Chapter Text
“Holy fuck, that’s a bullet wound, isn’t it?”
Ric swung round ready give hell to whoever had the balls to try and follow him to the latest house he was squatting in. He assumed it was another of “Dick”s old friends that Wayne was sending after him, and he was not in the mood, but when he turned around-
Holy hot damn-
“Hey seriously, what happened? The Bats never tell me shit,” the guy said from a loosely relaxed sprawl of a predator. Ric had always assumed he was straight, but he had never so instantly wanted to be fucked by someone who was so clearly another Alpha.
Well, you learn new things every day.
“Don’t really remember,” Ric said finally, “Don’t remember much of anything after the circus, actually.”
That caught the man’s attention.
“Wait, seriously? You’re not fucking with me?” the guy sat up straight, “This isn’t another one of you and B’s asshole lets-fake-Dickies-death-and-not-bother-to-tell-anyone-until-months-later kind of deal is it?”
“What?” Ric reared back, “He did what-? No, nevermind, I don’t want to know. And yeah, pretty much zilch on the memories.”
“Shit, that sucks,” whistled the guy.
“What sucks is having all these people who think they own a part of me try and tell me who I am,” said Ric bitterly.
“Hn, that’s what you get I guess when you’re a people pleaser.”
“Fuck off,” Ric made a face, but secretly he was sort of pleased. No one from his old life had done anything but walk on eggshells around him… this was sort of nice.
“Oooh, he curses now,” the guy laid a hand over his heart with a wicked grin, “Well, you were bound to hit your rebellious streak sooner or later.”
“So who exactly were you to old me?” asked Ric changing the subject.
Several expressions flickered over the guy’s face before Ric could figure out what they might mean.
“Nobody,” he said ruefully at last, “You didn’t even like me much, to be honest. I just dropped by to get some intel, but I guess you wouldn’t know anyway.”
“Mmm, well you don’t seem too bad to me,” said Ric drawing a little closer. Strangely enough, he still couldn’t smell anything from the guy.
“Just wait until you get to know me,” he snorted. Ric caught himself staring at that nick again and had to stop himself before he did something embarrassing. You didn’t stare at Alpha necks.
“Well my motto lately has been ‘out with the old and in with the new’ so…” Ric extended his hand, “Hi, I’m Ric Grayson. I don’t hate you and I wouldn’t mind getting to know you.”
“ Ric ?”
“It was my nickname.”
“It makes you sound like a doushe.”
“Like you then.”
“Hey, no, I’m an asshole. That’s a whole different tier.”
Ric could feel himself smiling.
“And your name?”
“Oh, right. Uh… not sure how much you know so I guess you can call me Jay,” the guy said finally.
“Just Jay?”
“You wanna call me something else?”
Why don’t you stay the night and we’ll find out , Ric almost said.
“Jay’s fine,” Ric said instead, “makes you sound like a little bird.”
For one moment, there was a haunted look on Jay’s face.
“You’re the little one here, shorty,” he scoffed.
“Don’t worry, I’d have trouble believing there was anything little about you,” Ric teased before he could stop himself.
Damn, he’d been flirting too much at bars.
Except… Except, Jay was turning a delightful shade of red and not quite meeting his eyes.
No way, he was gay too? And he liked Ric? Or maybe he liked Dick… no, he’d said he and Dick Grayson didn’t get along. He liked Ric. It was almost like a drug to think.
Ric wanted him in his bed.
“Right, well, anyway,” Jay said standing up a little too abruptly, “Like is said, you probably don’t have the info I was after so I should probably get going-”
“There’s no rush,” Ric said, letting himself slide a little closer. Jay looked flustered beyond belief, and Ric was rapidly editing his fantasies. Teasing. There would be lots of teasing. He was dying to see what would happen if he pushed the young Alpha just far enough…
“No, I really gotta go,” Jay said not quite meeting his eyes, “Anyway, sorry about your head Rickie, I guess I won’t be seeing you around much anymore.”
He practically fled.
“I wouldn’t say that…” Ric said, picking up the jacket Jay had left. He was already planning to bribe that Barbara girl to see if he could find where the other guy lived. With as strong as reactions as he’d been getting, he was pretty sure if he could put himself in the other’s way a few times- maybe return the favor and break into his house next time- he’d be able to trip his way into the other’s bed soon enough.
It only had to be once. Probably.
Ric brought the fabric to his face and breathed, for the first time catching a scent that wasn’t cigarettes. It was just some Omega scent though. Jay was an attractive Alpha, he’d probably rubbed up against one at some point. Ric tried not to be jealous, but honestly that scent…
Warmth, a flash of red, yellow, and green, bright laughter in his ears…
Ric shook it off.
It was an incredibly attractive Omega scent, but Ric would keep his eye on the prize.