San's hand shook as he buttoned up his uniform, or attempted to at least. He was having a hard time getting the buttons through the hole. Sweat gathered on his forehead. His nerves were out of control...

"I can't do this." He said, looking at where Yeosang was sitting on his bed watching him with concern. "I can't. They are going to find out."

"San, you need to calm down and act like everything is normal." Yeosang said once again. He had been repeating the same thing since last night but San was sure neither one of them really heard the words.

"What if they put me through a test? Or what if they already know it's me?"

"If they did, then they would have showed up here or called you in. Same with Jongho."

San closed his eyes and dropped one had to his side. The other one slipped inside of his still open shirt to grasp Wooyoung's scale. It was still just as purple as the day he'd received it, unlike the merman's scales now.

He didn't know if he imagined it or not, but whenever San held it like this he felt stronger. And this time it helped calm him down.

Saying goodbye to Wooyoung earlier that morning had been almost harder than saying good bye to him a t the beach. He hated leaving Jongho's house knowing that the merman was going to be there without him. And it wasn't that he didn't trust Jongho to take care of him. But... he wanted to be able to do that himself.

After taking a long, deep breath, San released the scale and finished buttoning up his shirt with no problems.

Yeosang walked over to hand him his belt. "You can do this. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for." He said with a gentle voice.

"Thanks, Sangie. I don't know what I'd do without you."

The older snorted and took a step back. "Probably be dead in a ditch somewhere."

"I don't doubt that." San couldn't help but laugh. The statement probably held more truth to it than what he would ever admit. If it wasn't for Yeosang, he didn't know where he'd be in life, but he had a guess it would probably have a lot to do with drugs or alcohol to try and forget the thoughts of how useless he was.

San paused when that thought crossed his head. It was the first time he had ever felt that since meeting Wooyoung. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips when he realized just how much Wooyoung had changed him in the short time they knew each other.

It just strengthened his resolve. He would do whatever he could to protect the merman.

With a nod, both he and Yeosang walked to the car. The drive was silent but comfortable, and San was grateful when Yeosang took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before he left.

Everything looked normal on the outside and San was able get into the building just fine. His eyes flicked back and forth in quick motions as he tried to take in everything at once.

Scientists walked in groups scanning their clipboards and talking quickly about whatever project they were working on. That was nothing new... A few aquarium employees walked in and out of the break room back here. That was normal too...

San licked his lips and continued to the security room. That was part of his normal routine, so he was able to keep his breathing under control. His heart was another story though... Once the door swung into the room, he immediately saw that there were more people than expected.

Jongho was there, which was a small relief, although he looked stressed. The head scientist, one of his assistants, two police officers, and Mr. Choi  were all crammed in the small room.

"Ah, San. You're here. How was your weekend?" Mr. Choi asked with a grim smile.

"Fine, thank you. Is everything ok?" San surprised himself at how strong his voice was. He had expected it to be shaking with nerves, especially with everyone looking at him.

"I'm afraid not. We had an incident the other night. Our new attraction is missing."

San forced his eyebrows up in shock. "What? How is that possible?"

"That's what we are trying to figure out." The scientist snapped. "Where were you Friday night?"

"I was off that day, so I was with my roommate." San clasped his hands behind his back, partly to stay formal with his superiors, but also so he could hide how much he was shaking.

"Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions, Son?" One of the officers stepped forward. He looked exhausted. San guessed he must have been there all weekend. With a nod from San, the officer turned to the screens and pressed a button on the keyboard to pull up a recording. "You said you were off on Friday, so why would you chose to come back here, and why the hurry?" He asked, pointing his pen at one of the screens.

San watched as he and Yeosang ran into the aquarium. The screen flicked several times to show his progression through the aquarium until they disappeared down the shark tunnel where there were no more cameras.

He took a slow, deep breath to keep it hidden from the people in the room before giving his prepared answer. "That's my roommate I was with, so I'm not lying. But yes, we were here. I had received a call from Jongho, he was worried about the attraction. We are both fond of watching him and he was laying at the bottom of the tank." He couldn't help but glare at the scientists. Anger boiled in him when they showed no sign of remorse.

Mr. Choi cleared his throat. "While that is valiant of you, it is not your place. Either of you." He glanced at Jongho as well. "These men know what they are doing."

Before San could snap at the director, the officer held up a hand to interrupt. "What happened after this? We haven't been able to find you on any cameras leaving the building. And it was shortly after this that the attraction disappeared."

San did his best not to bristle at the word that kept being used. "Wait, are you accusing me of doing this? How-"

"Because of this!!" The scientist shouted while slamming on the keyboard to pull up another video.

It was the one of San carrying Wooyoung on his back. There was no obvious proof that it was San, though. He never looked in the direction of a camera and the way he was bent over and Wooyoung was leaning on him blocked any good angle.

San felt his heart skip a beat, but he fought through it and kept a straight face. "I don't understand. I don't see the attraction here." And to an extent it was true. Wooyoung's purple hair didn't show in the camera feed so they couldn't even use that as evidence.

"He's right there!" The scientist jabbed his finger at the video which was now playing on a loop.

"Calm down." Mr. Choi sighed, then turned to San. "What my colleague is trying to say, is that it's possible the attraction changed its form. We've already proven there is something magical about it's scales, so maybe it has the ability to change forms too."

The officer rolled his eyes, subtly, and tapped his notebook. "The disappearance lines up with when you stopped showing up in camera, but as you can see we don't have a lot to go on. Please keep yourself available for further questioning."

San nodded and stepped next to Jongho. They both looked to Mr. Choi, who was looking very stressed and worn out. It was understandable to an extent. The man must have put a lot of money into getting and keeping Wooyoung here, and it was easy to see that the officer didn't fully believe the story about a merman being stolen. He must not have been in to see Wooyoung while he was still here.

"Go ahead and get back to work." Mr. Choi bowed his head in dismissal. "We will call you in if we need anything else. And have a good evening, Jongho."

"Good night, Sir." Jongho bowed in return and he and San left the room to do their normal rounds together before Jongho left.

Once they were out of ear shot, Jongho immediately filled him in on what happened during the day. "They are suspicious, but they don't have a way to implicate you yet. There's no proof. I guess they've been looking into doing finger print tests, but you have full access to the building so even if they were to find your prints in the elevator, that's not proof either. We got lucky with the cops assigned to this, but they were talking about bringing in a detective as well." Jongho pursed his lips and huffed. "We can't keep the charade up for long if they keep doing more advance things. But I don't think this is Mr. Choi's doing, I think there's someone calling the shots. We need to be careful." He locked eyes with San.

"We need to hurry and get the things for Woo so he can write home. I fear that's the only place he will truly be safe." San murmured, even though it broke his heart to say it.

He knew he'd do anything to protect the creature that had captured his heart, even if it meant having to say goodbye to him forever.

Or maybe he could buy a beach house on some isolated beach where he and Wooyoung could lay out on the beach, undisturbed by everyone. He'd only have to leave to work and Wooyoung could come and visit him whenever he wanted to.

The vision unfolded in front of San's eyes, glittering and beautiful, bringing tears to his eyes.

Jongho pulled him from it by placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. "We are going to get through this. Just keep staying tough like you did today. Don't give them any reason to suspect you."

"I know. Thank you. Will you text me when you get home so I know he's ok?" San asked under his breath. He almost felt like a worried mom who left their child with a new babysitter, but he couldn't help it.

And Jongho must have know that because he gave a knowing smile and nodded. "Of course. I'm going to stop at the store to get dinner first for the week, or at least a couple of days."

"Oh, let me know how much it is and I can get you some money, ok?"

The younger waved his hand back and forth. "Don't worry about it for right now. I'll let you know if it gets to be too much. I'm looking forward to having some company for once."

San pushed his lips out in a pout and narrowed his eyes but didn't argue. There was no point right now.

The pair of then bid each other good night and San turned to start doing his rounds, hoping to keep himself distracted for the remainder of the night...

.

.

.

.

As soon as Wooyoung heard movement, he propped himself up in the container and craned his neck to look out of the room.

Today had been one of the longest ones of his life. He had been so bored!

Thankfully Jongho had set up a tv for him to watch, but even then Wooyoung didn't understand most of what had been on.

He just wanted to be with San...

"Jongho?" He called out, twisting around in the container so that he could move to the other end. It was difficult, but he was able to pull himself over his tail and worked to fan that out behind him. He gripped the side of the container and lifted himself up to stare out of the bedroom with big eyes. "Jongho?!"

"Yeah, it's me! Hang on!" The human yelled.

Wooyoung could see him hurry past the door carrying a bunch of bags. He waited impatiently, bouncing a little in the water, then perked up as soon as Jongho appeared. "You're home!"

A wide smile crossed Jongho's face that crinkled his eyes. "Hey. How are you?"

"I'm fine. A little lonely." Wooyoung admitted.

"I know, I'm sorry about that."

"It's ok, this isn't forever." Wooyoung lowered himself into the container and worked on twisting back around to sit normally.

A sad look crossed Jongho's face, but he quickly erased it and crossed his arms. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving! Thank you fro the snacks today though. They were delicious."

"You're welcome. Hang tight and I'll get some food. Then maybe we can watch a movie or something."

"We can do whatever you'd like, I'm just glad you're home." Wooyoung's tail wagged in the water a little in excitement, making Jongho laugh.

They ended up eating salmon, which Wooyoung marveled over and over again about how delicious it was to have it like this. Jongho told him that there were raw preparations as well, and he'd be sure to share them, which made Wooyoung almost trill with happiness.

His entire mood for the day had been uplifted now that Jongho was here, and he loved getting to sit with him and chat about random things while watching something on the tv. He got to kind of have a conversation with San too, through what Jongho called texting.

Jongho even stayed the night with him in this room and for a long time Wooyoung just watched him sleep, wondering what it was humans dreamt about.

Eventually, he drifted off as well with a slight smile on his face and scales that were a little more purple and red than they had been the day before.