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Bruce didn’t know where the omega pup under the coffee table had come from, but he’d run a blood test on himself, and he wasn’t under the influence of any mind-altering substances. At least, if he was under the influence of those substances, the computer he’d hallucinated had said otherwise.
Bruce had given himself a round of antidotes to the most common pollens and poisons he dealt with in his line of work anyways, only to come back and find that yes, there was still a small omega pup in his living room.
The boy—Bruce was pretty sure it was a little boy at least—was hidden quite well. Obviously the nest was obtrusive, but the pup himself was well hidden. He’d pulled the coffee table up against the couch to block off one wall, then he’d taken an armchair and turned it on its side to protect the other long wall.
Alfred kept a basket of throw blankets in the living room, and Bruce had to chuckle when he realized that not only had the boy dumped all the blankets out to make his nest, he’d used the basket itself to form the last wall, leaving just the narrow entrance mostly blocked by the decorative pillows the just appeared on the couches in seasonal colors every few months.
Bruce decided it was time to call in a second opinion. Alfred tended to be an expert at all things around the house, so Bruce was pretty sure he could trust Alfred’s opinion on whether or not there was an omega pup under that coffee table and exactly how worried they should be about him. Maybe the kid was supposed to be there and no one had consulted Bruce about the matter, like the couch pillows.
Bruce pulled out his phone and called Alfred, the line ringing twice before Alfred picked up.
“Master Bruce, are you aware that your son is in heat?” Alfred asked. He must’ve stopped petting, because there was an offended cry from Dick on the other line. “Yes, yes, my boy, one moment and I shall switch to the other hand.”
Dick wasn’t due for a heat for another five weeks. That was concerning. Maybe there was a heat sickness going around.
“I’ll be up there in a minute,” Bruce assured Alfred. The little boy under the table snuffled in his sleep and swiped at his freckly face with a hand before settling back down. Truly, an adorable child. “Could you come downstairs for a minute? To the living room?”
“Need I remind you how omegas, particularly young omegas, particularly your son feels about nests in the first few hours of a heat?” Alfred replied, a little testy.
“I know.” Bruce did know that. He would’ve explained, but he didn’t want to color Alfred’s expectations in case there was a hallucinogen in the air. “Why don’t you bring Dick down here too? We’ll make a nest in here.”
Alfred huffed. “Master Bruce—”
“Alfred. It’s important, I can’t explain it to you. Please come down here as soon as you can.”
“Very well,” Alfred said testily. “I hope you know that all resulting tears are your responsibility.”
Bruce nodded even though Alfred couldn’t see him. “Just…hurry. If you would.”
Bruce hung up and waited, tilting his head so he could get a better look at the boy.
The kid was small and a bit dirty, skinny too. Far too skinny. His heat scent smelled mostly of sweet milk, so young that Bruce wondered if this was his first heat that he was having under Bruce’s coffee table.
Bruce didn’t smell any pack scent in the room other than his own pack’s scent. His alpha instincts were pleased by the way the pup’s sweet heat scent mixed with his pack’s scent in the room. If the boy didn’t have anyone else, well. He’d fit right in. Bruce would be happy to have another son.
He didn’t know how Dick would feel about a younger brother, especially if the boy did exist. Heat could make omegas more accepting of newcomers or infuriated at strangers for existing. Maybe he should’ve asked Alfred to leave Dick upstairs just in case, but he hoped Dick might have an idea of what to do, given that he was an omega himself.
Alfred arrived a minute later with Dick practically hanging from him. Now that Dick was taller than Alfred, the sight was quite comical, and Bruce spared a chuckle.
Alfred’s eyebrows were already raised in confusion and alarm as he dragged Dick into the room. He could probably smell the boy all the way out in the hall, which did go a long way to confirming that the child did in fact exist.
Bruce still kept his mouth shut until Alfred looked under the coffee table, then looked back up at Bruce in shock.
“Master Bruce!” Alfred cried. “Where in the world did you—”
“Oh, yeah,” Dick said suddenly, detaching himself from Alfred and walking over to the table with a yawn. “Why’d you run off, Jay?”
Dick forced himself under the coffee table, startling and probably squishing the boy under there judging by the yelp quickly followed by a wheezed getoffme.
Bruce looked to Alfred and shrugged, but it appeared Dick knew who the kid was.
“Master Dick?” Alfred leaned down, and the pup—Jay, apparently—yelped.
“Hey!” Dick lightly snapped his teeth at the boy. “Don’t get snippy with Alfred.”
Jay growled a vicious but unintimidating puppy growl and retreated toward the back of the nest before curling up on Dick’s legs, clearly trying to hide from the strangers. The strangers that didn’t include Dick.
Bruce came a little closer and knelt in front of the coffee table, trying to project calm-protective-gentle alpha into his scent.
Dick sniffed, nodded, and Bruce shuffled just a little closer, stopping when the puppy growled again.
“Chum,” Bruce greeted. “Where did you find your friend?”
Dick yawned. “I think…patrol? Oh, yeah, some assholes got into Ivy’s pollens. Got us with ‘em.”
That…made sense. In a way. Bruce could see the chain of events that could’ve led Dick, in the throes of an artificial heat, to take a puppy, also in an artificial heat, home instead of sending him to foster care or the police. Artificial heats were stronger and caused more…confusion.
It would be so easy for a predator to take advantage of a very young packless omega in an artificial heat. In Dick’s shoes, Bruce probably would’ve also made the call to bring the boy back to the cave at the very least.
Looking at those freckly cheeks, so hollowed by hunger, and the narrowed blue eyes…fierce little pup, Bruce would’ve brought him upstairs too.
He probably wouldn’t have lost Jay under the coffee table, but Dick was in heat, and once he seemingly remembered that the pup existed, he did step up admirably.
“Why’s he not in your nest, Dick?” Bruce asked. Dick was such a cuddler in heat.
Dick’s nose wrinkled like the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “Oh. Pup, why did you leave the nest?”
“I don’t like the orange blanket,” Jay grumbled grouchily.
“Oh,” Dick said mildly. Turning back to Bruce, he repeated, “He doesn’t like the orange blanket. We’ll nest here.”
Dick yawned again and gestured for the pup to get off his legs and settle in his arms. Jay resisted, glaring at Bruce till Dick chirruped at him.
Jay huffed and crawled forward, tucking himself under Dick’s arm before lying down and very deliberately ignoring Bruce and Alfred.
Bruce was besotted. He was going to have to buy all new blankets for the pup to build his own nest in his own room later, and of course Dick would need more blankets too so he could make a bigger nest now that they had another packmate to accommodate. He’d need to get Jay plenty of food and keep him safe and get him registered for school. It was July, so they’d need to get custody and school registration squared away before September…
The pups were whispering to each other. Finally, Dick stuck a hand out from the nest.
“B, scent my hand,” he ordered.
Bruce didn’t know why Dick was asking to be scented on his hand instead of on his head like a pup should be, but it was Dick’s heat, so Bruce complied. If it made Dick feel safer…
Bruce’s heart melted as Dick took his scented hand and brushed it through Jay’s hair, leaving Bruce’s scent on the new pup. It wasn’t just a pack claim from Bruce to Jay, but Dick choosing to share his pack with the boy.
“You’re a good kid,” Bruce said, reaching into the nest enough to brush his scent over Dick’s head too.
Dick purred at that. “Hmm, yes. Now you guard the nest, we’re sleepy.”
“I’m not sle—”
“Nooo, puppy, you’re getting very sleepy,” Dick interrupted, aggressively scenting the pup with enough calming omega scent to make anyone drowsy.
The pup squawked indignantly and tried to squirm away, but he didn’t put any effort into it. Jay made a show of letting Dick reel him back into the hug, the puppy grumbling all the while that Dick was so clingy, and fine, Jason would snuggle him a little while.
Bruce looked up at Alfred proudly, gesturing for his butler to just look at what hid son had found! The cutest pup in the world, and Dick had found him all on his own! Bruce had raised Dick, so that practically counted as Bruce finding Jay.
And since Alfred had raised Bruce, that practically counted as Alfred finding Jay.
“Why don’t I fetch the lads some water, Master Bruce,” Alfred suggested lightly. “You stay here and guard our pups.”
Our pups. Bruce liked the sound of that.
Alfred left the room, and Bruce posted himself at the entrance of the nest, listening as the pups’ breathing settled as they fell asleep. Sweet things, strong boys.
Bruce couldn’t be more proud.