Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jason was irritated that he hadn’t been able to follow his replacement home, tonight. He had been planning this for a while, and had even gone as far as to put cameras in his house. It was a large house, and it was basically a museum. 

A perfect house, for a perfect Robin. 

It only made him angrier. Timothy Drake was the picture perfect Bristol kid, who didn’t even appear to have a secondary gender. The perfect soldier for Bruce to replace him with. It was rare, nearly unheard of, for someone to be without a secondary gender, no enlarged scent glands on their necks or wrists, no other instincts intertwined in their behavior. 

Bruce, an alpha, had his perfect Robin, Dick, also an alpha. Then Dick wanted to branch off to something new, and Bruce had found him. Jason, an omega. Neither Bruce nor Dick had initially wanted him to be Robin. Jason figured it was because he was an omega. Eventually, he proved himself enough to Bruce, and was allowed. He loved being Robin. It gave him magic. 

And then that magic killed him. 

And Bruce replaced him, with someone who was better than him in every way. Bruce learned from his mistakes, since Tim wasn’t an omega.  Just the thought of the new Robin made green flood his vision, and thoughts of murder run through his mind. He couldn’t just outright kill him, no, he had to get him away from Bruce, away from Batman. He didn’t want to chance Bruce stopping him. He’d run into them a few times on patrol, and he’d been pretty hostile towards them, not just to Robin. He didn’t want to risk Bruce hiding his little bird away. 

The one mistake Bruce made was finding a kid with parents, so he couldn’t adopt him. He found someone who wasn’t an orphan, and it was what gave Jason the perfect opening. He’d been watching, stalking Tim for weeks now, pretty much since he’d first gotten back to Gotham. The boy lived with his parents, though they were gone often on business trips. He seemed fine, and happy without them being home, which had only confused and angered Jason more. Who likes when their parents aren’t around? Does he even know how much Jason begged for Willis and Catherine to be present and around? 

He’d planned to follow Tim back to Drake manor tonight, and ambush him there, where he was away from any weapons, away from Bruce, his parents gone. No one to protect him. Unfortunately, he’d run into some issues with a drug shipment, and had to handle that. 

So here he was, helmet on, sitting at the head of a table, listening to whatever bullshit excuse he was being given as to why his shipment was late. He wished his helmet was off so he could rub at his temples. 

A notification pinged at the side of his vision inside his helmet. Motion detected at Drake Manor. Tim must be home. He had motion detecting cameras in Tim’s room, though the notifications were only set to notify him around the end of the Bat’s patrol. He’d seen a few from Tim’s room earlier in the day, but hadn’t paid much attention to them, knowing they had to have some sort of housekeeper. It wasn’t during a time Tim was home, anyways, so he didn’t care who was in his room. 

The video feed popped up, taking over a section of his vision, though it was slightly transparent, so he could still see the sorry excuse for a man who was blubbering on in front of him. He tuned him out, mostly focusing on the video feed. 

Tim had crawled through his bedroom window, staggering, obviously tired. He rubbed his eyes, walking across the floor in the direction of his bathroom. Suddenly, he froze just as he passed his bed. Jason thought the feed froze for a second, before Tim’s arms fell slowly to his sides, and he turned, equally as slowly, to stare at his bed. 

Jason looked at it as well. It was made with only a topsheet, and one singular pillow. Which was odd, and Jason remembered it having a little more on it when he set the cameras up. A couple more pillows and at least a comforter, if not a couple more blankets. 

“Shit.” He hears, hissed from the camera feed. “Shit. Fuck. This can’t- they’re not supposed to be home-” Tim’s voice cracks, and his hands raise again to grip at his hair. He starts to pace, still tightly gripping at his hair. 

Watching him pace has Jason intrigued, and he raises a hand to the man talking before him, who promptly shuts up. 

“I give you twelve hours to get my shipment. Leave, I got an important transmission.” He said, waving him off as he leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other and tilting his head slightly up, indicating he was watching something inside his helmet. 

What could have made Tim so freaked out? What about his bed clued him in, to make him react like this? His replacement seemed to be hiding something from him, and Jason wanted to know what it was. 

On video, Tim’s breathing was picking up, and he stepped in the wrong area. The floorboard let out a creak, and Tim went still. He didn’t even look like he was breathing. His head snapped to the door, hearing something that the camera didn’t pick up. He hastily ran his hands through his hair and brought his hands down to his sides. Just in time, as his door was pushed open aggressively, hitting the wall. Tim flinched. 

“Where were you?” It was his mother, Janet. Interesting, Jason’s intel about them hadn’t placed them back in Gotham for at least another month. 

“I was- out.” Tim’s voice was meek, not anything like the confident Robin he’s seen on the streets. 

“Out. Out? Out being a tramp? You just can’t seem to follow the rules we give you, Timothy.” Janet hissed. The words were odd to Jason. Tramp?

“I saw your bed! I told you what was going to happen if I ever saw that again!” She stepped towards him, up into his personal space, and Tim would have flinched if he didn’t steel himself, which Jason could see. Janet was pulling at his clothes. 

“Take them off. I know you have them on. Get them off, now!” Tim’s hands were shaky as they lifted. They were brought between him and his mother, and he picked at the skin on his wrists. After a moment, he was peeling off a patch from each arm. His hands lifted to his neck to do the same. 

Jason’s eyebrows raised. Tim had a secondary gender, after all? What was Janet talking about? All of Tim’s medical records had said nothing in regard to a secondary gender. And trust him, he’s read Tim’s medical records. He was very thorough in his stalking. 

Janet let out a low growl as the patches came off and she slapped them out of Tim’s hands, and started to pull at his shirt again, pulling it up over his head. 

“Take your clothes off. Now!”

“Mother-”

Tim was interrupted by a backhand to the face, and Jason was so shocked by that, that he sat up, both feet meeting the ground. 

“Take your clothes off, and get into the bathroom. I knew you were a disappointment from the moment you were born, but I at least expected you to follow my rules.” She hissed at him, and pushed him in the direction of the bathroom. Tim had flinched heavily when she brought up the bathroom, and he started to dig his feet in, shaking his head.

“Please, mother. I won’t do it again! Please, not- not this!” Tim begged, but he kept stripping. 

“I don’t care! No child of mine is going to be like that, even if I have to force it out of you.” She said, pushing Tim into the bathroom. The camera feed switched to the one in the bathroom, which Jason was starting to have a weird feeling in his stomach about even having put it there. He’d put it in there, not really thinking about it. He was planning to kill his replacement, so why would he care about his privacy? 

It was starting to dawn on him that his replacement was a kid. A child. 

Jason stood up. He wasn’t sure what Janet was going to do to Tim, but he wasn’t going to sit and do nothing about it. Plans were changing. Killing Tim was no longer the plan. 

Jason kept his eyes in appropriate places as Tim was now naked in the bathroom. He felt weird about the cameras, and he felt creepy. It was something he would never have done in any other situation.

His mom marched them over to the shower, and shoved Tim into it. He tripped over the edge and fell into the shower, smacking his head onto the wall. It was a clean hit, and Jason heard the clear smack it made over the camera. He made a face at that, knowing it was going to cause some damage. Tim was quiet, only moving himself so he was kneeling in the shower. 

As Janet walked to the vanity to dig under the sink, Jason turned around, marching towards the small garage of cars he kept at this warehouse. He picked one that would go the fastest and grabbed the keys from the glovebox, turning it on. He sped out of the warehouse, and through the warehouse district. He was sure the tires and suspension would be fucked up from this, as he was being pretty reckless. It was times like this that he missed the batmobile. 

It was like his Pit addled mind had just realized Tim was a child. He’d been calling him a kid this whole time, because Robin was always a kid. But he’d been more focused on the ‘replacement’ part of things. But his number one rule was to not mess with kids. His replacement didn’t get a free pass from that. 

As he pulled onto the highway, seeing it wide open, he sped up. He was still on the other side of Gotham to Bristol, but he was going to get there as fast as he could. He looked back to the camera feed, and his stomach dropped. 

The shower was on, and what Janet had pulled out from under the sink was a scrub brush. 

She had the water pouring down over Tim’s head, and was scrubbing at his neck, right over his scent gland. He could see the one facing the camera had already gotten this treatment, as it was red and looked like it was bleeding. 

He slammed on the breaks, pulling over on the side of the highway. He yanked his helmet off, and opened the door just in time to throw up right outside his door. He couldn’t imagine the pain, the humiliation. Was Tim an omega? This couldn’t be because of him having no secondary gender, he wouldn’t have been wearing scent patches otherwise. He couldn’t imagine someone doing this to an alpha or a beta. It had to be because he was an omega. 

Oh God. The one mistake Bruce made was finding a kid with parents, so he couldn’t adopt him.

Jason spat at the ground, getting the last of the vomit out of his mouth, knowing he was just going to have to live with the sour taste in his mouth for now, and he resituated himself in the driver's seat, and took off, continuing his course towards Drake manor. He didn’t put the helmet back on. He couldn’t stomach seeing that and keep driving at the same time. 

—

Even in the middle of the night with no traffic, it took far too long to get to Bristol. Drake manor didn’t have gates like Wayne manor did, and he sped up the driveway and slammed on the brakes, parking in front of the house. He barely paused long enough to pull the keys from the ignition and grab his helmet. He still had his guns strapped on him, and he slipped the helmet on his head, the video feed having closed from him taking his helmet off. He didn’t reopen it. He stalked up to the front door and tried the handle. It was unlocked, and he strolled in. 

The house was just as sterile and stale as when he had set up the cameras, but it felt so different this time. There were scents floating about, that he hadn’t smelled last time. A distinctly alphan scent, that was angry. That must be Janet. He knew she was an alpha. It smelled fresh, but diluted. As if she was here recently, but had just passed through. But under it was a softer scent. Soft, clearly still young, and clearly omegan, and it was overwhelmingly filled with fear and pain. 

It had to be Tim. 

Jason needed to see Tim. He would handle Janet and Jack later. If he happened to run into them while he was here, then he’d handle them now, but he needed to see Tim.

He strided up the stairs, and down the hallway that he knew led to Tim’s room, both scents getting stronger, but the omegan one was overtaking the alphan one as the seconds ticked by. He opened the door to Tim’s room, seeing his bed still undisturbed, and the trailing pile of Tim’s clothes. Jason ground his teeth together and made a quick stop at Tim’s closet to grab a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, both with soft inner lining, that he spent frankly too much time looking for(who didn’t have these at the ready? Why didn’t Tim have more lounge clothes?), and he bit at his tongue for a second before he steeled himself enough to walk into the bathroom. 

Tim was still kneeling in the shower, though the water was off. The scrub brush was sitting on the floor of the shower next to him, and there was blood all over him. Jason inhaled sharply, and he moved quickly across the bathroom to assess the damage. 

It was clear the omegan scent was coming from Tim. Tim didn’t even acknowledge that Jason was there in the bathroom with him. Jason didn’t lay a hand on him yet, peering around him to see if he could see where the blood was coming from. It became very obvious after a moment that it was from where he hit his head on the shower wall. He definitely is going to have a concussion from that. Jason shut his eyes for a moment, and exhaled. He pulled his helmet off and set it on the counter, along with the clothes he’d grabbed for Tim. He swallowed as his eyes went to Tim’s neck and saw the angry, swollen, sluggishly bleeding scent glands. 

Tim hadn’t even moved. Jason was pretty sure Tim was dissociating. Jason looked under the sink and saw a first aid kit, and it would have to do for now. He grabbed it, and walked back over to Tim. He kneeled next to the shower and squeezed his hands around the towel for a moment.

“Tim? I’m going to help you. I need to get you cleaned up.” He spoke, his voice shakier than he wanted it to be. Tim didn’t even blink, his chest barely moved to indicate he was breathing. Jason was pretty sure Tim didn’t know he was here, right now. He glanced down at the scrub brush and his anger spiked, and he reached forward to grab it, and Tim moved, this time. He flinched heavily, his eyes squeezing shut and his body tensing, but he didn’t move from his position. 

Jason threw the brush across the room, and he took in a deep breath. He squeezed his own eyes shut for a moment, and grabbed the towel again. He scooted forward a little.

“I’m going to dry you off, and get the blood cleaned off.” He said calmly. He reached up with the towel and gently patted it on his face, clearing it of most of the blood. Once the blood was mostly cleared he could see that the wound was on his forehead, and had mostly stopped bleeding by now. It had a small bump to accompany it. He moved on to keep drying off the rest of his body, being gentle around his scent glands.

Tim let him maneuver him however he wanted or needed to, but still hadn’t said anything or acknowledged his presence. Definitely dissociation. This was dangerous, especially with a concussion. He pursed his lips, and wrapped the towel around Tim’s shoulders. He needed to hear from Tim. He needed to. Needed to know he was okay. Not that he was okay. 

Jason pulled off his gloves, and his armored jacket, leaving himself in his thermals. He grit his teeth for a moment, then pushed his sleeves up and pulled his own scent patches off his wrists, and then his neck. His armor cut out a lot of his scent naturally, but not all of it, and he wasn’t letting it become a weakness again as Red Hood, as it had been as Robin. 

“Robin, Timmy, please talk to me.” He begged, bringing his wrists to Tim’s neck and shoulders, pumping out his own scent, scenting the younger omega in his own pheromones. He kept murmuring to him as he did this, keeping his breaths even. 

It took a moment, but Tim turned a little sluggishly, looking at him with wide, unfocused eyes.

“Jason! My Robin!” He said quietly, a small smile raising the corners of his lips and he leaned over, basically falling into Jason’s chest. 

Jason’s breaths stuttered to a stop for a moment, and one of his arms wrapped securely around Tim, the other digging around in the first aid kit to find a bandaid for his forehead. A purr started up in his chest as he did this, calming Tim down as the boy relaxed against him. 

He was going to protect this boy with his life, no matter what. He had planned to kill Tim. He was- how could he have killed a kid? He’s just a kid! Hearing those words out of Tim’s mouth when he’s delirious, not fully mentally present was like a gunshot to the stomach. The kid obviously had looked up to Jason. 

He remembers Tim, actually. He’d seen him at a few galas, when he was still alive. He was a cute kid, and hadn’t ever talked much. He always had looked at Bruce, Dick, and Jason with stars in his eyes. It had confused Jason, as most others, including Janet and Jack, gave Dick and Jason-mostly Jason-wide berths, because they didn’t come from money. But not Tim. He’d always been friendly, and had even given Jason a few tips on how to hide away at galas to not be bothered and- 

How had he forgotten this?

Jason is not prepared for this. He…

He missed his dad. Tim needed a dad. A real dad. Jason was not equipped for that. Angry as he is, try as he may to forget, but Bruce had been a great dad. 

“Timmy, we need to get you dressed, buddy.” He said, and wrapped his other arm around Tim, picking him up to bring him to the bathroom counter. He sat him down and started to get him dressed. He didn’t bother with a shirt under the sweatshirt, not wanting to fight with the noodle limbs Tim was giving him to work with. He got boxers and sweatpants as far up on his legs as he could without standing him up. The entire time he was pumping out a solid stream of calming pheromones. 

“Timmy, can you hear me?” He asked, poking at his cheek. Tim made a face, wrinkling his brows, but he nodded. He still looked very unfocused. “Good. I need you to stand up.” 

Jason helped Tim stand, and the boy was wobbly with exhaustion, but he stood firm after a moment. Tim pulled his pants up the rest of the way, and Jason nodded. He bent down and picked Tim up and held him against his chest, and Tim instinctively wrapped his legs around his waist. 

Tim was coming out of his dissociation and had proven he could stand, and therefore walk, but Jason wasn’t going to let him out of his arms length for a while, if he could help it. His own omegan instincts were acting up. This was his baby brother. His family. His pack, whether he was part of it or not after he had died. Jason grabbed his helmet and walked back to the shower to grab his jacket and gloves. 

“You’re the Red Hood.” Tim stated.

Jason stiffened a little, but his behavior didn’t change otherwise. “I am.”

“I had my suspicions. Good to know I was right.” Tim murmured, burying his face in Jason’s neck. Jason nearly melted at the action. His brows furrowed at Tim’s words, but he made a mental note to ask later. Right now was not the time. 

“Where…” Jason didn’t want to ask, but he kind of needed to. 

“They left for the airport. They weren’t even supposed to come home, but their dig was delayed, for a bit, so they came home for the day. Stayed home long enough for me to get home.” Tim said, and Jason’s arm tightened around him. 

“Interesting. Well, you won’t see them again.” Jason said, his tone final, offering no argument. Tim didn’t protest, instead inhaling a little more of Jason’s scent. Jason would take care of Janet and Jack. He had an idea. 

He brought Tim out to the car, setting him in the passenger seat, and let the boy hold his helmet and jacket. He stuffed the gloves into the pockets of the jacket. He got into the driver's seat and started the car, and let Tim fiddle with his helmet as he drove. They didn’t have far to go.  

“I’ll let you mess around with my helmet later on, after we get you checked out.” Jason said, driving a little out of Bristol to get to the bat cave entrance. He used his Robin code to grant them access, which he was glad to see still worked. Bruce was a sap, as always.

The car roared through the entrance tunnel, and into the batcave, and rolled to a stop. He grabbed his helmet back from Tim but didn’t put it on, and he opened his door and stepped out. He looked up to the catwalk above that led to the main area of the batcave, where the batcomputer was, and he could see Bruce, still in the batsuit, staring down at them. He must have still been working on a case, and had seen that someone had gotten access to the cave with the old Robin’s codes. 

“Hey old man. We’ve got some talking to do, but we’ll do that later.” He said as he waved his helmet at Bruce, and walked around the car to pick up Tim once again, who had opened the passenger door to get out. 

The bandage on Tim’s head would need to be changed to something thicker, as the small shitty bandaid he’d used wasn’t holding up, showing signs of being bled through a little. He still had swipes of blood on his face and neck, though mostly wiped away. Bruce could surely smell the blood and the scent of a new omega. As well as Jason’s scent. 

He heard the sharp gasp from above them, and he walked to the stairs that would lead them up to where Bruce was, and to where the medbay is. 

“Call for Alfie, please, B. Timmy needs to be looked at.” Jason said, and Tim waved sleepily at Bruce as they reached the top of the stairs, and nuzzled his face into Jason’s neck again. 

“What-” Bruce started, but he could see that Tim was injured, and his eyes narrowed in on the parts of Tim’s neck that he could see, around his hoodie, and his lips set into a line. Jason shifted his stance, his scent spiking in protectiveness. Was Bruce going to reject him, now that he was finding out he was an omega?

“Who did this?” Bruce asked, his voice carefully even as he started to walk backwards, towards the medbay. He could tell Jason was on edge, with his scent, and very protective over Tim right now. He was probably reeling with the information he was being given all at once. Jason was alive. Jason was Red Hood. Jason has been very hostile towards him and Robin until… now. Jason is alive. Tim is an omega. Tim is injured. Jason is alive. He wouldn’t turn his back on Jason right now, not with how he seems to have aggravated him. Jason is alive. 

“Janet Drake. She was- she tried to scrub his… his scent glands off with a scrub brush.” Jason said, having to calm himself as he said it, both to keep himself from throwing up at the visual image, and to keep himself calm for Tim. 

Bruce’s feet halted, and he nearly tripped, staring wide-eyed and terrified at Tim, and then at Jason. His eyes went back to Tim, and then to his neck, where he could see the start of red, aggravated skin. His mouth dropped open, and he spun around, taking off, and ripping his cowl off. Jason started walking again, and he split from Bruce when Bruce went to the batcomputer to call Alfred, and Jason went to the medbay. He set Tim down on one of the cots, his omega displeased at the separation as he stepped away. 

“Timmy, the hoodie needs to come off now, but I’m going to grab you some blankets, okay?” Jason said, and Tim worked on his hoodie, eyes closed, as Jason walked across the medbay to the blanket warmer that was one of Jason’s favorite things in the batcave when he was Robin. 

He turned back around to see Alfred and Bruce standing at the entrance of the medbay, Alfred’s face white as he stared at Jason. 

“Tim is the priority here. We’ll talk about me later.” He said, and stepped to Tim’s cot, unfolding and wrapping Tim in a warm blanket. “Forehead laceration, concussion that I have not had the time to confirm the severity of, a bruise on his cheek, and the… abrasions to his scent glands.” Jason said, running a gentle hand through Tim’s hair as Alfred put on a pair of gloves and got to work. 

Jason stepped away, towards Bruce, who looked lost. 

“I know you’re suspicious of me, you paranoid old man. Let’s get some blood tests running, and we’ll get to talking. I’m angry, and I don’t know if I’ll be… okay, for a long time, but Tim needs a family, he needs more than just me, so I’m willing to start.” Jason said, and Bruce nodded.