What They Don't Know Won't Hurt Us

As much as Raian’s stomach protested the lack of food, he knew in the core of his very being that his stomach would have despised what could have been. He would’ve been in the toilets for hours, and which end it all came out of was a gamble.

In passing, Raian angled his gaze through a little wire mesh window that gave a little bit of insight into the adjacent room to Mochi’s. It was narrow and couldn’t fit many people in there, but it at least had a table and a couple of unbalanced chairs pitted against the wall.

There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t check that room. The idea of anyone standing behind a one-way mirror watching him and Mochi never sat right with him. The squid might be a resident here, and an Aberrant, but Raian always considered him human enough to warrant being treated like one, and of course be granted some privacy.

He knocked on Mochi’s door in a particular way that let the lad know it was him, and the door opened wide.

“Raian! Look at what I can do now!” Mochi’s voice called out in pure glee.

With an empty glass on its side on the floor, the boy stood in the centre of his room with his palms open to the ceiling. Tendrils of water slithered flimsily about the empty air, evidently taking a lot of concentration from the squid.

The suspended water shifted into various vague shapes as Mochi beamed at his newfound ability.

The convenience was like several bullets to the chest.

A screaming panic shot through the man’s body, kicking the door shut behind him as the room shuddered.

The act startled the boy, and the waters he manipulated returned to lifelessness, splashing into the rug. He’d never seen Raian truly angry before, and never once at him either. He stumbled backward, almost tripping on the glass at the sight of Raian stampeding toward him.

“How did you do that?!” the man towered over Mochi, raising his voice to levels neither were comfortable with.

“I-I just spilled some water and I panicked, and… and—”

The handler snagged Mochi’s hands and clasped them together before him. Adrenaline pumped through Raian’s veins in a way he hadn’t felt in years.

“Mochi, you need to promise me to never do anything like this ever again around here!”

“Raian, I—”

“Promise me!” he howled, clenching the squid’s hands harder than he intended.

Mochi just gawked at him in a stunned silence, and for the first time in the months they’ve known each other, Raian saw fear in his eyes.

“W-why? What’s going on? Did I do something wrong?” he backed off with a shudder to his tone.

“No! No, it’s just…” the handler swallowed his frustrations, “gods, how do I explain this, um…”

He eyed the separatory curtains by the boy’s bed and dragged him by the hand, pulling them close to obscure themselves from prying eyes as they climbed atop the bed with a squeak.

“Raian, you’re really scaring me.” Mochi’s voice wavered, pulling away to the corner of the bed.

The handler took a deep breath and brought himself face to face with the squid. The poison of guilt spread outward from his heart. He had to use his words carefully, or he might make it worse for himself, or even worse yet, for Mochi.

“I’m sorry,” Raian sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “you just need to trust me on this, I promise you will thank me—”

“I’m not a kid, Raian, just tell me!” Mochi shouted, bringing himself closer to confront the man.

Raian looked back at the door behind him, only adding to Mochi’s utter confusion. Eventually, the man lowered his voice, and decided to do his very best to explain it in a way he would understand.

“If they find out you can use magic, they’re going to start using you.” Raian started.

“But I like that! I can finally do something!”

“Mochi, no - you’re not understanding me,” Raian placed his palm upon the squid’s knee, “have you not seen what they’ve done to your brothers and sisters?”

“N-no?” Mochi began to see the fear in Raian’s eyes too.

“Look,” the man avoided the topic, “I-I’m sorry for scaring you, but you have to understand how much I don’t want them to know.”

The squid entered a state of deep thinking. It’s not something he often did, which meant this was serious business for him.

“Then I’ll just ask them not to do anything bad,” he concluded, “I’ll do what they want, they’ll listen to me.”

“Mochi, these aren’t normal people you’re dealing with.” Raian lifted his head backward for a moment, eyeing the mirror with great suspicion, “They’re specialist picks. People without a care for ethics. They’re here for progress, the moral barrier doesn’t matter to them, and they won’t stop until they feel that rumble of scientific triumph.”

The boy shrunk back into his corner of the bed to press his back against the wall. A grim look washed over Mochi as tears began to form in his eyes. He tried his best to fight them back, but was only met with more failure.

“I hate being so useless…” the squid muttered.

Mochi felt a sudden, sharp pull on his body, only to be followed by a familiar warmth, surrounded by the sensation of his handler’s arms wrapped around him.

“You’ve never once been useless in the entire time I’ve known you; I just… want you to be safe.” He uttered the words into Mochi’s ear.

They each felt the thrum of the other’s chest in the silence after, and Mochi melted into him, reciprocating the movements. With nothing left to be said, they remained in such a way for an amount of time that became irrelevant to them.

Raian’s hand glided up the boy’s back, embracing the mess of tendrils and letting his fingers sink in.

“We need to keep this between us, okay?”

“Okay… I promise.”

Eventually, Raian let loose his embrace on the squid, even if he didn’t quite want to just yet. A rather childish part of him thought for a moment that as long as he didn’t let go, nobody could hurt him.

Mochi averted his gaze, turning his eyes toward the dark stain on the rugs where the water had soaked into.

“What about Unali?” the squid asked.

“I’ll tell them tonight; they’ll help keep things under wraps.”

A low rumble filled the room, and it became evident that it was Mochi’s own stomach. His tendrils curled out of bashfulness, and he still refused to look at Raian under the idea that if he doesn’t look him in the eye, he can’t be seen.

“Was it because I said ‘wraps’?” Raian asked sincerely.

Mochi nodded.

“Shall we get you some food?”

He nodded again, quicker this time.

Their legs were a little bit wobbly from having been seated so strangely for so long, but they stumbled toward the door regardless. The handler wrapped his fingers about the handle and stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts.

“That was impressive, what you did…” the man looked the other way to hide the heat on his face, “I kind of wish I could have seen more of it.”

That pure smile returned brighter than ever, although this time accompanied with a sense of pride.

“Maybe we can find somewhere, somewhere quiet, and I can try and do it again,” Mochi extended an arm to poke his handler in the cheek as he turned, “just us.”

“Yeah…” a glimmer of hope found itself brightening up the darker thoughts Raian was having in this moment, “that would be perfect.”

Maybe this can work, or maybe it won’t. At the very least, Raian knew he would do whatever it takes to make sure Mochi was safe and happy. After all, it's his job.