In no Pack AU, I've been thinking about Damien.
So for origin possibilities and their implications.
Test Tube - never formed a parental bond.
Took baby from womb/Fake miscarriage - never formed a parental bond.
Faked death post birth - they figured out how to break the forming bond.
When they finally meet, they don't have time to form a parental bond before the time stream incident...
But there's the thing. Dick stepped up and as much as he claimed the position of older brother, Damien's instincts labeled him a something stronger.
So when Bruce comes back? He tries but he's also not fighting how close Damien is to Dick.
Like, if you think about it, of all the members, Damien should have the easiest time bonding, but he doesn't.
Because Dick and Damien strongly trauma bonded when he was dead.
Because Bruce is a born martyr.
Because the Batkids always go to Dick when they're angry with Bruce.
Because Bruce and Dick, despite being the strongest partners in the super world, somehow always end up fighting.
I think i lost my train of thought....
I have so many ideas for Damian dying as a baby they're increasinly fucked up and I want to torture Bruce with all of them
And how about a really patriarchal omegaverse? Alphas are at the top of the food chain, followed by betas, and omegas are incredibly oppressed.
Even in progressive societies alphas still dominate.
Damian's insticts didn't exactly take Dick on as a parent, but he did take Dick on as Alpha. And Dick is the Pack Alpha, defaulted to that position upon presenting and earning it in dominance fights with his siblings, that isn't how it would've been without the time stream. Damian would be under Bruce's purview, would 'report' to him, and Bruce would be under Dick's, subject to his authority, but Damian would be his.
Now, Dick is the authority for Damian, and Bruce, as the Pack Omega, has no authority in comparison. Even when Damian returns to Bruce's custody, instincts aren't so easily erased, and Bruce finds himself consistenlty (both deliberately and accidentally) undermined by his eldest and youngest son.
The others do realise, and everyone does their best to mitigate that, the two of them included, but the kids haven't noticed that Bruce is oppressed. That he exists in oppression even within his own home, nearly powerless despite being the patriarch of the family, and has been for years by default.
And one day, Bruce snaps. Something small, innocuous, Damian is grounded and Dick waves his hand and undoes Bruce punishment during family dinner, and he snaps. A final straw, gone, done, crushed under the weight of a thousand other things.
He stands abruptly, his chair screeches back, and the whole room turns to look at him, brows raised, teases on the tips of their tongues, and all of that falters when he grabs Dick by his scruff and drags him out of the patio doors.
There's a moment of silence, then they're shouting, scrambling to chase after the two of them, and run to catch up to where Dick is trying to twist out of Bruce's grip without hurting either of them.
Bruce tosses him down onto the grass, and Dick rolls to his feet, growling, demanding to know what the hell Bruce is doing when Bruce snarls, and all of them go quiet.
"I'm not going to fight you, Bruce," Dick scoffs nervously. "Behave yourself, let's go back inside."
Bruce tosses aside his suit jacket, and rolls up his sleeves. "You accept the challenge, Dick," he says coolly, eyes ablaze, "or I make you."
"Bruce, less than 5% of dominance fights are won by omegas," Tim butts in.
"Maybe rethink this, boss."
Bruce doesn't even look at them, keeping his eyes on Dick as his claws unsheath, and he flexes them theateningly. Dick scoffs and stands, raising his fists. "Fine. I accept your challenge," he announces, and throws himself at Bruce.
The others are forced to watch on the sidelines as the two of them pummel each other. They want to intervene, for the sake of both sides, but it is forbidden to enter an ongoing challenge fight, unless you want the person you try to help be killed by automatic forfeit.
It takes an agonisingly long time for Bruce to slam Dick into the grass, arms pinned behind him, legs trapped under Bruce's own, a hand on the back of his neck, claws curling in to pierce the delicate skin of his throat. He can't even thrash, or he'll impale himself on the razor-sharp points. Instead, he just pants into the grass, and Bruce leans over him, growling.
"This is not your pack anymore, it's mine. I expect you to act accordingly. I wouldn't want to have to teach you this lesson again."
"I cede," Dick whispers, and Bruce moves off him, leaving him in the grass.
"What the fuck was that, Bruce?!" Jason yells, as Tim and Steph race to help Dick up.
Bruce wipes the blood at his mouth, and shrugs with faux apathy. "I'm sick of some pup to big for his breeches stealing my children out from under me."
"Richard didn't—" Damian clamps his jaw shut when Bruce rounds on him, eyes aflame, and steps back, baring his neck.
"Name the last time any of you let me act like a parent to you." Cass opens her mouth, then closes it, and Bruce sighs. "Mhm. Even you, Cassie. Now that I lead this pack, we'll see if I finally get the respect I deserve, or if you will finally admit you don't think anything an omega like me gets that."
"For god's sake, Bruce, of course we respect you."
"Look at yourself, Dick." They all glance over to him, then back at Bruce. "Now look at me," he whispers, voice breaking, and raises his arm, bent abnormally. "I still, after everything, during a dominance fight, still did my best not to hurt you. Can you say the same? It doesn't feel like respect to me. It certainly doesn't feel like love."
The group says nothing, and Bruce nods, and sniffs. "You can be Pack Alpha, Dick, I really don't care. But let me have my fucking kids, please. I haven't even bonded with Damian, he was torn from my womb before I could even meet him. Then Tim brings me back, and you undermine my every move. I am his father in no more than name. I can't even say anything about the rest of you."
He rubs his face, and grits his jaw, looking out to the horizon with wet eyes.
"Just. Admit you don't want to be my pups. Stop leading me on then turning to anyone but me. At least give me that."
He turns and trudges off, limping slowly back to the manor, leaving them in an aching silence.
"I don't know why you're surprised," Babs murmurs, looking at Bruce's retreating figure. "That five per cent were all omegas fighting for their pups."
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