Chapter Text
It started in Dick’s last year of high school. He was nearly eighteen, well past the age when he should have already presented if he wasn’t a beta like his parents.
But then, there were always late bloomers.
Dick had collapsed in gym and the school nurse had called Bruce to come pick Dick up. When Dick awoke, he found Bruce and the nurse speaking in hushed voices, and when Bruce looked at him, it was with a mix of pride and disappointment.
“You had your first heat,” Bruce told him, on the way home that day. Dick wouldn’t be going back to school until it wore off. “I should’ve been more careful. I might have guessed you’d present late, but I didn’t think….” He shook his head. “Don’t worry, Dick. You’re strong.”
Dick felt kinda sick, but said nothing the whole ride home.
Heats, he decided, were the worst. He was stuck in his room all day, could barely concentrate, and wasn’t allowed to go out on patrol, either. Only Alfred came in to see him, bringing Dick food and water to keep him going.
“Why can’t Bruce see me?” Dick asked.
“It’s not safe.”
“He can control himself,” Dick muttered.
Alfred squeezed his shoulder. “We don’t know if you can.”
Dick decided he’d stop talking about it.
He lost about five pounds by the time his heat was over, just from sweating it out. His appetite was voracious when he was finally let out of his room. He’d missed patrol, exercising, even school. It had taken a full week, which Bruce assured him was normal for a first heat, but this didn’t make Dick feel any better.
When he went back to school, his schedule had changed.
The dropped him from woodworking into home economics, switched his lunch to match the other omegas’, and kicked him out of gym class and put him in French, a language he already spoke fluently. He also now had a free class period which was meant to be spent with the other omegas learning about themselves and their new duties as adults.
Dick hated it.
“Bruce?” Dick asked one evening before patrol. “Can you tell the school to put me back into my old classes?”
“I’m afraid I can’t, Dick.”
“Why not? You’re rich enough.”
Bruce chuckled, but shook his head. “Dick, these classes are meant to prepare you for life.”
“Yeah, and we’re making a quilt in Home Ec. I don’t see how that’s gonna help me fight crime.”
“That’s supposed to be a secret,” Bruce said.
“I know, but at least I was learning something in Woodworking.” Dick rolled onto his hands. “We’re doing a baby project next week, like that’s important.”
Bruce was silent.
“I mean, doesn’t that seem like something I should take when I’m older? I’m not running off to have a kid. I still am one!”
Bruce sighed harshly through his nose. “Dick.” He turned to look at him. “Your classes are not up for debate.”
“What good is Home Ec gonna do me for college, B? It doesn’t even count as a credit, I checked!”
Bruce blinked. “You still want to go to college?”
Dick righted himself. “Uh, yeah? Why? Did you think that changed?”
“Well, you don’t need to.”
“Yeah. Nobody wants to hire if you don’t go to college. That’s what the counselor said.”
Bruce smiled. “You don’t need to work, Dick. I’ll support you until you bond.”
Dick froze. “I don’t want to.” He shifted his weight. “The Titans and I were thinking of a sort of ‘free love’ commune kind of thing.”
Bruce shook his head. “That was a different time, Dick. You’re not a beta. You can’t do that. And, besides, when you get a little older, you won’t want to.”
Dick frowned.
“Come on. I’ve got your new suit. It will suppress your scent. Get ready for patrol.”
The next indignity came when Bruce Wayne needed to present his ward to society. It hadn’t been necessary before, but all omegas in their social circle were expected to be introduced to their strata. Bruce had let Alfred explain this to Dick, not willing to have another argument over it.
Dick grumbled about it, but Bruce had promised patrol after the party, and Dick was going to hold him to that.
“I’m dressed,” he announced, coming into the parlor where Bruce and Alfred were talking quietly.
“Good,” Bruce said. He picked up a wrapped box from the table. “I have something for you.”
Dick’s eyes lit up, then faded in suspicion. “What is it?”
Bruce laughed and opened it, pulling out a beautiful—if such things can be described thusly—blue collar.
“The heck?”
“It’s for you, Dick,” Bruce said. “For protection. I thought this would match your eyes.”
“Why?”
“It’s to protect you. You’ll look stunning in it. Come here.”
Dick moved forward, his body tensing, ready to run. But this was Bruce. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. He was just clueless. That was it. Well-meaning, but kinda dumb.
Bruce fastened the collar around Dick’s neck. It felt heavy, a thick leather-wrapped metal.
“There,” Bruce said. “That’s better.”
“Why do I need this again?” Dick asked.
“There’s going to be a lot of strange alphas around tonight. This way, in case we get separated, you won’t get hurt. But don’t worry, Dick, I’ll look after you.”
“You know I can take care of myself,” Dick said.
“But you don’t know how you’ll react. There are always single alphas at these things, looking for a new omega. I don’t want anyone forcing you.” Bruce locked the collar and Dick jumped.
“This way, you can’t open it, either,” Bruce said, pocketing the small key. “Just in case.”
Dick growled under his breath, but said nothing.
The party was horrible. There was so much posturing, so much pomp and expense, and, the worst part, all the other omegas being presented were so much younger than him. He overheard a couple talking about who their parents would be setting them up with, and how excited they were to turn eighteen. One even had the audacity to say he was jealous of Dick for already being of age to bond.
Overall, Dick felt mostly sick, and definitely angry.
That night, after patrol, Dick applied for Hudson University, a college that actually recruited omegas. Dick didn’t give Bruce a chance to talk to him about his future mating prospects after his high school graduation. He informed Bruce that night that he’d been accepted at Hudson, and that he’d be leaving in the morning for New York.
To say that Bruce was disappointed was an understatement, but he didn’t stop Dick. Dick actually smiled genuinely for the first time in months.
His classes at Hudson and patrolling at night were killing his social life, but that was fine. He was set up in an omega-only boardinghouse, which worked out great for his nightly activities. He dropped out after his first year at college, not because he couldn’t hack it, but because he wanted to focus on leading the Titans. Bruce was still supporting him financially, so Dick followed his heart.
He kept an apartment in town for rest and heats, someplace away from the prying eyes and scents of his teammates. Dick had almost told Donna about his secret—after all, she’d been with him since the beginning—but something always stopped him. He kept seeing Bruce’s changed nature towards him in her eyes, and he couldn’t bear it.
Bruce, meanwhile, had adopted a son, a young teen named Jason. Dick hadn’t actually met him, but he sent him his Robin suit as a symbol of his love, letting Bruce know Dick had moved on, and letting Jason know he was free to be Robin with Dick’s blessing.
With Batman and the new Robin handling Gotham, and the Titans drifting apart, Dick headed to another city: Gotham’s wicked little stepsister, Blüdhaven.
Blüdhaven was worse than Gotham in a lot of ways. Its corruption ran deep, all the way through. His perfect cover in this new city would be a cop.
Except, he forgot one important thing.
“We don’t hire omegas,” the recruiter told him, taking one sniff of him, not even bothering to look up from his desk.
“That’s sex discrimination,” Dick said, standing straighter.
The cop looked up at him. “Yeah? You wanna file a complaint? Take it to Metropolis, where they give a shit.”
Well, that plan was right out.
Working at a cop bar, then, might give him the insight he’d need.
He walked into the bar and was nearly overwhelmed by the stench of alphas. Shaking off the tingles in his joints from the smell, Dick headed to the bar.
“We don’t serve civilians.”
“I’m not looking for a drink. I’m looking for a job,” Dick said. “Need a bartender, bouncer, busboy?”
The bartender looked him over. “We don’t hire omegas. Bad for business.”
“Are they,” Dick said.
“Look around,” the bartender said. “These guys were relaxing, now look at them. You got them all keyed up. For your own sake, we don’t hire omegas.”
Dick sucked his teeth and glared around the bar. “Yeah, you and everybody else in this town.”
The bartender—probably the only beta in the room, judging by the way he wasn’t sniffing Dick out—shrugged. “I’d move on if I were you, friend.”
Dick shook out his shoulders. “Yeah. Guess I will.”
Well, even if he couldn’t be hired in the damn city, at least he could still protect it.
He only returned to Gotham when he heard about Jason.
Dick had to be the rock for both of them, for Bruce for allowing his son to nearly be killed, and especially for Jason, who had to learn how to do everything all over again. For the first time in his life, Dick felt like a caretaker, like he knew he *should* feel.
He ached to return to the ‘Haven, to go out on patrol on his own, to lead a team, to just be alone.
At least in Blüdhaven, they hated him outright. Gotham was too sophisticated for that. In Gotham, they lulled you into a false sense of progressiveness.
It took almost a year for Jason to recover. He’d never be Robin again.
Dick moved back out as soon as he could, only to have some kid come up and tell him he had to go back home, because Batman needed his Robin. He let Bruce and Jason handle that.
The next thing he knew, Batman had a new Robin, and Dick had a new enemy.
Blockbuster.
For six months, he tore down Blockbuster’s life, and for months after, Blockbuster tore apart his. Then, Blockbuster was dead.
And Gotham had been nearly demolished by an earthquake.
Dick returned home.
Jason presented as an alpha. Now there were two of them in the house. But Dick couldn’t worry about that. He had a city to save.
He tried to be the best big brother he could be. Both Jason and Tim looked up to him, but there was a strange hesitance about their admiration. Like maybe he wasn’t good enough.
Like maybe he smelled too funny.
Gotham healed, like all cities do, in time. Tim moved into the manor after a terrible year.
And then Tim presented as an alpha.
Dick had acquired several different scent blockers over the years, but none of them seemed to work when the smell of alphas was present everywhere he went.
So, Dick moved out again.
Bruce found out he had a biological son, and, well, for lack of a better term, took him in.
Then Bruce died.
Dick came back to the manor. Jason was in no shape to be Batman, although he was stronger than before, he still had never regained his full agility. Tim was too young to take over, but Dick….
He had never really wanted to do this. But he had no choice. Gotham needed Batman, and Damian needed guidance.
It worked fine for a while, until Damian came into Dick’s room one night. Dick was just getting out of the shower when he found Damian sitting on his bed.
“Both Mother and Father were alphas,” Damian began. “I am sure to be one. Todd and Drake are alphas. But you.” He sniffed the air. “But you’re not. You’re an omega.”
“Thanks for stating the obvious, kid,” Dick said, a little harsher than normal.
“What’s Father’s is mine,” he continued. “Father never adopted you.”
“You can’t adopt adult omegas,” Dick said, then kicked himself for it. “Damian, you’re sitting on my clothes.”
Damian didn’t move. “That means I should be Batman, Grayson. You’re not fit to be.”
Dick took a deep breath, very glad that Damian was too young to have presented yet. “I’m going to count to five. By the time I’m done, I want you off my clothes. One.”
“I don’t have to listen to an omega!”
“Two.”
“When I present, I’m going to bond you.”
“Three.”
“Grayson, this is silly.”
“Four!”
“Why didn’t Father bond you?”
“Five!”
“I told you, I’m not—Oof!”
Dick roughly pushed Damian off the bed and grabbed his clothes. Damian squawked in indignation.
“Next time I tell you to do something , Robin,” Dick said, his voice slipping into Batman’s register. “You do it. Understood?”
Damian glared at him. “No.”
Dick grabbed Damian’s chin. “Robin. I’m in charge here. You’re ten. You’ll do as I ask, or so help me, I’ll ground you from patrol.”
Damian’s eyes widened. He jerked his head out of Dick’s grip and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Dick sank to the floor, knowing he’d just messed up. Again.
When Bruce came back, nobody was more relieved than Dick. He could go from the manor. He could rejoin the Titans, or even join the Justice League. He could move out without guilt.
But he wouldn’t.
He wouldn't get the chance.