So much Eros, that me, a man could get pregnant!

If there were truer words…

-8-

Watching Victor Nikiforov skate was undefinable. From the first moment Yuuri saw the gorgeous and elegant figure skater on television, he knew. Victor was his Alpha. It wasn't in the shallow way most people gushed over the international sex symbol or swooned at his batted eyelashes or flirting wink, even if Victor was 16 years old. This was instinctual, raw and deep. It was a brutal burn, an indelible pull and pure unadulterated joy. He just didn't know what it meant yet.

Then Yuuri's world was blurring at the seams. One minute, he was watching Victor while talking with Yuko and being ignored by Nishigori, and the next, he was sweltering, thrumming. His muscles contracted and his skin felt swollen, both too tight and stretched too thin. His eyes widened as the world spun out of reach, Victor's face in the center of the kaleidoscope of colors. Yuuri could hear Yuko's cries as she tried to pull Nishigori off of him before the bully could bite him, while he felt hollow and empty and wanting. The scuffle above him was punctuated by sharp snaps of teeth and low, yet young, growls.

Burning. Yuuri was burning. His fingers and toes, too engorged. The pounding of his blood through his head felt like it might both simultaneously implode and burst. Copper filled his mouth as he bit his tongue as he scented Nishigori's pungent need. It scared him. He could feel the indents on his shoulders as someone's fingers gripped him, nearly breaking skin, and the impact when that pressure was pushed against him, slamming him into the floor. He couldn't see anything anymore; he'd closed his eyes at some point, he realized. Not that he could concentrate on that. His muscles ached as he curled into a ball, his hands instinctually covering his nape. What was happening?!

A sharp pain stabbed his neck, and a chill chased the burning under his skin. His sense of his surroundings faded into a blissful lull of darkness.

When Yuuri woke, he smelt the familiar smell of his old scent. It was strong and comforting. He blinked his eyes open to see the blurry outlines of his room. He stretched out his fingers for his glasses, and once he found them, he brought his world into focus. His muscles ached, and his shoulders hurt, especially on the right side at a single point. Come to think of it, his left hip subtly radiated pain up his side. Squinting at a new smell, Yuuri tried to place it. It smelled like him, like ice and sweetpeas, but a new layer wove in between it. What was that? Lemongrass?

A smooth click of his bedroom door opening heralded his mother, and he breathed out a sigh, not sure why he was on guard in the first place. Well, he had just been at Ice Castle with Yuko and Nishigori, right? Why was he now at home?

"Mama," Yuuri tried to say around the dryness in this throat. It, too, felt raw.

"Oh, Yuuri," she said with love and relief flooding her voice. Her understated Omega scent was calming, but it was tinged with concern. She slowly closed the door behind her then offered him the water bottle she held.

"What happened?" he croaked, taking the welcomed drink. He was too warm, realizing he was covered in sweat, but the cool water salved his sore throat. He drank all of it down in one go as his mother sat on the edge of his bed.

"What do you remember?" she asked cautiously.

He eyed her as he lowered the empty bottle. What happened? He frowned as he thought back.

"Yuko and I were watching the Junior Worlds at Ice Castle, and then…" he tried to remember, but everything got confusing. He remembered turning to the tv and seeing a face he'd never seen before, but familiar all the same. "I saw… I think I saw someone I knew, but I don't know him. Mama, how is that possible? How do I know someone I don't know?" Yuuri asked, nearly confusing himself at his wording.

"And after that? Yuuri do you remember anything after that?" she asked, and Yuuri could see her concern in the hard panes of her soft face.

"Nah-uh. Why? What happened? I…" he stuttered to a stop as memories of heat and pain swirled in his head. He only remembered the burning under his skin, the yearning for something he didn't have a name for above the snapping of teeth and shouted cries before everything went dark.

Tears came to his eyes as he tried to sift through it. The bruises on his shoulders, the pounding of his head, the screaming and growling all told a story he wasn't sure he wanted to hear. His helpful mind began to flit strings of his health teacher's voice through his mind.

…sudden fever…

…headaches, body aches…

…dizziness and blurred vision…

…can all be signs of presenting…

"Mama, did I present?" Yuuri asked with wide eyes.

"Yes," she says with resignation but love and acceptance in her eyes. "You're an Omega."

Yuuri was twelve when his world changed.