“I cook anyway, it actually isn’t any trouble to use a different kitchen.” 

Jaejoong sounds tense, the boy had seemed perfectly fine until they had stepped out into the hall. He lives alone on the floor, it is lit brightly though the windows are blackened by the later hour and the storm brewing in the sky.  

Raindrops splatter against the window panes, creating a muted but intense drumming sound and the windows blur under the stream of water.  

“If you ever need anything specific, I’ll make sure to do groceries before,” Yunho offers though it really is less an offer and more the way he would prefer things to work. 

If Jaejoong is doing the work, he can make sure everything the boy needs is present. And if he’s stubborn, he could... buy a little bit of everything and make use of his personal chef in the meantime. 

The stiff nod he gets is awkward, but the blonde does smile, or he tries to smile at least.  He really does wish he knew what just happened, but he isn’t sure at all.  Literally nothing has happened, and they survived the hand cutting and the part where they actually sat down and ate together so he isn’t quite getting it. 

Jajeoong is a bit of a special case though, he knows. The blonde is a little bit of a mess, a little bit skittish and shy, so he tries not to delve too far or back him into a corner and question it. He would like to know what happened, if he had done something in particular so he could fix it... 

He shouldn’t care at all but he does.  

He had been curious mostly when Changmin had gone about blabbering about the troubled omega, but he hadn’t cared all too much for the tragedy. That had all shifted when he had found out who the troubled omega was. He couldn’t stop thinking about Jaejoong, about little bits of the past, but it was the overwhelming need to see the blonde, to make sure he was still in one piece. 

When the elevator doors chime and opens, he guides the blonde inside with a hand resting against his lower back. 

“Me? I’m supposed to be cooking for you, just let me know what you’d like, Yunho,” Jaejoong protests, swatting at him lightly but not really pulling away. 

“Hey, you’re coming over to feed the poor fool man who cannot boil water and you won’t let me pay you,” he scoffs in faux annoyance, “At least experiment so that at one point I might catch you off your game, hm?” 

“Well, perhaps I might teach you then?” 

The words come off as a near whisper, but Yunho doesn’t bother trying not to smile. Oh, what a disaster that would be, and yet he doesn’t quite want to say no at all, even if he does think the attempts to survive such a thing might proper scare the omega away. 

“That would be great, do you think you could?” 

Thunder rumbles overhead, the noise is loud, crackling as though attempting to hold back the noise and ultimately failing. He’s disappointed he doesn’t have a look through a window to see how bright the lightning strikes are, but it is probably intense enough because for the briefest millisecond the power flickers. 

Jaejoong’s breath is shallow and quick next to him and he notices the way he shrinks away, pressing himself into the corner of the lift just to slide to the floor. 

He knows it’s strange, and can pick up on the anxiety in the air and yet he can’t find the words immediately.  

So he just watches mutely as Jaejoong curls into himself, arms locked tightly around his legs and forehead pressed against his knees. 

“There are backup generators, we won’t get stuck,” Yunho attempts to soothe. 

It is that moment that the elevator stutters briefly, jerking in time with the roar of thunder that nearly shakes the building. Despite the deafening sound in his ears what he picks up on in the distressed yelp from Jaejoong. 

“Jae, Jaejoong,” he calls as he moves. 

To his surprise the blonde doesn’t attempt to flee or push him away as he kneels, leaning in close. 

“Jaejoong what’s wrong? Is it the elevator? We can take the stairs.” 

Unfortunately, it seems to be that moment that the younger man has gone completely nonverbal. He gets no sort of response other than what seems to be an attempt of Jaejoong shaking his head. But the omega doesn’t flinch away from his touch, or seem to mind as he crowds him. 

“Jaejoong-ah,” Yunho attempts again, surprised by the level of patience in his own voice, “I need you to talk to me honey, I don’t know what’s wrong.” 

And he would have missed it, had he been any further away. The words are hardly a sentence, but Yunho got the idea well enough. 

Before he can think about it, he lifts Jaejoong into his arms and raises to his feet again. The wait is a little bit painstaking until the elevator to hit the group level just so he can send it back up to the penthouse. He turns away several people along the ride with little more than a glare and a shake of his head.  

“It’s alright, I’m here. We’re just going back upstairs, okay? You can spend the night, or if you want me to take you home once the storm breaks I will,” he hopes the words are comforting as he talks into the top of the blonde’s head. 

The only hint he has that he isn’t grossly overstepping is the fact that there is no screaming or kicking in an attempt to get away. Jaejoong doesn’t smell any less anxious than he had since they stepped into the lift, and at the end of the day he really doesn’t know what to do with a frightened omega. 

Especially when the frightened omega is posing as an alpha and he only knows otherwise because of an idiot doctor they both know.  

The guest room is coated in a layer of dust, if he recalls Changmin’s protests, is it for that reason that he shuffles through his apartment and toward his room. 

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