find a single one, it’s like he dropped off the face of the earth. I sent Tim out to the Titans to see if they’ve heard from him, but no luck so far.” Jason watched as Bruce’s shoulders slowly hunched in as though they were carrying the weight of the world.

“Bruce, we all heard the yelling yesterday. And we know Nightwing wouldn’t just up and leave unless you said something. So now we all want to know exactly what it is you said. What did you say that would make Nightwing feel so angry that he would disappear off the face of the earth for, that he would leave his family for?” Jason stepped closer, practically nose to cowl with Bruce as he asked his question.

“That is none of your business.”

“It becomes my business when Dick disappears! And your reaction just proves my point, you said something that made him leave. What. Did. You. Say.” Each word was emphasized with a jab of the finger into Bruce’s chest. It might’ve been Jason’s imagination but he was sure he saw Bruce wince for a split second. But it was impossible to tell because batman turned on his heel and walked away before Jason could discern exactly what he had seen.

“Inform me of any updates.” Batman growled before jumping in the batmobile and riding off, leaving Jason alone in the dark shadows of the cave.

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“What did father say?”

“Was it Bruce’s fault-“ “Does he know where-?”

“Have you found any leads?”

“Have you checked-“

Jason was bombarded by questions the moment his comm came online. He didn’t know what to do, this wasn’t his thing. This was Nightwing’s job, Dick had always been the one to calm the group done and give orders but with him gone the task had fallen to red hood, the second eldest of them all.

“Guys.”

“Of course Todd got the information, he’s not a complete idiot like you Drake.”

“Why you little-“

“GUYS!”

Silence reigned over the comms and Jason could physically feel everyone’s attention on him.

“I got nothing from Bruce.”

As the lines went into chaos again at the news, Jason couldn’t help but wince. If they didn’t find Dick soon he’s not sure how long this family was going to last.

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Somewhere far away from Gotham, there was a man standing in the streets of Paris, oblivious to the chaos he had started, clutching a baby to his chest.

He gently brushed black hair away from the baby’s face, to look into its blue eyes. The baby looked up and caught eyes with the man before cooing. The man smiled gently and stooped his neck to kiss the baby’s forehead.

“It’s okay. Daddy’s still here, even if no one else wants you… or me.”

Chapter Text

Dick sighed and took another shot of vodka before looking down at the tablet on his lap. The magazine headlines on the top of the page in capital red letters declared ‘Bruce’s new amour’. Underneath the words was a picture of Bruce and a woman with short black hair in a sleek black dress, arm in arm with Bruce smiling down at her. The magazine had tried to keep the woman’s name a secret to keep the readers in suspense but Dick recognized the figure in an instant. After all, one doesn’t forget their object of jealousy and envy so easily.

He had spent many years examining Selina, trying to figure out what about her enticed Bruce so much, and how he could incorporate into himself. Even after Bruce and he had gotten together he couldn’t help but be paranoid about her. She had everything Bruce usually went for; a classic and elegant beauty, a real personality, and more importantly: a history with him as lovers.

Bruce had tried over and over again to reassure him that he would never ditch Dick for her but it seems Dick had been right in his paranoia. He had been dumped, and Bruce had run back to her without seemingly a second thought.

Rubbing his neck where his mating gland was, Dick stared at Bruce’s smile wondering if it was as real as it seemed or if Bruce was secretly regretting his decision to leave Dick. If he missed Dick as much as he missed Bruce. Dick shook his head, trying to dispel the thought. There was no point in dwelling on things like that, he was dumped and that was it. He’s not going to spend the rest of his life pining over Bruce, if Bruce was going to dump him then he didn’t understand how awesome Dick was. Dick sighed again for the hundredth time in the past hour, eying the empty bottle in front of him.

Getting up, he made his way to the mini fridge in his apartment’s tiny kitchen, pausing to stare out the doors to the balcony at the beautiful view of the Eiffel tower the ad for the apartment had boasted of. It didn’t matter what Bruce thought anyways, Dick snorted as he thought. Finishing his journey to the mini fridge, he grabbed another bottle of vodka from his never ending supply before grabbing a pre-made bottle of baby milk and sticking it into the microwave as an after-thought.

He was totally over Bruce. He was over him like Dorothy was over the rainbow. Like the seventeen hundreds’ trend of powdered wigs was over. So over him he was practically high. A loud cry from the living room shook him out of his thoughts and another sigh escaped his mouth before he made his way to the microwave to pick up the bottle, then to the living room where the cries were coming from.

As soon as Dick entered the room the cries quieted down as the baby recognized the scent of his mother. Dick smiled as he looked into the crib where his baby lied, softly cooing up at him and making grabbing motions at Dick. He picked the baby up, bringing the child to his neck where his scent was the strongest and burying his nose in the baby’s hair. The familiar rush of warmth and parental love rushed through him, bringing tears to his eyes and sobering him in seconds. He had to stay strong for the baby. Bruce was in the past now and his baby was the future.

Feeling the baby fuss in his arms, he shifted the baby to a more comfortable position and brought the bottle to the baby’s lips, watching as tiny lips latched onto the bottle’s nipple and a tiny hand came up to cover his own. Reassured that the baby was feeding and not just going through one of their fits for attention, he let his eyes wander around the apartment. His eyes slid past the finely furnished living room and dining room to an open box of photos.

A photo of him and Bruce lied on top. He was smiling in the picture as Bruce held him bridal style and also smiling. Another wave of tears came to his eyes and he pushed it down. He looked into a corner of his room, watching as the shadows seemed to swirl around each other.

He was totally over Bruce.

Chapter Text

Bruce laughed uproariously along with the other socialites as someone told another crass joke. In his hand was an already half empty champagne glass, the alcohol barely helping with the mind numbness that this gala and other social events seemed to always carry. He cautiously took another sip from his glass, swirling the liquor in his mouth as he examined the room with a careful eye.

The Wayne manor ballroom had been transformed for this event and Bruce had to hand it to Alfred, the room looked worth the thousand hundreds of dollars Bruce had spent. The chandeliers above glimmered and cast soft lights and shadows on the wealthy people milling around; complementing the warm atmosphere a pit orchestra played a lively waltz in the corner of the room where people had gathered to dance. He watched as women in long and showy dresses twirled, the scent of various alphas and omegas washing over him.

His nose wrinkled and Bruce fought the urge to snarl and growl as his alpha began pacing, infuriated at the scent of other people in his territory- in his territory when his omega was missing! Bruce shook his head and took another sip of his champagne, shoving his alpha as far back in his mind as he could. His hands gripped the glass flute tightly, the knuckles turning white as they usually did when he thought of Dick.

 The younger man had left months ago without a word and Bruce found he didn’t care. What Dick had done was despicable and unforgiveable. For all Bruce cared he could go rot in a hole. His alpha snarled from a corner of his mind in disagreement with the thought and Bruce pushed him back down. He lifted the glass flute in his hands to his mouth, in hopes that the buzz would be enough to forget, to find that his glass was empty. Sighing he excused himself from the group of irritating socialites and grabbed himself another glass before going to a corner of the room to watch his party from.

Bruce’s eyes wander the scene again, this time not examining, just looking, looking for a distraction. As he stared at an old couple dance and laugh as they tripped over each other’s feet, he saw a figure in the back of the room with his back facing Bruce out of the corner of his eyes. He gazed at the man, his heart pounding in his chest and hiss alpha perking up at the sight. He examined the strong and shapely back, the wide shoulders and- no, the man turned, green eyes not blue and a softer jawline than Dick had. His alpha whined in misery and Bruce bit back a bitter scowl.

Tipping the glass back he drank the champagne in one shot, then went and got another glass, and another, and another. By the time Bruce was finished the pleasant buzz he had been feeling had transformed into a full-on vibration and all thoughts of Dick were gone. In other words, he was drunk. He smiled as he saw Selina walk towards him, a concerned look on her face.

“Bruce, are you okay?” Selina asked, examining Bruce’s face as she laid a worried hand on his arm. Bruce smirked and lent in closer in a suggestive way, letting Selina smell the champagne on his breath.

“I’m fine, but I know a way to get better.” Bruce closed the space between them in a passionate kiss. Selina pushed him away panting.

“Bruce, no, what about-“Bruce pushed her hand away and leaned in again, their breaths mingling.

“About nothing.” Bruce said with a smirk, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips before moving down to her mating gland where he began to suck. Selina moaned and the few people that were near their corner began giving them looks.

“Let’s take this elsewhere.” Bruce whispered, pulling off her mating gland and dragging her toward the exit. As he left, he felt the accusing eyes of his sons and butler on his back but not even that would deter him.

Chapter Text

It was an unspoken rule in the batfamily that any disagreements and fights that happened upstairs in the manor as themselves would stay upstairs, the same applied to any of their nightly business. Or as Jason and the rest of the family had taken to saying “What happens in the batcave, stays in the batcave”, a parodied version of the saying “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. The topic of tonight’s upcoming fight in the cave would not be about batman business, but it would affect their nighttime activities all the same.

Jason gritted his teeth as he stood outside the shower chambers. Bruce had come down two hours ago, gruffly commanding everyone to go on patrol before retreating into a shower cubicle as fast as he had appeared. But not before the entire pack had taken a good whiff of the scent of a foreign omega on Bruce. The entirety of the cave had growled collectively, an intimidating sound individually but together… it was terrifying. Even little Damian, who at the age of twelve hadn’t presented yet, growled a growl worthy of an alpha.

The scent was practically ingrained in his head by now, just the memory enough to raise his hackles and start a rumble in his chest. It was a well-known fact that Catwoman and Batman had a thing and that they had warmed each other’s bed before. But all that had been put to a stop when Dick and Bruce had gotten together.

When Nightwing and Batman’s relationship finally reached the Red Hood’s ears, Jason had been furious. As a minor living on Gotham’s corrupted streets he had heard too many stories of alphas taking advantage of omegas, many which included rape and forced bonds. So of course, Jason had gone to confront them. Though, maybe crashing through Wayne enterprises window into a meeting and holding a gun to Bruce Wayne’s head before kidnapping him might have been a little overboard.

Stuck in his thoughts, he almost missed Bruce as he stormed out of the shower cubicles dressed as Batman. As the man walked past him, he grabbed his arm and twisted his wrist forcing the hero to stand in front of him. His inner alpha cowered in fear when Batman growled, but he ignored it, instead choosing to pose casually, his hip jutting out and arms swinging casually at his side.

“How have you been B-man?” Jason asked, a smirk creeping unto his face. Small talk always frustrated the Batman and it was the easiest way to catch the man off guard and get his answers quicker.

“Jason. Let me go.” More growling.

“Not a chance, we need to talk about this little tryst you have going on with Selina.” Jason replied calmly, not even blinking an eye when Batman snarled ripping his arm out of Jason’s hold before storming away. Jason followed him at a leisurely stroll, following him to the main computers before starting the conversation again. “We’re not done yet. What’s going on between you and Selina?”

“None of your business.” Batman grinds through his teeth, turning around dramatically to tower over Jason intimidating with low growls escaping his chest. For a moment Jason feels himself fill with fear and the overwhelming desire to submit before he remembers Dick and anger takes over.

“You’re an ass, Bruce. I know you and Dick are fighting now but this constitutes as cheating, it’s not like when you two were dating and could take breaks. You’re bonded now, mates! Dick can feel it when you cheat on him, he knows you were with someone and how do you think it makes him feel? Can you get over your fucking pride and go talk to your husband instead of…. Instead of…. Doing whatever the fuck it is you’re doing!”

The cave was silent and for a second Jason thought he was going to get punched in the face before Bruce collapsed into a chair with a sigh that seemed to put years on him. He pulled off his cowl before staring down at his hands and Jason felt trepidation course through him because the only time Bruce looked like this was when he had ground-breaking, life changing news and frankly Jason wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“I broke our bonds.” Bruce whispered, his eyes closed and face in pain. Jason’s vision went red and before he knew it he had slapped Bruce across the face.

“You fucker! You broke your bonds! Your goddamn bonds! You know how much it fuckin hurts the omega! Fuck, 75% of omegas don’t even survive it. And you let Dick leave! Leave, when he’s in need of his pack’s support the most! Did you even give him any medical care?!” Jason roared, not even caring that he was threatening his pack leader. His mind was a haze and at Bruce’s guilty expression he knew exactly what the other man’s answer to his question was.

“You asshole, fucking egoistical buffoon.” Jason yelled, walking towards the cave exit where his motorcycle was because he knew if he stayed any longer he would shoot Bruce.

“Jason.” He paused, his leg in mid-swing over his motorcycle glaring where Bruce had stood up from his chair. He watched as the older man rubbed his face, guilt staining it. “He was pregnant.”

And that’s when Jason fucking lost it.

Chapter Text

Dick gritted his teeth as he turned over in the bed, pulling the pillow over his ears in hopes of cutting the sound off. The pillows don’t listen to his wishes and instead the wails from the other side of the room seem to grow louder. Moaning, Dick rolled over, staring at the ceiling as he willed the tears in his eyes to stand by. He had tried everything from feeding to rocking to changing the diapers but his baby wouldn’t stop crying.

His baby.

 He had always wanted a baby. It had been his childhood dream to have a huge family after he found out that his parents couldn’t have more children. Dick used to spend days dreaming about his future pack and how his alpha would look after he finally presented at age 12. And even as an adult he would find himself thinking about his future children as he handed a little girl he saved from a burning building over to her distraught mother.

 But all these dreams had occurred after Dick was 25, had settled down with an alpha, had a steady job and maybe living in a house in the suburbs. Even after he started dating Bruce his dreams had never changed except for the suburbs part. Suddenly, his world had been flipped around and he had gotten his dream at age 23, while he was homeless, jobless and bond-broken.

The tears that he had been holding back finally escaped and Dick shoved his fist in his mouth as he tried to quiet the sobs that threatened to leave his body. He was tired of crying, tired of being sleep-deprived, tired of the tiny creature that was so dangerously dependent of him.

Tired of hurting.

He just wanted to sleep. Ignore the cries and sleep forever. Sleep till the end of time.

It’s not like anyone would miss him. He was already a failure as a mate, it was his fault that Bruce broke their bond. After all, he had been stronger, he should’ve been able to push her off. Dick had failed Bruce twice that day and now he was failing his son. He was a failure, that’s all he was, he couldn’t even figure out how to comfort his own child. His baby was going to grow up with a failure of mom. Pounding began from the wall next to the bed and with glazed eyes Dick turned towards it, watching it with an uninterested gaze.

Hours could’ve passed or seconds but eventually the sharp wails quieted into whimpers then silence, the pounding from apartment over had stopped. But Dick was still in the same position, eyes closed and breath deep, ignorant of the figure that watched both mother and child with predatory eyes.

_

(A week before)

It had been awhile since he had been to France, Slade mused as he sipped his coffee in the corner of a dainty café he always made a point to visit when he was in the country. It held a beautiful view of the Seine and he always enjoyed watching the hordes of people hurrying around the streets. Scanning the streets, Slade stiffened as his eye caught the sight of a familiar face. His eyes were rimmed red and the bags under his eyelids made him seem older than he already was but Slade would never forget the face of Richard Grayson, not after all the plans he had foiled and escapes he had made from Slade’s tutelage. He could apparently even recognize his former apprentice with a post-pregnancy body and a child strapped to his chest.

Slade hummed in interest, taking a sip of his coffee as he continued watching the figure in the distance. He had heard that the boy had a fall out with the Bat, but had never thought it would’ve been because of a child. He had heard the rumors that the low-classed thugs had spread, after all he wouldn’t know what he did if he didn’t have his ear to the ground at all times.

Nightwing had been abducted in the last alien invasion.

Nightwing and batman had a fall out due to one of Nightwing’s old lover’s child.

Batman and Nightwing were secretly dating and Nightwing was pregnant with their lovechild.

But seeing was believing, and Slade certainly believed now.

The break up must’ve been very… hurtful, he mused as he watched the normally chatty and bright man sigh in weariness as he took the crying child out of the chest strap. He took in the child’s features, his thoughts churning as a plan formed in his head.