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Everyone was surprised when Ryland Grace presented as an Alpha, including himself. He wasn't particularly brash or soft-spoken as a kid and he was far past the timeline for presentation, so everyone assumed he would be a Beta.
Ryland was comfortable with being a Beta, he thought it would be a nightmare to deal with increased scent sensitivity, heats and ruts, and all of the other biological bullshit that Alphas and Omegas had to go through.
That was until junior year of high school on the debate team at an out of town tournament. Grace had a particularly compelling argument all set up and ready to go, but as soon as the debate started, his opponent used illegal ad hoc and ad hominem tactics to undermine and talk over Grace's meticulous argument, and the moderator did nothing.
Something grew in him that he had never felt before, and anger boiled over into scathing words off the tip of his tongue. He called his opponent and moderator every name in the book, demanded that the debate event be cancelled, and stomped off to his room.
Despite letting off the steam at everyone in the room, he was still angry. He hadn't been able to present his full argument, which he worked so hard on. There was a burning in his chest (and weirdly his groin) that refused to go away no matter how much he tried to calm himself down.
It wasn't until he was in the shower that he noticed. His penis was different: longer, thicker, and at the base, the skin indicative of a knot. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. There was no way he was an Alpha! He was a Beta, a nice, normal, plain, Beta. He thunked his head against the shower wall and felt his skin vibrating, like he put on a size too small. He itched and burned. And then he cried.
He didn't want to be an Alpha. He wasn't a knothead always looking for sex and Omegas, he just wanted to put his head down in a book, get in the lab, and become a scientist. He wanted to discover something, he wanted his name in history as something great. Now, he would have to answer to his hormonal whims, pause his life a couple times a year for his fucking rut.
Even thinking the word brought bile to the back of his throat and then he realized, oh god, I'm in rut now.
The debate tournament weekend ended with Ryland banned from the debate team and a freshly presented, rutted Alpha.
Everyone promised as a late bloomer, it was natural to feel odd in his new secondary-gender, but Ryland never eased into being an Alpha. It made his feel gross and disgusting and like he was a slave to his biological needs. He never involved himself with Omegas ever, not because he disliked them or had a weird superiority complex over them, but because he respected Omegas too much to be an Alpha to one. He knew some people were progressive in their relationships as Alpha and Omega, but the vast, vast majority were relationships that Grace shuttered to think about being in. His only relationships he made time for were with Beta women who were brave enough to peg him.
Despite what he felt was a setback with his late presentation, he did acquire his bachelor, master, and PhD in rapid succession. He felt like he overcame the stain and was on his way to a celebrated career in molecular biology… Until in the excitement and stress of the UNESCO conference, he forgot his suppressants and felt that same itch he had felt years before at the debate tournament, practically going feral over criticism of his work.
When that weekend was over, he was a laughing stock in academia and needed somewhere safe to lick his wounds.
Enter middle school teaching. Teaching was adjacent enough to academia and Grace could still be immersed in his passion every day, albeit a less complex way, but he would be still in science, sharing his love for it with others.
The principal had been floored when she looked over Ryland's paperwork and saw that damning capital A on his forms.
"Alphas are very rare in our profession, especially at this age level, but we do offer rut leave as we do heat leave to make it equitable!" She smiled and Ryland swallowed down bile.
He didn't tell her that he hadn't had a rut in years, wasn't planning to, and was supremely embarrassed that it had come up in their conversation. He hated who he was off suppressants, he would never miss a dose again.
Teaching was good, a soft landing place after the disaster of burning every bridge he ever had. It was weird being one of the only Alphas in the school because if he thought the conversation with the principal would be the last of the discussion of his designation, he was sorely mistaken.
He was brought in to talk to young people presenting for the first time, roped in to teach a health class about safe ruts, pulled into conversations in the teachers lounge about why he wasn't settled with a nice omega yet. Those conversations made his face heat and fists clench. He didn't have the bravery to tell them he wasn't going to mate if he could help it and he would rather die than lock an omega to him, literally and metaphorically.
Some parents were suspicious with an Alpha man teaching their kids, but he soon warmed up to everyone and became a real part of the school.
Then Stratt came along. Originally Grace was pulled when Petrova line samples touched down, then begging to continue to help when he thought of his students living life in an ice age, Grace was in. Stratt introduced him as the leading expert on Astrophage. He had to swallow crow as he faced people he told off all those years ago in Denmark.
He went from job to job, doing whatever Stratt needed him to do. Testing the EVA suits, utilizing all the equipment for the ship and calibrating it, she even let him try the under water simulation in the pool.
He was tested for the coma gene and understood when Stratt said she only wanted Betas in space. It made sense, there would be no suppressants, heat helpers, nesting materials, rut assistants, and anything else that Alphas and Omegas needed in the limited space they had on the Hail Mary.
He was so busy he almost forgot about his designation. When he met the brave astronauts chosen for the mission, they reacted in that same shock that his former principal did. No one believed Stratt's puppy was actually an Alpha.
Then the explosion happened.
Stratt was livid, but still had a grace about her, an elegance that Grace couldn't believe. So logical to the point it made him upset how unaffected she seemed. He couldn't stop crying.
Then Stratt dropped the bomb. Ryland was to be the replacement science officer.
"You don't have family, no friends, no dog," She said cruelly. "You don't even have a mate."
It was like the rug, no, the entire Earth was ripped out from under him. The hot drip of anger and betrayal flowed through him as he pumped his legs. He let his fangs out, trashing around with all his pent up Alpha energy, but in the end, it wasn't enough. He was unceremoniously tackled, shot up with experimental drugs, and forced on a suicide mission to space.
He didn't remember any of it when he woke up, of course, Stratt made sure of that. So he diligently completed his mission, helped save humanity, all in blissful ignorance of what truly got him there.
He damned Stratt to hell because even though he said no, he denied his chance, Grace found Rocky. An actual alien! And they did it together! They saved each other and it was most incredible time of his life.
When Rocky offered some of his Astrophage to Grace so Grace could go back to Earth, phantom feelings stirred in his stomach, what Grace came to know as his body remembering before his brain. He felt mixed emotions about going back to Earth and later, while exploring Rocky's ship, he finally had the explanation.
He didn't want to die, that was for sure, but he didn't really want to go back to Earth either. The planet would be a shell of what he remembered if Stratt's predictions came true. There would certainly be famine, war, mass extinction, an oncoming Ice Age. The Earth would never be the one he remembered. He catalogued the things he would miss and came up with a long list that included the feeling of the wind on his face, Marissa, teaching his students, the sting of salty air and the gloom of fog, the beach on one of those days when it was absolutely abandoned, ferry horns and redwood trees, sea lions and otters cracking shells on rocks. He noticed, starkly, that his list did not include many people. What kind of life would he have if he went back? Surely not as good of a life as he had with Rocky the few short months they had together on the Hail Mary.
But he had an obligation to his people, to save them. That's why he had been sent to space in the first place. He finally, finally swallowed his fear and anxiety and bravely said goodbye to Rocky.
Almost like fate, the leak. It was the easiest decision in the world to send the beetles and turn back for Rocky. Erid didn't deserve the same fate as Earth, and selfishly, Grace couldn't see his life without Rocky in it anymore. They were tied together forever, etched onto each other literally.
He hoped desperately to any being that could hear him that Rocky was okay, that he hadn't succumbed to the radiation of space yet, that the Astrophage wasn't all gone and they could still make it to Erid.
When he first saw Rocky again, his chest burst into a million pieces, it was like he was seeing his home, his ground, his own heart again. A possessive growl rolled through him and he smelled the gag-worthy puff of his own scent inside the EVA suit.
Oh.
So it was like that.
Grace was so busy trying to solve the Astrophage problem, trying not to die, then breeding Taumoeba and hoping that Rocky wasn't dead that all his instincts had been dormant, his feelings paused while he and Rocky did big science.
He pressed his head against the xenonite, feeling the warmth even though his EVA suit and his teeth itched. He wanted to bite, he wanted Rocky so badly that as soon as he knew Rocky was okay, his body responded in a way he hadn't ever felt so intensely. His brain was loud and distracting, he hated it and he was instantly reminded why he didn't really date on Earth. The whole thing was just… exhausting.
Rocky moved in as quickly as the first time and they resumed their general routine. Wake up, check the Taumoeba, watch a movie, eat meal, get yelled at by Rocky about something (he was always so bossy), check the Taumoeba again, go to bed, repeat. It was a bit of a monotonous existence, but Grace was getting to live, he was with Rocky, Rocky was going to help him settle down on Erid, and two planets would be saved. all things considered, Grace shouldn't really complain. And he really wasn't that bored with Rocky. There was always something new to learn, discover, or teach. Rocky would give him lessons on Erid and Grace would teach Rocky about human things.
The worst part was when Rocky slept, however. Grace could never predict how long he would be out, and the first dozen times or so, he had to calm himself down from a panic attack as soon as Rocky slumped. He looked just like he did when Grace woke up from the centrifugal force disaster, which the thought of sent a shiver up Grace's spine even when it barely crossed his mind. Being faced with Rocky on the other side of an almost impenetrable material, immobilized, with no way for Grace to confirm or deny his state of being was just about the worst exposure therapy ever.
He finally got the nerve to tell Rocky about how he was happy to watch Rocky sleep, but seeing him actually sleeping was torture. He didn't have biofeedback like Rocky had with him, as Rocky shared that Grace's heartbeat was a comfort to him and helped him know Grace was still alive.
Rocky quickly jumped into action, programming Mary and Armando to read his life signature. Now all Grace had to do was simply ask and his fears would be absolved.
He cried as Rocky tinkered with the various electronics in the ship, customizing what Grace had thought of as his coffin for so long. Rocky chirped and trilled at Grace's tears, poking fun at him but it really was one of the most thoughtful things that anyone had done for Grace ever. He was used to keeping his neurosis to himself, swallowing them down, pushing them away, or hiding them. Having someone respond to them instead of look at him like he was pathological stitched something together inside him. It was a poor stitching, wonky and lopsided, but stitched nonetheless.
Once Rocky helped fix the panic in Grace, it made way for something new during Rocky's sleep: boredom.
Watching Rocky sleep was a boring affair. Since he didn't move, talk, breath, or do anything while he slept, it was as boring as watching, well, a rock.
Grace only had so much to do on the ship and he didn't really want to leave Rocky's side for too long. Rocky insisted that sleepwatching didn't mean staring constantly at the sleeper, but more being in the same space, being aware of the sleeper, going about business that needed to get done, and entertaining oneself. Because of the panic that tended to bubble up inside him still even with Mary's helpful voice reminding him that the two beings on the ship were Doctor Captain Ryland Grace and First Officer and Engineer Rocky, Grace didn't stray from Rocky for too long. He liked to be there when Rocky woke up as he stretched like a cat and got mad at Grace for cooing at him.
Sometimes Rocky would fall asleep in the mental health node and Grace would watch movies, sometimes it would be in the lab and Grace could run experiments the whole time, but those were only if he had been pushing himself to exhaustion. Most of the time, he fell asleep in his bunk in the dormitory.
Grace would lay in bed and stare up at him, like he did so many months ago when Rocky first moved in. He smiled thinking about how strange the custom seemed to him back then, but now, he doubted he could sleep without someone watching him.
So he started to do what anyone lying bored in bed would do; he started jerking off.
He made sure it was always toward the beginning of Rocky's sleep cycle, he couldn't risk Rocky waking up to see Grace's horrible orgasm face (he had accidentally caught himself in the mirror once and he didn't touch himself for 2 months afterwards because he was so horrified). He also didn't do it every time Rocky slept, only here and there. Initially he had felt a little guilty, but it wasn't like Rocky was human and could wake up at any time. Eridians completely shut down when they slept, Rocky wouldn't be aware of what Grace did while he slept at all.
A few months and Grace got sloppy. Not just in how he jerked off but the timing. There were some close calls with Rocky calling his name while Grace washed up in the bathroom. once he popped a knot and that freaked him out. It wasn't much different than his usual sessions, but something about how comfortable he was, Rocky above him, being about to feel his warmth, something happened inside his brain and before he could stop it, his hand squeezed around his knot.
He spurted all over the xenonite and when he came to, it dripped onto his stomach in a slickly slow way.
He jumped up and stumbled, hitting his elbow hard on the floor before he made it to the bathroom. After he wiped everything clean he stared at himself in the mirror. His eyes looked wild, his hair was a mess, he still shined with sweat. He looked the picture of an Alpha. He resisted the urge to punch the mirror, to get rid of the reflection, but that would have been a stereotype, too. He settled for running a hand over his face and leaving the scene of the almost crime.
Rocky was up and about, tapping his side presumably looking for Grace.
"Hey, buddy. Morning." Grace said, raising his hand.
"Not morning, is mid day according to Mary time cycle," Rocky intoned in his dry voice from the computer.
"Okay, but you know that's what humans say when someone wakes up. It's a polite thing, you know?"
Rocky shrugged and looked at himself for a moment. Grace felt caught but there was rational reason that Rocky would know what he did, what happened, and horrible he felt about it all.
"How did you sleep?" Grace asked, trying to break the silence and make the pit in his stomach go away.
"Grace know Eridians don't have quality of sleep, is same every time," Rocky trilled mockingly.
"Sorry, just being polite again." Grace blushed, feeling pinned like a butterfly in a glass case.
"Grace acting strange. What Grace do while Rocky asleep? Heart rate elevated and blood in cheek capillaries," Rocky sang and it was like a death knell.
"Uh, nothing. Normal stuff. I mostly hang out with you." It wasn't a lie. He did hang out with Rocky, and jerking off was a perfectly normal thing to do even if Grace was hot and guilty about it.
"Grace lying," Rocky chimed.
Grace sighed. "You know what, I have to check the Taumoeba." He shot away from Rocky and his line of questioning. The lab was quiet for a moment before Rocky came crashing in again.
"Grace already checked tanks. Grace lie again." Rocky paused to think, then spoke again. "Grace embarrassed, avoiding. Sexual in nature."
"What?" Grace's jaw dropped.
"Rocky correct?" Rocky chittered, knowing darn well he was. He didn't wait for an answer from Grace before going on. "Grace only ever embarrassed to share about sex, all other aspects of human life Grace happy happy happy to share with Rocky."
Grace groaned, dropped his head into his hands, and slid to the floor of the lab. Rocky was right, of course. He knew Grace so well at this point, it was moot trying to lie. He didn't know why he even tried, Rocky could detect his heart rate and breathing and everything else. He just thought he could have some privacy and now it was all out in the open. Messy.
"Grace embarrassed of sexual function. Grace… inexperienced?" Rocky trilled, a little bit softer and less teasing now.
Grace felt like he was going to throw up. Rocky seemed to notice the shift in the air, the change in feelings and let Grace sit for a moment.
He felt disgusting, so shameful that he would do such a thing while his best friend was sleeping. Everyone was right about Alphas; they couldn't control themselves, they were better off muzzled, they deserved to be neutered. Grace wished more than anything that he stayed a Beta. He would still be in space, still looking down the barrel of starvation and malnutrition, but at the very least he would be able to save himself the embarrassment. His whole life had gone to shit when he presented. He never felt that superiority so many Alphas felt, never lorded his designation over anyone. He was in frickin' space for crying out loud and it was still ruining his life.
He quickly scrubbed the tears away from his face, a fast, harsh motion. "I… I shouldn't have done it at all, I'm sorry, buddy," Grace whispered.
"Why Grace cry?" Rocky sang softly.
Grace looked at him miserably. "Rocky, it's very taboo in human culture. I'm ashamed I did that, have been doing it. You should be angry with me. You should want to not look at me. I was taking advantage of the privacy, I wasn't thinking, but I shouldn't have done it."
"Why Rocky be angry? No other time where Rocky can't hear, makes sense to do it while Rocky sleeps. Rocky look up on earth thinking machine, self-pleasure normal in humans."
Grace felt like he was punched in the gut. "You're not mad?"
"Never angry with Grace. Rocky only wishes he could see Grace self pleasure." Rocky shrugged.
Another punch to the gut. "Y- you wanna watch?"
"Yes," Rocky chirped like it was most obvious thing in the world.
"Can I think about it?" Grace's voice wobbled and cracked.
"Yes, think about it as long as Grace need."
Without thinking, Grace launched himself at Rocky's ball, waiting for that familiar bonk and warmth from the other side.
It took a few weeks of Grace mulling over Rocky's request to watch. He was feeling deprived after not touching himself, Rocky kept telling him it was okay and he wanted it, that Eridians took on several partners and Grace wouldn't be crossing a line.
He got desperate when he woke up with his dick squished between his body and the soft padding of his bed. He sighed and called Rocky over, finally acquiescing.
Rocky was so excited, and Grace could hear every tap, every chirp he made to see Grace better. It made the whole experience so erotic, and it helped that Rocky talked, said that Grace was good and beautiful.
The first time broke the dam and soon, Rocky was watching Grace nearly every day, then Grace asked to see Eridian self pleasure, then they jerked off together, and finally when the yearning got to be too much, Grace pressed himself against Rocky's ball and humped to completion. It felt embarrassing, like a desperate dog, but Rocky trilled and chirped and sang a beautiful melody that Grace couldn't even feel guilty.
Soon, Rocky surprised Grace with a more form fitting suit, and after their first real hug and Grace cried his eyes out, he had his face down and ass up for Rocky's claw.
Sex with Rocky was different from any other sex Grace had ever had. He didn't have to worry about designation or any social stigma for being an Alpha who preferred penetration over penetrating. Rocky wasn't an Alpha, Beta, or Omega, so Grace's brain could relax and be quiet for once. The small, primal part of his brain that would have been snarling to bite and gnash was tamed by the knowledge that the sex he and Rocky had didn't have any implications, no pregnancy to worry about, nothing to sink his teeth into and claim as his own. He could just be.
Rocky was just as bossy in bed as he was any other time, which also quieted Grace's brain. He could just let himself float, let Rocky manipulate him how he wanted, drift away in songs about how good and beautiful and leaky he was.
It was blissful, it grounded and regulated him. For the first time in his adult life he was having sex with someone he loved and wasn't concerned about being an Alpha.
Part of it was he didn't explain secondary gender to Rocky. Eridians only had one gender in their entire species and primary gender confused Rocky enough that Grace didn't bother with secondary. He knew it would just serve to frustrate both of them and there was really no point as Grace rarely went into rut. If he did, that would be a bridge to cross and one that Grace didn't want to get to, but for the moment, the fact that Grace was an Alpha and had a knot wasn't pertinent information to Rocky.
Grace was also afraid that his bubble that he created where it didn't matter, where he finally felt like he was in control of himself and the Alpha of it all wasn't in control of him, would pop if he told Rocky. So he didn't.
Time was weird in a spaceship hurtling across the universe, but the Hail Mary still had day and night cycles that Grace frequently ignored to continue his work in the lab until Rocky ordered him to bed.
Grace and Rocky's relationship was the exact same after the sexual line had been breached, something that Grace was afraid would change. He was never good with relationships and this one couldn't sour, he couldn't run away even if he wanted to. Sometimes he laughed to himself, all he needed to stop his avoidant tendencies was to be locked in a tin can with his partner, why didn't he think of that on Earth?
After what Grace estimated to be a couple months, he started feeling some soreness certain areas of his body. His chest and groin were more sensitive, but he chalked it up to their more frequent use with Rocky. He couldn't remember all his Earth relationships or all the sex he ever had, but he knew they were nothing like what he and Rocky had going on. Rocky liked to pinch and pull and overstimulate and bruise and smack. Grace loved it all, he loved the physical evidence of the things that they did together, it made it feel all the more real.
He looked up his symptoms to be sure after a few more weeks, and Wikipedia and Reddit confirmed his original thoughts. He also saw that it could be a stress response of Alphas, which he thought was plausible as well. He was going to a new planet, rationing his food, making sure the Taumoeba didn't kill too much of the Astrophage, making sure the Taumoeba had enough Astrophage so they didn't die, and in a hot and heavy relationship with an alien. There was lots to be stressed about in his life.
One day he went to the bathroom after a particularly long time holding it. He was too focused on an experiment with some of the other cells that he and Rocky discovered on Tau Ceti until his bladder absolutely screamed at him to go.
As his stream slowed, he noticed something strange. He never really focused on his dick too much, the skin at the base reminding him of his Alpha-ness. He was never one to jerk off too much on Earth and now Rocky almost exclusively made Grace cum using his hole, not his dick.
He looked down and turned it in his hand as it dripped the last of his pee. It looked… smaller. Huh. It spanned about the length of his hand and he could have sworn that it was bigger before. His memories of his life on Earth still came back to him in pieces and it frustrated him that he couldn't have the full picture of his life to compare it to.
He hummed and tucked his dick away, putting it off into a corner of his mind he promised he would look at later, but almost never did.
A few days later, he felt soreness between his ass and balls. He squirmed in his seat in the lab and later while he and Rocky watched a movie.
Rocky noticed the movement right away. "What's wrong with Grace?"
Grace blushed. His running theory is that Rocky was just a little too rough down there the previous night. He didn't want to scare Rocky or make him feel bad.
"Ah, nothing," he lied. "Just can't sit still for some reason." It was weak but he hoped Rocky would buy it.
He didn't buy it. "Grace lying and avoiding, tell Rocky sexual embarrassment now."
Grace sighed. "I'm just feeling a little sore. I think maybe we went too hard?" Grace cringed at himself.
Rocky rose up high on his limbs and trilled rapidly. "Grace need to tell Rocky if not enjoy! Rocky never want to hurt Grace if Grace not want! Bad bad bad bad ba-"
"Rocky, stop!" Grace put his hands on either side of Rocky's carapace, stilling him and forcing him to slow and listen to Grace. "I love everything we do together. Sometimes human bodies don't hurt until the next day, so we don't know right in the moment that it was too much. You have never hurt me in ways I don't like. We just might have to be a little gentler the next couple of days is all." He was so scared that Rocky would pull away, that he wouldn't want to touch Grace again, that they would stop having sex, that Grace would be forced to listen to his snarling Alpha all the time again. His feelings came out in a keening whine that he had a hard time stopping.
Rocky clutched Grace's wrists that still held his carapace. "Say again," he commanded.
"Rocky, you didn't hurt me in a way I didn't want or like. Humans sometimes don't hurt until the next day."
"Had to make sure Grace not lying," Rocky warbled. "Can Rocky help soreness in Grace body now?"
"Uh, it's just uncomfortable to sit on hard surfaces, softer would be better." Grace blushed, still embarrassed to admit it.
"Rocky be back!" Rocky chirped, and he scuttled away.
Grace sighed as he waited. Rocky was so accommodating, Grace didn't know if he would ever get used to someone making him feel special, making him speak out loud the things that needed to be said.
Rocky appeared 30 seconds later with blankets and pillows clutched in his claws. He made a little nest for Grace, which Grace did graciously slide into, thankful for the softness around him. He wondered if he could make his bed like it, surrounded by blankets like walls keeping him closed in and safe.
He cuddled against Rocky as they continued to watch the movie until Rocky abruptly announced that Grace was too sleepy and needed to rest.
Grace hadn't even noticed he was nodding off, his nest that Rocky made him was so comfy and cozy. He nuzzled in and a noise emerged from his throat that he didn't recognize.
"Grace sleep in bed!" Rocky pulled at him.
Grace groaned, not wanting to move a single centimeter. "Rocky, please, stay here? So comfortable…"
"Grace will hurt tomorrow!" Rocky protested.
Grace shook his head petulantly. "No, feels nice, you made me a nice nest, please?"
"Grace no complain if hurt," Rocky warbled, but curled up in Grace's arms without a fight.
A flicker ran past Grace's mind, just a little fleeting thought about his behavior. He was curled up in a nest that Rocky made him and didn't want to leave to sleep in his real bed. It was… Omega behavior.
The word "bitching" briefly flashed into his mind, but he quickly shook it off. Rocky wasn't even an Alpha, he thought as he cuddled him and drifted off into sleep.
Grace shot up from his bunk, nearly hitting his head. His hands scrabbled at his blankets searching for the unfamiliar burning, pulsing, hot sensation between his legs. He finally got his hands to work around the blankets and ripped the off to reveal what he could only describe as a horror scene in his bed.
There was blood that soaked his sheets and blankets, radiating out from the pain he felt. He touched the slick mixture, not believing it was real. He wasn't a young girl flowering for the first time in a historical novel.
Or was he?
He lifted his head again to see the bloody mess. "Hnnng," he whined, his body moving shifting where he hurt and sending a shot of pain through his abdomen.
He winced and sucked in a breath through his teeth as he prodded himself through his clothing.
"Oh FUCK!" He yelled and promptly snatched his fingers away from himself as fast as he could. As soon as his fingers made contact, a sharp pain ripped through him like he was being split open by the sharpest chef's knife in Tokyo.
Suddenly Grace was frozen. He needed to look, he didn't want to, he need to know what was going on, part of him already knew. Instead of making a decision, he collapsed back and sobbed, the sharp pain dulling into the ache that he woke with.
He heard the muffled clamber of Rocky in his tunnels, rushing to Grace and cried harder because Rocky was going to ask all these questions that Grace didn't even want to admit the answers to himself.
Ten seconds later, Rocky was at his bedside in his close suit, moving his arms wildly around, unsure where to land.
"Rocky," Grace cried, because he wanted his comfort. His brain buzzed with possibilities, with stress, with directions to GET UP AND LOOK, but all Grace could do was cry. He hurt so bad and he needed Rocky in a new way. Something inside his body sang to Rocky as he stood there fretting over Grace's bleeding body.
"Grace? Grace?" Rocky cried. The translator couldn't keep up with how many times Rocky was calling his name. He suddenly flashed back to when he almost died above the planet Adrian and Rocky screamed his name in Eridian over and over.
"Rocky," Grace whispered, suddenly very tired.
"No no no no Grace no don't fall asleep, something wrong with Grace, what what what?" Rocky trilled, picking at his claws.
For some reason, the combination of Rocky being at Grace's side and Rocky's extreme stress, calmed Grace down. He felt safe because Rocky was there. He wished he wasn't hurting so much, but if he didn't move, he could let it fade into the background.
He forced his brain to work, to work out the details. He was a biologist for Pete's sake, this shouldn't have been a surprise to him!
He and Rocky had been having sex for months, the only Rocky penetrating him. Rocky was very bossy and something inside Grace responded to it. He remembered vaguely that most bitching happened because of an excess of Alpha fluids but a slower process could happen if the receiving Alpha accepted an Alpha above them. If the receiving Alpha submitted. God, that what he had been doing the whole time, wasn't it?
"Grace covered in blood! Grace dying!" Rocky screamed, breaking Grace out of his thoughts.
"Mary, help," Grace sighed, hoping that Mary would explain what was happening so Grace didn't have to look himself just yet.
"Dr. Grace is experiencing secondary gender transformation. You may be in discomfort for the next 8-24 hours," Mary's cool voice reverberated through the speakers. "It is advised that Dr. Grace increase fluid and nutritional intake."
"See, Rock, not dying, just changing." Grace flopped his head back onto his pillow. Once he got past the pain and blood and gore of it all, he found that he was not unhappy with the development.
He felt Rocky's warm claw on his face, a comfort even though he was sweaty and disgusting and covered from head to toe in fluids, Rocky's just offered his hand, no disparaging words about how leaky Grace was at all. He smiled to himself when he found he missed the insults just a little.
"Changing?" Rocky inquired, swiping some of Grace's sweat matted hair away from his face.
"I should have told you before, but humans have a secondary gender. You can look it up on your laptop while I'm sleeping, but it's a weird process. I'm in pain, I'm bleeding, but I'm okay." If someone had told Grace that he would be explaining secondary gender to an alien in space he would have rolled his eyes and told them to buzz off.
"Grace need help? Need care?" Rocky warbled.
Grace teared up again, but not out of sorrow, out of gratefulness. No one had ever taken care of him, certainly not when things got as ugly as they were at that moment in time. In sickness and in health, his brain whispered to him.
"I do want to clean up a little, could you help me to the bathroom?" Grace whimpered, worried that the care Rocky offered would be revoked if Grace asked for it.
"Yes yes yes, Rocky carry!" Rocky chimed, doing jazz hands.
"Whoa, you don't have to car- OOF!" Rocky pulled him from his bunk and used three of his arms to balance Grace over his head.
It all felt very romantic, the hormones in Grace brain working overtime.
Rocky scuttled away after depositing Grace at his destination, saying something else about cleaning, but Grace didn't hear as he looked at himself in the mirror.
He knew physical changes would happen, but looking at them was a different story. He looked sallow, waxy, but he attributed it to the pain and sweat and effort of the transformation. The thing that caught his eye is how bright they looked, a twinkle in them despite being sunken in a little. His face was a tiny bit less angular as well.
As he examined his reflection, the apex of his legs started to throb. He sighed, he did want to clean himself, and better to look at his new slit now than later.
His heart pounded as he removed his clothing, leaving it in a pile to clean later. Or to throw out into the airlock, either would be acceptable.
He trailed his hand down his body, watching in the mirror as he did so. His pecs were a little fuller, but not too much different from his muscled body when he woke from his coma. They were sore but nothing compared to between his legs.
The sight that greeted him as his shifted his eyes downward was gruesome. Blood and other fluids had dried and crusted on his inner thighs, leaving him tacky. He couldn't even see his new development with everything so he grabbed the sponge. Another item to throw out of the airlock later.
He carefully dabbed at the mess his body made and little by little he could see.
His cock had shrunk to a few inches, no knot visible, but the biggest change sat below. A puffy, inflamed, twitching pussy, still working itself open.
Grace ignored the pain and did calculations, something that always calmed him down. The slit was about 5 inches, the hole three inches from the top. His cock sat on top uselessly, his balls were gone.
He estimated that most of the creation and change happened in his sleep. He dared to spread his lips open and gasped.
He was… beautiful. Spread out, he could see everything, the way everything was dark pink and flush with blood, the way his labia curled in on itself like flower petals, the way his hole pulsed enticingly. He couldn't help but think that this is what he should have been the whole time. He made a small noise as he took his hands off his new pussy, giving himself a once over with the sponge once more time.
When he was clean and the pain of touching himself gently receded to a dull roar, he limped back to his bunk where he gasped at the sight. All the bloody sheets and blankets had been taken away and replaced with new ones. Pillows and blankets from around the ship had been gathered and piled onto the bunk and there were water pouches and food sitting beside the bed for easy access.
Grace welled up, the tears immediately threatening to spill over. Rocky couldn't have known everything he needed, and yet his nest was prepared for him. Prepared by Grace's Alpha. His pussy twitched with a novel feeling and Grace was suddenly self-conscious that he was naked.
Rocky appeared with one more item in his hands from the storage hatch of the ship.
"Grace!" He shouted when he spotted Grace standing there, naked and crying and probably still a little messy from the change.
"Grace come to nest!" Rocky scrambled and grabbed Grace's hand, yanking him towards the bunk.
Normally, Grace would fight back against it, give himself a bruise in Rocky's hold, try to go about whatever thing he decided was better than what his alien suggested, but this time, his mind was fuzzy and the request from Rocky soothed him like a balm. He was so tired, he wanted to sleep and rest and hold Rocky forever.
"Rock, you… you made me a nest?" Grace asked even though the answer was obvious as he was thrust into it.
"Rocky read on laptop while Grace in bathroom. Grace need soft things, care and support. Rocky can give! Not unlike Eridian fertile period," Rocky chirped and trilled.
Grace curled up around him and found the heat that emanated from Rocky to be soothing and perfect for the aches and pains of his body. He almost put one of Rocky's arms between his legs, but he didn't want Rocky to get the wrong impression and the thought of anything other than the heat down there did send a shiver through Grace's body.
"Grace okay?" Rocky warbled.
Grace sighed and kept his eyes closed. Besides the pain, he felt good. Something felt right inside him for the first time since that fateful day at his debate tournament.
He nodded at Rocky, omitting his usual joke shake of the head, not wanting to confuse Rocky when it was probably just as scary to him to see what was happening to Grace without any context. He had done such a good job taking care of Grace, he didn't want to do anything that would prevent him from giving the excellent care.
Grace snuggled into the softness that Rocky prepared for him and to the arms that he was holding to his body for warmth. He was about to drift off to sleep when a rumble from his chest surprised him.
"Grace! Grace speak Eridian almost!" Rocky trilled excitedly.
Purring.
He tried again, but it wouldn't come, the sound broken and noncontinuous. He huffed in frustration as Rocky ran a claw through his hair.
"Sleep, my Grace. I will watch," Rocky sang and the dulcet tones and low frequencies made Grace succumb to sleep.
When he woke, he was hot and sweaty with fever. He was sticky where his skin met other skin and when he moved it made everything worse. It was like he was on fire. Not even rut had felt so horrible. Was he in rut? It wasn't due for months or years most likely with the amount of trauma he body had went through due to the space launch and stress of the mission.
He opened his mouth and his lips stuck together, his whole mouth gummy like he had smoked weed or something. He spotted a water pouch right by his bed and downed it in one go. It was like a balm to him, but didn't put out the fire of his body. What was happening?
"Grace! Grace! Temperature elevated!" Rocky shrieked from somewhere.
"Not now, Rock," Grace grumbled, not wanting to deal with whatever was going on with him and freaked out Rocky.
"No, we deal with! Show Rocky how!" His voice was closer now. Grace turned his head, opened his eyes (when had they closed again?), and spotted Rocky right beside him, fidgeting with his claws in the cute way that he did.
"I'm sick, maybe the flu," Grace whispered, his brain immediately telling him that that hypothesis wasn't true. He was in a sterilized ship, no way for him to get the flu.
"Grace, stop playing!" Rocky trilled and touched his arm. With Rocky's touch, sensations and remembering flooded in.
The Change, the pain, the pussy he now had, Rocky prepping his nest and being the best Alpha, falling asleep in his arms safe and comfortable.
This was his heat. And not just any heat. A presentation heat.
"Ughhhh, okay," Grace groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face. He knew he had precious little time to explain before he was gripped fully by instinct and primal urges. "How much did you read about Alphas and Omegas?"
Rocky stood up straighter. "Alphas are the protectors of Omegas. Omegas and soft and carry young. Alphas help raise the young along with a pack. They also-"
"Okay, okay! What did you read about heats?" Grace interrupted. He would have to correct any stereotypes that Rocky read and cursed himself for not being forthcoming before it was an emergency. In his defense, he didn't think he was going to be bitched by an alien.
"Omegas have heats approximately four times in an Earth year. They require care and sexual satisfaction from their caretakers, usually an Alpha," Rocky warbled, his hands fretting over Grace again.
"Grace in heat, question? After change, laptop say that Human will go through catastrophic heat."
Rocky touched him again, soothingly, Grace knew but it did nothing to quell the fire that burned inside him now. In fact, it stoked the fire, his body begging for more of Rocky's touch in more intimate places. He felt himself tear up and felt stupid. A delicate claw wiped it away and it made Grace cry harder. Rocky never asked for any of this and he was still taking care of Grace. Rocky found Grace leaky and disgusting and Grace felt more leaky and disgusting than ever and Rocky was still with Grace, wiping his tears and telling him about Omegas and Alphas.
His brave alien, his wonderful Alpha.
"Rocky," Grace sobbed.
"Yes yes, Grace, I am here!" Rocky trilled.
"You… you don't have to. I can do it without," Grace whimpered, his rational brain still there for the time being even as his body screamed at him ALPHA MATE ALPHA KNOT.
"S-sexual satisfaction, I mean. You don't have to."
"Grace," Rocky purred. "Rocky can give. Rocky want to give." His voice was soft, so sweet, it rolled over Grace like the waves at his beloved beach.
"Rock, I- I don't think you understand. I might ask you for things you don't u-hnng understand! I might beg for your knot! Y-you don't have one of those!" Grace cried, trying with desperation convey to Rocky something that he didn't fully understand himself. He had never experienced a heat as an Alpha. He had ruts, but those were different. He had no Omegas in his family or life and only knew of heats through academic study and media, which he knew could be skewed.
"Grace will be okay, Rocky will take good good good care of Omega Grace," Rocky cooed. The title hit Grace like the console of the Hail Mary to his chest. It knocked his breath out and made something inside him start to slip.
"R-rocky, please," Grace begged, not even knowing what he was begging for.
"Rocky here, Rocky study on computer, Rocky knows how to help Grace. Want to help. Grace precious."
Another slip of something inside of Grace and he felt like he was at the precipice, about to tip over into something unknown.
"Rocky, I- I don't know how lucid I'll be. I just…" He trailed off. I love you, he wanted to say. Wanted to get it out before he fell over whatever cliff was inside his body.
"Wait!" He cried. "Do you have your tool belt?"
Rocky tipped his carapace at him and scampered off. Grace felt his loss immediately but held onto the last vestiges of his conscious, rational brain to tell himself that Rocky would be back, he was just getting the thing that Grace himself asked him to get.
Sure enough, Rocky was back in a flash, holding his tool belt and another fabric-like thing that Grace had never seen before. He smelled them before they were deposited in Grace's hands. The sharp burn of ammonia with something underneath that Grace couldn't place. It was either too alien or Grace was almost gone, reduced to his most basal state. He held them up to his nose, smelling deeply anyway, comforted in Rocky.
"Grace?" Rocky warbled, crawling onto the bunk.
"Ready," Grace whispered, holding on tight to Rocky's things, his grip so tight it made the "leather" of Rocky's tool belt squeak.
Rocky gently parted Grace's legs where they had previously been squeezed shut. Grace blushed as they spread and his slick connected them with strings of wet that Rocky reached out and snapped with his claw. The resulting sensation of his slick hitting him in the inner thighs made him blush and tear up. He was so lewd, so disgusting, how would Rocky even like the new him? If Rocky thought he was leaky before, he shuddered to think what was going through his mind the moment Grace's new parts were exposed. He squeezed his eyes shut, embarrassed and trying hard not to cry.
"Grace look at Rocky," came Rocky's trill.
Grace shook his head and felt tears run down his face, the dam broken.
"Grace," Rocky growled deeper and it touched something in his brain. His face was gripped in Rocky's claw hard and he opened his eyes.
Rocky stood over him, bracketing his body with his limbs minus the one on his face. It was a stance of domination, of predation, of control. Grace gasped and Rocky clutched him harder.
"Grace look at Rocky, good good good. Grace beautiful, Rocky happy happy happy. Rocky help Omega, do not fear. Do not think. Just feel."
Grace's brain finally clicked into place, his full self submitting, his mind falling into Rocky's words, care, and intent.
"Yes, Alpha," He whispered.
Rocky trilled in response and let up on Grace's face, moving down his body to his still spread legs. He felt Rocky tap tap tap him all the way down, looking inside his body, noting the different parts, learning where his womb and other sexual structures were.
Rocky ran a claw through the mess between his legs, chittering and trilling the whole time. Either Rocky was speaking words that Grace didn't understand or in the state Grace was in, he couldn't decipher Rocky anymore. He needed the translator again.
Rocky touched everything; his new folds, his cocklet, his swollen lips. Every touch sent a fire through Grace that did not ebb.
"Rocky," Grace begged, wanting to be put out of his misery.
Rocky responded by inserting a finger. Eridian claws were shorter and less dexterous that human fingers, but even one of Rocky's was enough to make Grace bow from the bed. His new pussy was so sensitive, it felt like a live wire had shot through him.
He panted at Rocky, unable to form words and Rocky chittered, "Grace beautiful… like Earth flower. Bloomed, petals, gorgeous. Grace so much more leaky now, Rocky like."
Rocky was careful and slow, noting each and every reaction Grace had. Everything was so new to the both of them.
"Grace open so beautifully, the human body is amaze amaze amaze!" Rocky sang as he started to go faster and added another finger.
"Rock… please, god, please!" Grace chanted, something building up inside of him. It didn't even feel like an orgasm, it was like a cosmic deity. It originated deep in his guts, rumbling and growing and growing until finally it exploded, all his nerve endings going to static and a scream emanated from his throat.
He was barely aware of his new cock squirting pathetically over the hair below his belly button and Rocky singing something. He couldn't hear anything other the sound of his own voice and the blood pumping in his ears.
Eventually he calmed down enough to hear Rocky cooing, "Grace did so good, beautiful Omega, take Rocky so well, good good good job."
Grace was so tired, he wanted to sleep, to thank Rocky for helping with his heat and ask him to cuddle, but he was suddenly overcome with another cramp and fire that ripped through him. He whined, not knowing how to verbalize what he needed.
"Mmmm, Grace Omega body need more Rocky, Rocky can give," Rocky hummed and carefully pushed into him again. Grace hissed through his teeth, it was thicker than before.
Grace looked down and gasped as Rocky's whole claw disappeared into him. He didn't know he was capable of stretching so far, the pleasurable burning and intense deep feeling overshadowed Grace's embarrassment over his body.
"Grace Omega body so stretchy, nothing like Eridians. So squishy, so wet, so erotic and lewd. Grace body like perfect Eridian toy. Grace like?" Rocky chittered away as he pumped in and out of Grace's brand new pussy.
Grace couldn't speak as Rocky punched the sounds out of him, only letting little "ah ah ahs" leave his mouth. Rocky managed to find his g-spot and the sensation overtook Grace, his whole lower body pulsing like a live wire.
He brought Rocky's "fabric" things to his nose again and cried out as Rocky thrust his arm particularly hard into Grace. Another orgasm overtook him without warning and Grace screamed his release.
"Rocky, Rocky, Rocky," he whispered, his voice hoarse. An arm brushed some sweaty hair away from his forehead and Grace caught a glimpse of his friend, lover, Alpha, savior.
Oh.
His ovipositor was out.
Grace's mouth watered and any semblance of fatigue was gone from his body. He needed his Alpha's cock inside him, needed his knot, needed his babies.
"Grace Omega so perfect, Rocky want to be inside. Please, Grace mate, let me?" Rocky trilled, settling himself on top of Grace's belly.
"Yes, yes, please, Alpha, inside!" Grace begged.
The first touch of Rocky's ovipositor was like coming home. Something familiar in a sea of unfamiliarity. Grace had taken it before, but never like he was now. The organ had a mind of it's own, seeking a chamber to pump eggs and fluid to cushion them, and Grace just so happened to have a brand new organ for it to try out.
Rocky's cock was thicker than his arm and the stretch hurt, but Grace didn't mind. It was his Alpha, his mate, and he would let his mate do anything, take any pleasure he wanted.
He laid back and let Rocky take his new body for what it was made for, made specifically for Rocky. His pussy opened for the Alpha that made it, ready for his eggs, ready to incubate anything he could.
Rocky took his time once his cock was inside Grace, intermittently thrusting like he knew Grace liked, but Eridians didn't need, exploring Grace's new cock, and just touching him all over. It almost felt like they were making love. He felt so connected to Rocky.
Rocky had described thrumming to him a few times and at first it had freaked Grace out. Everyone inside his head, hearing every thought, seeing every memory, feeling every joy and sadness and anger and fear he ever had. For a creature like Grace, scared to be intimate in any capacity with anyone, keeping almost everyone in his life at an arms length, it sounded terrifying.
Now, with Rocky inside him after Grace transformed, completely changed inside and out by him, Grace understood. He understood the need for closeness, for sharing, for complete and utter intimacy. Rocky knew Grace so completely, he understood inherently what Grace needed without saying a word. Grace had a thought and Rocky would respond, Grace would move a minuscule amount and Rocky was there and vice versa.
He closed his eyes to listen and his Alpha delivered. A beautiful song, light and barely audible, but there. Grace couldn't understand the words but he understood the meaning. "Protect, love, help, comfort, support, beautiful, mine, mine, mine, mine."
He came just hearing it, gushing all over Rocky's suit. The song warbled and he felt the press of something thick against his pussy.
"Please, Alpha, fill me up, knot me, please, please, please," Grace begged, not even thinking about how Rocky was going to knot him when his ovipositor didn't have the proper equipment.
Grace grabbed either side of Rocky's carapace, both for his own selfish benefit, but he wanted to help ground Rocky, too.
"Gra-aace!" Rocky's voice went in and out of Grace's hearing range.
Something big tugged at his entrance, stretching him impossibly wide and something in his brain was finally satisfied. Rocky did it, he knotted him. Soon the knot pushed past his hole, making it's way deeper and deeper inside of him. Rocky was such a good Alpha, filling him up over and over and over again.
The the stretch went away and Grace felt something settle inside him. He whined at the loss and risked a glance down. Inside Rocky's ovipositor there were protrusions at various points, round like a knots, but many of them like anal beads.
Rocky was screeching his release, almost so loud that Grace wanted to cover his ears.
Finally, Grace realized, his brain slow with heat and orgasm. Rocky was knotting him with his eggs.
At the understanding, Grace clenched around Rocky and came one last time, gushing all over the xenonite like Rocky was at a car wash. He collapsed back and let Rocky finish, each egg that passed through him creating a little mini fountain all over again.
Grace must have passed out from exhaustion as he didn't remember Rocky even removing himself from his pussy, but when he woke, he was clean, dressed, and covered in his quilt. He heard Rocky tinkering just out of his line of sight and relaxed, the Omega in his brain calming down the Alpha was still there.
He took stock of his body. His muscled ached, his head hurt, his pussy throbbed, but overall he felt satiated. The fever of heat was gone and he no long felt crazed out of his mind.
He took a breath and thought about what happened with a clear-ish mind, not addled in heat or pain from transformation and he realized he felt more like himself since before he presented as an Alpha. It was like a wave of relief went through him, a soothing menthol of calm.
From the moment it happened he hated being an Alpha. He felt like he was too big for his skin, he itched everywhere with discomfort, like something was trying to claw itself out of Grace every moment of every day. He disgusted himself when his instincts kicked in about something, like he was feral animal with no control, his ruts especially. He tried everything in his power to avoid them, usually past the point of health and safety.
His heat was different. He knew logically they were the same; a biological process in which to create a baby where the hindbrain took over. But his heat felt so much better. Maybe it was the fact that Rocky was there, helping him through it and he was always too ashamed to get a partner on Earth for his rut, but something about his heat made him feel more in control that rut ever did. He did surrender himself to his instincts, but he didn't feel shame or guilt over it.
Rocky. Rocky probably had no idea the impact that he accidentally made on Grace's psyche. He was so grateful that Rocky was so bossy and changed him. On Earth, bitching just seemed so extreme, plus it would require Grace trusting someone enough to do it to him, and getting close to people was never Grace's strong suit. Marissa suggested it so many times, but Grace always shot it down. His life wasn't that bad, he could survive. He was focused on school, then his dissertation, then finding a job after academia, then on teaching to really give the idea any real weight, and when he did, there was no way he would be able to afford the process. So it stayed a hypothetical, something fun and interesting to discuss with Marissa on their standing Thursdays.
Now that it happened, he could see that it wasn't too extreme. It settled him, he didn't feel hat awful itching feeling anymore, his brain was calmer. He wondered if it had happened earlier where he would be in life. Would he have lashed out at UNESCO? Would he have chosen to come to space? Would he even have been the astrophage expert at all? He pushed all the what-ifs from his mind and just let himself be in the present.
He was an Omega now, and he really liked it.
Rocky still worked in the distance and Grace ran his hands down his body. Even through clothes he could tell there were some changes there that he didn't get to catalogue in all the excitement. His pecs were softer, there was more of dip in his waist than there used to be, his thighs jiggled a little bit, and then, of course, there was his pussy.
He sighed and Rocky's tinkering stopped. Grace heard some clatter and banging and the tell-tale sound of xenonite on metal before Rocky materialized at the foot of his bed.
"Grace?" Rocky warbled, tapping all around the bed before climbing up.
"Hey, buddy." Grace smiled, a warmness blossoming in his chest.
"Grace temperature and bodily functions back to baseline, that mean…"
"Yeah, Rock, my heat is over, no thanks to you," Grace laughed.
Rocky's posture straightened from his crouched position. "Grace stupid stupid stupid! Why not tell Rocky about Alphas and Omegas? Why not tell Rocky what doing to Grace? Grace in distress and Rocky have no way to fix! Grace bad bad bad!! Rocky worried Grace dying! Covered in blood like after fishing! Grace screaming in pain! And Rocky not know! Rocky change Grace forever and not know Rocky doing it! How could Grace not tell? Rocky scared scared scared scared! Now Grace different! Rocky didn't mean! Grace!!"
Grace cringed. He did feel bad about keeping Rocky in the dark, but he didn't know that anything would happen let alone a whole bitching.
Rocky continued to let him have it for several minutes, his vents puffing so much, there was condensation inside his suit.
Finally, Grace interrupted. "Rocky! Hey, will you listen to me?"
Rocky stopped in his tracks, nodded and settled on Grace's legs in a loaf.
"So I'm sorry I didn't tell you about secondary gender, you just got so confused by primary gender, it didn't seem worth it to me, plus you had the laptop, so I assumed you would run across it at some point. And I- I had another reason I didn't tell you."
Grace sighed and closed his eyes. "I became an Alpha later in life than normal humans present, and I hated it. Being an Alpha comes with a lot of societal expectations that I didn't want and didn't like. I hated myself for what I was. And I didn't tell you because for the first time I truly felt like I wasn't living under those expectations anymore. You made me feel normal and safe, Rock."
Rocky trilled with pride before the sound changed. "Grace use Rocky to change?"
"No! I didn't know it was happening until I woke up two days ago. It's been a long time since I took sex ed and usually the Change happens when two Alphas are having sex and exchanging fluids. You're not an Alpha and we never exchanged fluids, so I didn't think it was even a possibility. There is a rarer way which is how it happened here, but Rocky, I promise I did not intentionally get intimate with you to Change."
Grace's heart hammered in his chest, trying to read Rocky's body language.
"Grace happy with change?" Rocky finally asked, a note of insecurity.
"Yes, Rocky, so happy. It was always something I thought about on Earth, but was too scared to do because I was never close enough to anyone and well, you saw what a big change it was and how much I had to rely on you. I could have never done that on Earth. I could have never done that with anyone until you, Rock."
"I hated being an Alpha, it felt wrong, like I wasn't made right. Now that I'm an Omega and with you, I feel like myself again. It's… it's liberating." A sob broke out of him as tears streamed down his face that he hadn't realized were coming down. "I'm sorry if you feel betrayed, Rocky. Please don't be mad. I'm so happy this happened."
"Rocky not angry," Rocky trilled, wiping away Grace's tears. "Was worried that we do something permanent to Grace. But Grace happy."
"So, so, happy Rocky, I can't even describe how happy." His tears didn't slow, but it didn't matter to Rocky, seemingly. He kept wiping them away and cooing reassurances to Grace about how brave and beautiful and strong he was.
Finally, when Grace calmed down enough, Rocky trilled out a question. "Why Rocky special?"
"What's that?" Grace asked, still sniffing.
"Grace say Grace could not do Change with anyone but Rocky. Why?" Rocky warbled.
Grace blushed, not realizing he said it like that. His brain buzzed for excuses before he realized that Rocky had seen him literally split open and bloody and in the throes of heat, he could tell Rocky how he felt.
"I couldn't do this with anyone else because I love you, Rocky. And I've never loved anyone like this before, not on Earth or anywhere else. It's a little cliché, but I always kinda wanted to go through it with someone I love. And now I have." He looked at Rocky through his eyelashes, still scared despite all they had been through.
Rocky squealed and twirled in place in Grace's bed. "Rocky love Grace, too!"
Grace gasped and threw himself at Rocky, squeezing him at tight as he could. He heard a strange rumble and felt a vibration.
"Grace, Grace! Speaking Eridian!" Rocky screeched in excitement.
"Rocky, I was purring! It's something Omegas do when they're happy and satisfied. What was I saying?"
"Hmm, Grace say Eridian words for safe, protected, comfortable," Rocky cooed.
Tears sprang to his eyes again and he hugged Rocky tighter. "I am, Rock. You make me that way."
A purr erupted from his chest again and Rocky returned one in kind. They sat in their safe, protected, comfortable tin can hurdling across the universe, Grace changed, but more himself than ever.