There were sunny days, and cloudy days, and rainy days: then there were days where the heavens seemed to hate the world, unleashing such a storm upon the face of the earth to drive terror into the hearts of most men. It had been lashing with rain all through the night, rivers b close by morning light. The gusts of wind had howled in so terrifying a pitch – like screaming children in a sea of storms – that nightmares plagued Seoul City’s residents relentlessly.

Jihoon had suffered three hellish nights of the storm before, on the third morning, he woke up to find one of the windows of Triple C bashed in; there was no evidence of robbery, simply the greater part of a huge oak tree right outside the store had crashed in beside the doorway. Mentally and emotionally exhausted, the young barista simply took a seat and began to cry at the sight of it.

Luckily, his bout of exhausted emotion was short-lived. By the time the rest of the street began to wake up and go to work, the omega was gently removing the last of the glass from the window pane. The tree-trunk he had casually laid in the middle of the café, unsure what to do with it. By the time Soonyoung showed up for work, Jihoon was already fixing a large wooden board to the inside of the pane.

“Whoa! Woozi?”

“Don’t worry. You remember a few years ago we had the back room re-furnished? This was that old counter-top we used to have. It was still in the back of the storage room, so I just grabbed it and hopped down the hardware store for some nails until we can get somebody in to outfit a new window.”

“What the hell happened?!” the distraught owner whined.

“That tree,” Jihoon answered, pointing into the café with his heavy hammer, “came right through the window last night in the storm. If you look out at the stump, you can see what happened. It must have been struck with lightning, and then it just broke and fell over right through the window.”

“Good God.” The man put his bag down in the middle of the floor, tip-toeing over to the branch. “This thing is huge. Did you move it all by yourself?”

“Made a pulley out of some of the old tea-towels and shifted it over. Do I look like a body-builder to you?” The Prince returned to his make-shift board and wonky nails. “The trunk is thicker than I am. I might have pulled a muscle in my shoulder, cause I can’t lift my arm up anymore.”

“That’s a problem.”

“Yeah.” The omega finished one last nail and put down the hammer, exhausted. “Right. That should about finish it for now.”

The alpha turned from the large piece of wood in his café to his employee of every month. “…no offence, Wooz, but… you don’t look so good.”

“I’m exhausted,” the boy smiled weakly, sitting down on the floor. He felt dizzy and hot – as if his blood was slow in his veins, thick and unhealthy. “I haven’t been sleeping well.”

The alpha evaluated his favourite employee.

The Dark Prince looked a little worse than not so good. He was pale with large red blotches all over his skin; he had dark circles under his eyes for days; the look he gave was glassy and unfocused, and he was sweating bullets even though it was still quite cold. His breaths were uneven and shaky, and his expression was simply awful.

“…I think we need to get you to the emergency room, kid.”

“What?”

“You look like crap. You need a doctor.”

“…d-don’t be silly.”

“Jihoon, I’m telling you right now we are going to the hospital. You stay here. I’m going to get my car.” Soonyoung flipped the sign on the door to closed and rushed out home to get his car.

Jihoon was lucky enough that even the smartest doctor in the hospital was terrible and recognizing people.

“We’ll keep you on the IV for today, and see how you’re doing in the morning. Alright? I’ll have the nurse bring you something to eat and drink.”

Jihoon moved his head over the pillow languidly to glance at Soonyoung. “…do me a favour? Go up to my apartment and grab me a set of clothes and a toothbrush?”

“Sure, kid. You rest up. You heard what the doctor said. You’re too stressed out. You need to rest.” Soonyoung got out of the plastic hospital chair with a groan. “Try to relax, alright?”

Jihoon nodded a little.

Sweat was dripping down his face by the time he was able to leave, the stress and worry carved into his face.

“Here.” Vernon something into his hands as he left the shop. “Bring him those.”

“Thanks. Bye!” Seungcheol wasn’t even sure what was in his hands until he had already picked up the bag Soonyoung gave him at Triple C and was on his way to the hospital. It was a bouquet of brightly-colored flowers.

When Soonyoung had swung by the shop earlier to say that Woozi was in hospital – that his boyfriend was staying overnight in hospital due to extreme stress – it had sent the man into a dead panic. All he could think of was his precious omega, safe in his arms, protected from the world. And no matter how upset Jihoon was with him, he had to at least go.

He just had to wait until Minghao arrived, because he couldn’t leave the shop to Vernon alone.

Soonyoung had made up a bag of Jihoon’s clothes and hygiene products, and then Seungcheol was simply racing through the streets.

He burst through the hospital, asking directions here and there until he found the ward where his omega had fallen half-asleep in the middle of texting on his phone, eyelids slipping closed in front of the screen.

He silently placed the bag on the bedside table.

The omega began to turn to see who it was, put Seungcheol put a hand on his shoulder. “Shhhh,” he whispered gently. “Sleep.”

It was evening by the time Jihoon woke up; he hadn’t ever realized Seungcheol had arrived, and started to see him there.

“Jihoon.” He jumped forward then sat again. “…I’m sorry. I had to come.”

The barista pulled a confused face.

“Uh, your boss came past and told me. Grabbed your clothes for me to bring. I hope you don’t mind.” He looked away, cheeks tinging pink. “…you can tell me to leave if you want.”

The barista closed his eyes for a moment. “You came straight away?”

“As soon as I could get away from work.” Seungcheol leaned in a little.

It took a moment, but Jihoon took a deep breath and stretched an arm out, eyes wide and a little sad. “I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he whispered, taking his boyfriend’s hand. “…forgive me?”

“No, no no!” Seungcheol dragged the chair closer to the bed and pressed his face up near Jihoon’s. “I should be asking you to forgive me. I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t cherish you properly. I really did miss you though.”

Jihoon nodded gently, gripping Seungcheol’s fingers. Everything was spinning in his head – their fight, the storms, the nigh