Tidal-Bore

20. Nightly Unrest

Wooyoung tucked himself to bed, frustrated after yet another day San spent keeping his manners. Though his virtue made Wooyoung fall more and more in love with him, the depraved human in him wanted nothing more than to be pressed down by that fine specimen of a man. As far as anthropology went, yes, people usually sensed a desire for each other and coupled up to deepen their relationship. Apparently, San was half moray or something to be so aware yet resist so much.

After a while of pouting to himself because he knew San did this for him and Wooyoung adored him for it, Wooyoung found his rest. He left all his devious planning for the morning when he had more brain cells to think about how he could make it any more obvious that he wanted San to fuck him dumb. It had been a while since he was last with Seungyoun, and he was too prideful to demand the aid of his hand when San was right there.

Grumbling, Wooyoung fell asleep. His desperation followed him into his dreams, where he ran after San's retreating back. Before Wooyoung ever got to thank him or express his feelings, the man disappeared into a distance Wooyoung couldn't reach. He got swallowed by the ocean and never looked back.

Wooyoung slept restlessly, as if his gut knew something wasn't right. He tossed and turned, plagued by nightmares and because the lights seemed too bright for him all of a sudden. When he startled awake in between, Yeosang and Yongguk snoozed peacefully.

With wide-open eyes, Wooyoung lay in bed for a while before exhaustion pulled him back under. He dozed, neither awake nor asleep.

When the alarm sirens started blaring, he flinched from not too deep of a slumber.

Though he had never heard them before, the blaring sound bore into his skull, jerking every peace away from him and filling him with a sense of pressure. Within a second, Wooyoung sat in his bed straight as a stick and exchanged panicked glances with his equally confused roommates.

It took only a second of pressing their hands to their ears before Jongho came storming in, not minding their privacy as he yanked the curtain parting their sleeping areas aside. Fatigue clung to his swollen face, but his eyes were wide with alertness.

"Come! Come!" He beckoned them to follow, and they scrambled from their beds in the pyjamas they had taken from the surface. Wooyoung adored the worn fabric of his orange shorts and the black shirt that had witnessed multiple bleaching rounds and thus almost matched the pants with its cool pattern. As they padded down the stairs behind Jongho, they picked up on the noise outside.

Quieter than the blaring of the sirens but no less urgent, people rustled about outside. They yelled over each other and furniture was shoved around in their buildings as they hurried out onto the street.

When the scientists stumbled outside behind Jongho, their host tilted his head to look at the sky. Immediately, Wooyoung did the same while Yeosang fumbled with his glasses.

Something was wrong with the shell. Its blue light flickered and glitched, as if parts of the net weren't supplied with electricity any longer. Following the sparking trails, Wooyoung soon spotted the source of unrest.

A hole was ripped into the metal net. Like askew teeth, the surrounding wires were grotesquely tilted, reaching into the water as if something had taken a chomp from them. Water gushed inside in what would have been a spectacular waterfall if it didn't fill the dome and everything it contained.

For now, the hole was small, but Wooyoung didn't know if the masses of water pressing on it would engorge it or how long it would take to repair.

"Oh God," Yeosang muttered by his side. He was pale as a sheet, terrified by the idea of drowning to death while trapped in here.