Morning Coffee

Mochi, unlike Raian, wasn’t exactly known for being a heavy sleeper, thus the sound of someone obnoxiously slurping away at a beverage just so happened to be the sound the boy woke up to, alongside the gentle snoring of his handler.

His eyelids fluttered into lucidity as the visage of a horned demon towered over him, slurping on what he could only assume was a coffee – it always is – and an above-average breakfast sandwich already with a few bites taken out of it that made his stomach growl in jealousy.

“Mornin’ sunshine, sleep well?” the voice of Unali called out to him.

He only grumbled in response, pulling his handler’s arms closer to savour the warmth.

“I was wondering where Raian had gone off to; he didn’t come to bed last night, so I expected him to be in here sleeping on the floor,” they took a moment to drink once more as a smirk grew across their face, “I was half right, at least.”

“What time is it?” Mochi mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

“’bout theven.” Unali clarified with a mouthful of bacon, egg and cheese before swallowing, “By the way, you didn’t feel anything poking into your back at any point, did you?”

“N-no…?” the squid frowned, confused by the question.

“Good.” A small sigh of relief escaped the demon.

“Why? Is that bad?”

“Don’t worry about it – also duck.”

He did so, knowing that it was probably for good reason. He watched as this violet demon peeled a slice of cheese that’s barely above room temperature out of their sandwich and masterfully pitched it to smack the sleeping Raian perfectly in the middle of his face.

The gentle snoring that Mochi had come to treat as a lullaby was sharply replaced with a series of gasps and grunts that indicated to the boy that this was not the first time this had happened.

“Can you—” Raian interrupted himself to peel the cheese off his skin, “can you stop doing that!”

“You keep on lowering your guard, so how can I not?” they admonished him, taking another bite out of a disappointingly cheese-less sandwich. “Can I have that back?”

“No.” Raian stuffed his mouth with the cheese out of spite.

Mochi wiggled free from his handler’s grasp, scooting past Unali in the process to stumble over to what looked like a repurposed filing cabinet. Within it lay rows of metal capsules marked with dates. It took him a moment to remember the current date, but eventually he pulled the right one, unscrewing it to gaze upon the cluster of colourful pills and tablets at the bottom.

He never quite knew what all of these were for, only that he needed to take them first thing in the morning without fail. Even the likes of Raian or Unali were in the blind.

The boy chugged it all back akin to how he saw Unali chug several shots of liquor one evening, and it was in the moment he tasted the aggressive sourness and bitterness vie for who could be the most crippling.

Usually water is immediately accompanied, but of course, he had forgotten. Every drop of drowsiness shot out of the squid as the look of alarm overwhelmed him. Amidst the internal chaos he heard the familiar clinking of glass coming from the bed.

His eyes turned to his saviour holding up a glass of lukewarm water that always seemed to have a place on the bedside counter. With the rapid thundering of feet, he snagged the liquid away from Raian and washed away most of the bitterness.

“Thank you…”

“You need to remember to take water with it.” Raian spoke like clockwork.

“I know!” He whined, being more frustrated with himself than anyone else.

Raian shuffled his way to the edge of the bed, sinking his head into his hands and running his fingers along the slight stubble now forming across his face.

The sudden scent of seared bacon hit Mochi’s nose as the Senrali waved about the half-eaten sandwich not far from him. They knew a thing or two about bitter medication, and what better way to wash it down than a breakfast muffin? There would also be cheese among them, he knows where that went.

It did the job perfectly, lost in a state of food bliss as the handlers continued to talk about something the squid didn’t quite care enough at this moment to listen in on. Instead, the sense of relaxation that he had woken up with came flowing back in as the lingering warmth of the food fulfilled him.

“What’s in there?” Mochi pointed at a brown bag by Unali’s feet, stunting the conversation.

“Clothes.” The demon lifted the bag by the handles, “It’d be stupid to let you go out in that robe again, so I got you something else.”

The squid gratefully took the package and peered inside, sticking a hand in to feel about the variety of fabrics. Eventually he pulled out a thin, black belt that served no other function other than to accessorise.

“It’s mostly stuff we own, but you can make better use of it,” Unali clicked a finger at Mochi, “gotta look nice for your date, right?”

“What’s a date?” The boy asked, turning to his handler.

Unali opened their mouth to talk, only to be met with a swift kick to the shin.

“Don’t.” the irate handler grumbled.

A shower, shave, and a coffee later and the duo was now ready to depart, stepping up onto a platform that had a few other workers scattered about alongside a big pile of crates.

The facility had plenty of exits all across Tarin Oth, and even outside the city walls, but this one was the exit closest to the city centre. They were still half a kilometre under the earth, and hauling such large pieces of equipment and heavy Aberrants required even heavier machinery.

Gears and chains rattled to life as the platform they stood on began scaling a long, diagonal shaft at a painfully slow pace.

It always took about half an hour up and down, and there were stairs of course, but only an insane person would subject themselves to that many stairs.

Mochi would be in awe of this architectural and engineering feat if he weren’t utterly distracted by his new clothes, frequently looking down at his sandals and giggling because of it.

He sported a pair of denim shorts formerly belonging to Unali. On the demon they were excessively short and left little to the imagination, to the point it drew eyes and many more complaints from the workers, but on the squid, they fit perfectly, cutting off just above his knees.

It’s not like they were visible most of the time anyhow, given a rather oversized shirt tied to his waist with a belt drooped just past the hem. The grey shirt had some form of decal plastered upon the front that Mochi had no mind for discerning.

He finally noticed that Raian had been staring up at the ceiling for the last twenty minutes since they left. Come to think of it, he’d been unusually quiet as well. Perhaps Unali just woke him up the completely wrong way.

Thinking about it now, maybe Mochi wouldn’t appreciate being rudely awakened with a slice of cheese… maybe. It depends on the type of cheese for him.

The boy wandered over to the spaced-out handler. It was still uncanny seeing him without his lab coat. It was almost half of the man’s identity at this point, visually at least. His outfit wasn’t dissimilar to Mochi’s, barring the shorts, he could never pull those off.

Records of Mochi’s cognitive functions show that his memory isn’t all that great – this was especially true when he first saw Raian in casual clothes. He didn’t even recognise the man.

A pink finger extended, poking him in the cheek and causing him to jump. While Raian was now technically facing Mochi, he still struggled to look him in the eye.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, standing hardly even an inch away from Raian.

He watched as the man closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. A redness formed on his face the likes he hasn’t seen before.

“Perfectly fine, just…” the man trailed off.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No.” he yelped a bit louder than he intended. “It’s just that I haven’t seen that shirt since I was in university and it looks… cute, is all.”

“Oh.”

A sudden flush of heat flooded the squid’s face as he took a step back. Maybe that’s what it was, in the end.

With a swift spin, almost losing a sandal in the process, Mochi turned away from his handler, coiling one of the longer tendrils that hung past his shoulder about his finger.

An air of awkwardness lingered between them, and a strange feeling sat in the squid’s stomach. Perhaps it was just Unali’s offering of food, or perhaps it was the result of being called that for the first time.

Nonetheless, the shuffling of feet and quietness quickly faded the moment the hatch doors at the peak of the ascent began to screech open. Sunlight poured in through the cracks, and both Raian and Mochi were suddenly reminded of what it felt to be alive again.

It only took another minute for the platform to finally settle as the morning rays peered on the edge of an ornate glass dome high above. The clinic was considered private for obvious reasons, and it still functioned the same, barring the obvious passageways leading half a kilometre down.

Passing crowds paid no mind to the elevator emerging from the corner of this packed lobby, as it was a regular occurrence for them. Despite it being early, it was quite a busy morning. No other Aberrants were present, which mildly saddened the boy, but it was still refreshing to see new faces.

Ignoring the past few minutes, Raian wordlessly extended a hand to Mochi – he couldn’t exactly start the day by losing Mochi in the crowd, could he?