As San finished buttoning his shirt, he eyed himself in the mirror and couldn't help but feel good about himself. The uniform had been tailored to fit his body perfectly, accenting his broad shoulders and how they tapered down into his waist. But that didn't look as skinny as it could because he had his utility belt strapped around it which carried his walkie talkie, keys, flashlight, and a taser gun.

He'd never needed to use the gun before, but it was provided to him just in case.

The job itself was actually really easy. There was nothing to do but patrol and check outside doors to make sure they were secure.

It had been almost three months since he started the job and even though its ad been hard adjusting to working overnights, San felt a lot better about his place in life.

There wasn't much he could do to mess up this job, which was a little comforting to him because he didn't want to get himself fired again. Plus, he didn't want to ruin the opportunity Jongho had made for him.

The younger was also a security guard, but he did the afternoon shifts, so there was a little bit of an overlap to where they say each other for a few hours each day they both worked.

San had also been out through some training classes, all paid for, so that he could learn self defense and how to use the taser gun.

After that, the job was easy.

A soft knock pulled San's attention from the mirror and Yeosang poked his head in. "Hey, are you ready to go?"

"You know you don't need to take me, right? I can just take the bus." San double checked that he had everything on his belt before following his friend from the room.

"I know, but I really don't mind."

"You're just using it as an excuse to see Jongho." San teased, poking his side.

"Am not." Yeosang tried to deny it, but the way he pressed his lips together in a thin line told San he was trying to hide any other expression that might come to his face.

San laughed and patted his shoulder. "Why don't you just ask him out already?"

"I- I don't' know what you're talking about."

"Fine, then just drop me off today and come back home to get ready for bed. Don't come inside." San smirked while he waited for a response, which he received none.

This had been a routine with them for about a month now, ever since San's car decided it wanted to stop running and blow its engine. The repairs were way to expensive, but they were lucky since he and Yeosang worked on opposite schedules.

Yeosang got off just in time to take San to work and then he would make sure he was up in time to come pick him up. The only reason San didn't take the car at night was because his job was located in a poor location, so they had decided they didn't want to risk someone trashing it.

"So they are talking about giving me a raise." San said while scrolling through his phone.

"Really?" Yeosang glanced at him with a wide smile. "Already? That's incredible!"

The younger smiled and let his head fall back onto his headrest and turned to look at his friend. "Yeah, I didn't realize they liked me so much. I guess they are bringing in something new that I need to help out with too, so they are going to expect a little bit more from me."

"I'm proud of you San. It feels like you've found a place that works for you."

"Yeah, I miss seeing you though." San reached over to take Yeosang's hand and gave it a squeeze.  "We live together but we hardly see each other."

Yeosang let out a small sigh and nodded. "I know. That's why I like doing this too, because it gives us this time at least."

San couldn't bring himself to tease the older anymore for wanting to see Jongho. He was starting to feel too emotional. With all the changes that had happened the past few months, he had found himself having a hard time with statements like that.

And that's what brought forth the reflex to raise his free hand to chis chest while looking out the window.

Hidden beneath his uniform and resting against his bare skin was the mermaid scale Wooyoung had given him.

Even though Part of San had found it silly at the time, it was something he had worn every day since saying goodbye.

For awhile, Yeosang had tried to tell him that was a bad idea. He needed to move on and wearing something like that wouldn't allow him to have fully closure.

But the one day San didn't wear it had been one of the worst days of his life. That was the day his car broke down, he had also broken some large glass pieces at work and and was worried he'd be fired. The next day he had worn the scale again and his boss told him not to worry about it and that they had been looking at replacing those pieces anyway so he had just sped up the process.

San had been rendered speechless and decided not to argue with it, but since then he wore the scale nearly every hour of the day.

When they arrived at San's work, Yeosang pulled around back to the employee parking. He came often enough that no one got mad at him for being back there.

Jongho was leaning against the outside wall scrolling through his phone. San already knew he had purposefully taken his break late to go out and wait for them. The thought it was sweet how the two of them had the biggest crush on each other but neither one seemed to know what to do about it.

Yeosang seemed to hesitate for a moment, almost as if he was considering San's words from earlier and was determined to prove him wrong. But when Jongho lifted his head and waved, all of Yeosang's resolve vanished and he slipped out of the car to walk over with San. "Hey."

"Hey." Jongho responded.

"Are you guys really still stuck on monosyllables?" San said with a teasing tone. He waved them off with a simple flick of his wrist and stepped inside to give them some time alone.

All the back halls were for employees only, so he received a few greetings from anyone who was getting ready to leave for the day.

San's shift started one hour before closing time so that Jongho had enough time to fill him in on anything that might have happened during the day.

He waited for the younger in the locker room where he placed his wallet and jacket inside for safe keeping.

By the time he was finished, Jongho was stepping inside to meet him. "So not much to report. It was a pretty slow day, but I have a feeling that's due to the construction. The higher ups are all in a tizzy though, so just prepare yourself."

"It's supposed to be done tonight, right?" San adjusted his uniform one more time and moved to the time clock to punch in for his shift.

"Oh yeah, they've torn down all the temporary walls so you'll have to stop by on your rounds. I'm jealous that you get to see it first." Jongho chuckled and crossed his arms. "But thankfully it sounds like it's going to be around for a long time, whatever this is."

"Don't you find all this secrecy suspicious?" San turned slowly and grimaced.

Jongho pushed his lips out in a little pout and looked up while humming. "Not really. When we got Tika a few months ago they kept things pretty hush hush too. I don't think they want anything to be spoiled or leaked before the big reveal." Jongho uncrossed his hands to wave them by his head while rolling his eyes. "Gotta impress the press and all that."

San snorted and nodded in agreement. "Ok, I'll give you that one."

"Come on, let's go for a walk before I have to leave."

This was always a nice portion of the day for San. Even though he and Jongho still didn't know a whole lot about each other, they were working on getting closer, and this was the only time San knew he'd have human contact throughout the night.

As soon as they left the employee area, San was blasted with the familiar and overwhelming scent of salt water and fish. It was something that had been off putting when he first started working here that San had almost turned around and walked back out. After a few weeks it was better, and now he hardly noticed it.

If anything, the hardest part for San about working here was that it made his thoughts drift back to his time with Wooyoung. Even though they hadn't spent any time in the water itself, all those hours walking on the beach or combing through thrift stores while smelling the fresh, salty air was something that still stayed with him.

The hallway opened up into a large, round room lined with large tanks. Each was filled with brilliant variations of rock, coral, and seaweed and even more species of fish. More hallways branched off at either end that would lead to more exhibits, all of them making up the the Illusion Aquarium.

It was a huge attraction in the city, drawing in visitors from all over the world. Even scientists would come from all over to study here.

A lot of time had been put into making award winning exhibits that catered to the natural habitats for each species, and the scientists were the best in the industry, giving all their time to studying breeding, evolution, and conservation.

That was also why they kept security guards on site all hours of the day. There was an intricate security system that helped as well, but having and actual person on hand helped cover all bases.

A loud squeaking sound came from a room off to the right and San couldn't help but laugh before walking in that direction with Jongho right behind him.

A large take took up one entire wall that had a deep area of water but also had a beach that was built leading up to a back corner.

As soon as he was noticed, San watched as a fluffy sea otter squeaked at him again and dove into the water to start doing back flips off the glass. "Hey Tika!" San placed his hand against the glass and the otter popped her head above the water to continue squeaking at him. "You're wide awake tonight. You're not going to cause me any problems, are you?"

San giggled when she started weaving through the water again before joining the other otters in her enclosure.

Tika had been the first otter brought in and the aquarium had slowly been working on getting more so that she had a large family to keep her happy. For whatever reason, she had taken a real liking to San and was very excited whenever she started her shift.

"Alright, I should go finish up my paperwork and clock out for the night." Jongho said, glancing at his watch.

"Have a good night." San patted the younger's shoulder before moving on to check on the other tanks and all the front doors.

He was anxious to see what this new exhibit was so he went through a little faster than normal.

A new room had been built off the back of the main aquarium building just to house the new exhibit, and they had gone all out and built a shark tunnel to connect it.

San looked up and watched as several zebra sharks swam slowly overhead. In the corner a few moray eels poked their heads out from their rocky homes to observe him before wiggling back inside. And there were fish everywhere.

At the end of the tunnel, the take opened up into one of the most stunning displayed San had ever seen.

The entire room was round, making San immediately feel like he was inside a giant fishbowl, and every single part of it was lined with one continuous tank connected to the shark tunnel, minus one small portion that was cut out for a door that must lead to the employee entrance for the exhibit, but even that had the rest of the tank going over the top of it.

He could tell that the tank itself was huge, he could barely see the back walls, so they had allotted for something very big. Rock structures, seaweed, kelp, and coral had all been brought it to make it look like the sea floor.

San couldn't believe his eyes. He felt his mouth fall open a little as he slowly turned in a circle to take it all in.

It was truly a spectacular exhibit. The aquarium had dropped a lot of money on it. Whatever they had much be incredible.

A muffled splash came from behind him and San turned around to see a cloud of bubbles at the top of the tank and a flash of purple dark behind a column of rocks. The diluted image of scientists peering into the tank from up top rippled with the disturbed water.

San walked closer to the tank, hoping to catch a glimpse of what the new creature was.

Another splash had him glancing to the surface once more and he noticed the scientists dumping in several buckets of dead fish into the water.

The zebra sharks all rushed forward to feed, along with some of the larger fish. San watched them for a moment, fascinated by the feeding frenzy that had started, but then he noticed movement around around the rock column.

He immediately grabbed his walkie talking to call for help when he noticed a delicate hand gripping the rocks.

The next sound he heard was the device smashing against the hard floor when he dropped it.

Pieces flew in all directions, but he didn't care.

San watched in what felt like slow motion as the had pulled a very familiar body out from behind the rock. His hand was still hovering in the air in front of him, although it was trembling, along with the irregular beating of his heart.

The naked upper torso of a boy peered around the tank, then looked up at the surface. Purple hair swayed back in forth in the water. He looked terrified...

Then he started to move out from behind the rock, reaching one hand out for a stray fish.

That's when San saw why this project was so huge, but he didn't want to believe it.

The bottom half of the boy's body was a long tail covered in purple and red scales.

San reached up to place a hand over the scale sitting against his chest.

And that's when he was finally noticed.

Right when he moved his hand, the boy turned to look at him and brought a hand up to cover his mouth while shaking his head.

San was pretty sure he'd be crying if he wasn't underwater. He could feel tears come to his own eyes and he took a step forward. He could feel his knees wobbling, threatening to give out any time now.

When he reached the side of the tank, San lifted his other hand up and pressed his palm against the glass right when the creatures swam forward sank to the sandy bottom, bending his tail as if he were falling to his knees.

He didn't reach out to San. Instead he kept one hand over his mouth and wrapped the other around his stomach before bending forward.

San kept his hand pressed to the glass and crouched down.

"Wooyoung?"