Tidal-Bore

10. Barely Surviving

Yeosang had the audacity to come home three hours after Wooyoung, even though the latter had so much to talk about. With Yongguk and the two girls in tow, he entered the house to find Wooyoung at the table, playing with Splish Splash while Jongho prepared their meal. The air between them was awkward, but not uncomfortable. Today, Wooyoung needed someone else to talk to.

Groaning as if he had been the one to dive out into the ocean, Yeosang dropped onto the bench. He grinned at Wooyoung's fuming grimace while the girls greeted Jongho.

"There you are, buttercup. You look as if you had a great time today."

"How dare you leave me with him?! Where were you?? Sucking Seonghwa's cock in the library's alcove? All day???"

Yeosang rubbed his forehead, but he indulged Wooyoung and folded his hands under his chin.

"By the choice of your words, I can guess you need to suck a cock. Should I call San, or would you rather communicate like an intelligent member of society?"

Baring his teeth at his know-it-all of a friend, Wooyoung sat back with a huff. Petty arms crossed in front of his chest.

"It was horrible," he declared. Yeosang cradled his chin in his hand, intrigued like a mother listening to her child talk about learning colours.

"Why, my day was delightful. Seonghwa showed us the rooftop and the astronomy tower, I got to see Yunho and Mingi sparring, I ate some pastries..."

"San took me out into the fucking ocean," Wooyoung spat.

The horror that flashed over Yeosang's face was worth the dreadful experience. Compared to him, Yeosang might have passed out doing that.

"He did? What was it like? Their sacred place? How could you go there?"

Wooyoung described everything to the best of his ability. He skipped any parts that might allude to what he and San had been doing, how they got to know each other. Only their scientific research counted, after all.

"There was nothing to measure and no data to collect. For a sacred site, it looked super scary," Wooyoung ended. He shook one of Splish Splash's harmless tentacles that curled outside from the rest. Intrigued, the odd jellyfish leaned closer to wrap around his fingers.

Yeosang rubbed his chin.

"No, what you are describing sounds gorgeous. We need to ask Seonghwa for details to understand, but imagine how they found this! Imagine sending someone out there to see such a wonderful place and being so awed to worship it."

"He took me to a massive, dimensional hole in the ground. I thought I'd get sacrificed!"

Yeosang waved it off.

"You didn't die, no harm in it. They aren't that barbaric, or else they wouldn't try to befriend us."

"At the bottom of the ocean, Yeosang! I almost died!"

Yeosang's chilling ignorance insulted Wooyoung. Couldn't he at least pretend to be a good friend who was concerned about Wooyoung's wellbeing?

And no, Wooyoung wasn't being dramatic.

He did almost die. But because of San, not because of the hole in the ocean.

Now that his complaints were over, the others joined in for dinner. They all had listened to his tale, and Yeosang explained to Jongho that Wooyoung was so agitated because of where he went. Their host smiled an understanding gummy smile at that, agreeing it could be scary, though magnificent.

Wooyoung's mind still hung on San and how courageous he was to go out there. He had felt the appeal before, but now he admired San's charm even more.

Yeosang briefed them on the recent developments with Seonghwa while they ate.