Pack

Chapter 3: Delusions Of Loneliness

Staying at Jervis's place for one week every month wasn't nearly as annoying as Edward had expected it to be. The alpha and him eventually warmed up to each other, though it was mostly because Jonathan learned to weaponize sad omega sounds even when he wasn't in heat and used that to force them to get along.

Sitting in the comfiest nest ever, Edward would spend that week surrounded by okay tea and good food, having his fill of both intelligent conversation and cuddles. Jervis turned out to be as much of a cuddler as either of them despite being neither touch-starved nor having heats.

Edward found that it was even easier to pretend that he had a pack when it wasn't just him and Jonathan. Comforting omega scents mixed with protective alpha scents in the way that a pack scent was supposed to, and filled a void that Edward hadn't even realized was inside him.

Edward would lay down in the oversized nest with Jonathan next to him, and Jervis would make a few rounds to growl at whatever shadows he decided might be hiding bandersnatches that night, before he would lay down on the other side of Jonathan and the three of them would fall asleep.

For one week every month, Edward could almost pretend that he had a home.

But eventually, he'd always have to return to his own hideout. His cold hideout with his poorly cooked food and his lumpy nest, that only ever smelled of him and sometimes of whoever had been living there right before him. The closer he got to Jonathan and Jervis, the more the truth of his situation felt like a knife to the gut.

He had no pack. And he never would.

One day, Jonathan walked stiffly into Arkham's cafeteria and didn't quite meet anyone's eye. This wasn't precisely unusual behavior for the Scarecrow, who was rumored to only make eye contact when trying to intimidate someone. Edward knew that Jonathan actually just saw eye contact as a potential invitation for social interaction, which he loathed and so avoided whenever and however he could.

What was unusual was the faint blush coloring Jonathan's face. Edward was puzzled by it until Jonathan sat down at his table and was close enough to smell. His scent had noticeably changed in a way that could only mean one thing.

Edward nearly choked on his so-called potatoes that, knowing Arkham, were probably actually onions or soap or something. "You let yourself be claimed by a pack?" Edward asked, disbelieving. Growing concerned, he added, "You let yourself be claimed by a pack?"

"Yes, Edward, I let myself be claimed," Jonathan confirmed, rolling his eyes. He often complained about not wanting to be treated as something fragile and incapable of protecting himself, and normally Edward didn't treat him that way, but there were certain facts of biology that couldn't be denied and the potential for an unwilling claim on an omega was one of those.

"I thought you didn't want an alpha?" Edward asked after a few moments of silence, but it was more-or-less a rhetorical question. It only took a second of rubbing two braincells together to realize who had changed Jonathan's mind on that particular issue.

"I said I didn't want to be subject to the whims of some brute," Jonathan corrected. He smiled softly, head tilted so that only Edward could see it. "He's a lot of things, but he's not... like that."

"Hmm." Edward nodded, agreeing. Jervis was possessive and could handle himself well in a fight, but he was worlds away from the sorts of alphas that made certain omegas and betas decide they were better off alone. "Well, I'm happy for you. You deserve a nice pack."

Jonathan looked up at Edward, his gaze appraising. He opened his mouth to speak, but Edward cut him off.

"If either you or he asks, I will stab him with this fork," Edward said conversationally, twirling the utensil in question between his fingers.

"Just him?" Jonathan asked, amused, rather than trying to pursue the subject further.

Edward jutted his head in the direction of the food line, where Jervis was once again arguing with a staff member over the lack of tea, and smiled playfully. "Attack an omega right in front of his pack alpha? Tsk, you should know better than to think me stupid by now, Jonathan."

Edward had never been an idiot, he knew that Jonathan would convince Jervis to accept him as part of their pack in a heartbeat. Jonathan was clingy, and while it was in more subtle ways when out of heat, he still consistently tried to stay close to Edward. Being pack would give Jonathan a good excuse to keep his emotional support Supervillain as close as his emotional support crows.

But Edward had survived his entire life without a pack, he wasn't going to give in to the temptation to join the very first pack that might accept him. He wouldn't accept a pity invite to a pack. He would not let the universe win and admit that betas couldn't last on their own.

This development did mean some changes were in order, though.

Edward didn't know if Jonathan and Jervis were just pack or if they were mates. He did know that their relationship was certainty heading there if it wasn't already the latter. Jervis had a tendency to go from bubbly ball of sunshine to terrifying little warlord the moment another alpha would get too close to Jonathan, and for his part, Jonathan at most made a minorly disapproving noise if the other's actions went slightly too far.

Either way, eventually there would be the sorts of heats that Edward would rather not be present for. The kind that would lead to puppies if either of the two had been female.

Which was fine, really. Edward loved his friends very much, but he'd let himself fall too far into the fantasy of having a pack. He needed to be able to survive on his own, and he wasn't doing as good a job of that as he thought he had been.

Which was why he asked Jonathan to teach him how to cook. Jonathan's face when he learned that Edward had been eating burnt and soggy food most of his life and thought it was normal would've made Edward laugh if he wasn't so very embarrassed about it.

As he was not in heat, Jonathan snapped and raved at Edward the entire time he taught him. Apparently living by yourself while not knowing how to cook was a terrible, awful, no-good sin and Jonathan would not hear of such nonsense. Edward was therefore forced to live between Jonathan and Jervis's dens until he could successfully make scrambled eggs, spaghetti, and at least two kinds of soup.

Edward thought that maybe he could escape while Jervis was watching him, considering how distractible the man was. He was wrong.

"Stay for a cuppa, at least," Jervis insisted for the fourteenth time in a row. When Edward tried to refuse, he just made puppy-dog eyes at him until he acquiesced.

Between the most omega-y alpha he'd ever met and an actual omega with far too much knowledge of what made Edward tic, neither of which were reluctant to weaponize pathetic whines and promises of food, Edward soon had to accept another hard truth.

He had absolutely zero willpower. He had thought he had excellent willpower, because he often said no to guys like Batman. But guys like Batman didn't ask him to stop terrorizing the city with threats of Fear Toxin and offers of cookies while making terribly sad little pouts.

It wouldn't occur to Edward until much later that his own lack of willpower stemmed from the same source as Jonathan's insanity those first few heats or Jervis's uncharacteristic spikes of aggression.

No one was supposed to be packless. No one.