Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zanka was lying in the infirmary, staring at the ceiling. He was recovering from his most recent fight with Jabber.

‘Holding back. This whole time, he was holding back, and I could barely keep up. I’m so pathetic.’

Eishia was doing something he didn’t understand. ‘Last one, I swear! You can sleep in your room instead of here tonight, promise.’ Sometimes he felt bad for her; she was just beside herself with worry when she couldn’t figure out what poison he had been stuck with.

“I don’t say this enough, Eishia, but you’re a great doctor. I mean it.” Zanka stated.

“Oh, don’t say that, I could barely treat the poison.”

“Still, any normal doctor wouldn’t have been able to keep me alive long enough to worry about the poison. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

The room was silent after that. Zanka went back to staring at whatever stains those were on the ceiling.

‘I’m kinda hungry right now.’

“There we go, all done!” Eishia beamed, “You should be fine doing your usual physical activity, but just be careful. Just in case.”

“Thanks, doc.”

“If anything feels weird or hurts, then-”

“Yeah, yeah. I know where to find you. See you later, Eishia.”

Zanka wanted nothing more than to grab something to eat and dive into his bed. He miserably walked down the hall towards the kitchen. He passed Tamsy on the way there.

“Ah, Zanka! I’m glad you’re doing better.”

“Thanks, Tams’”

Riyo was in the kitchen along with Gris and Enjin. She was sitting at the table, munching on something.

“Zanka! What’s up!” Riyo called, “Want some?”

“Depends. What's that?” He inquired.

“Cookies, apparently. Seems more like rocks to me.”

“Hey! If they’re so bad, why’re you eating them?” Enjin quipped.

“You don’t even like sweets. You’ll just eat anything Gris makes.” Zanka mumbled as he took a bite. The cookies were good, sweet with a cinnamon flavour. Not like a stone, or whatever Riyo said, “You and him.” He gestured to Enijin.

“What was that?”

“Nothin’”

Gris chuckled.

“Leave him alone, Enijin.”

Enjin grumbled something and went back to doing whatever he was doing before.

“Zanka! Did you hear?” She sat up, inching closer towards Zanka, as if she was about to tell him a secret, “Apparently, the raider's boss has completely lost it. Gone totally insane for like, no reason.”

“Damn.” It was hard for him to hide his disinterest.

“Riyo. Don’t bother him with that. Especially after...” Enjin chose not to finish the rest of that sentence for fear of upsetting Zanka.

‘Damn. They don’t even want to talk about the raiders around me anymore.’

He got up and walked over to the cupboard where Enjin was standing. He grabbed a glass.

“Hey. You feelin’ better?” Enjin asked.

“Yeah, well,” Zanka filled the glass up with tap water, “been better, but been worse too. Can’t complain.”

He turned to walk out of the room.

“If you need anything-”
“Yeah, I know where to find you.”

He walked mournfully back to his room, set the glass down on his bedside table, and collapsed into bed. Not bothering to put his pyjamas on or get under the covers.

“Zanka! You alive?!” Enin yelled as he shook Zanka.

“Jeez, yeah, I’m good. What do you want?” He yawned.

“You’re late to breakfast, and you were shivering. You sure you’re all right?”

“Well, Eiishia gave me the all clear. I’ll get over there in a sec.”

Zanka got up and moved towards his bathroom.

“If you’re not out in fifteen minutes, I’m coming in again, and I’m assuming you passed out in the bathroom.”

“Okay, Dad.”

At breakfast, everybody noticed Zanka was quieter than usual, but nobody said anything. After that, Zanka went to help Enjin and Gris clean up a trash beast. It was a smaller job. Eishia insisted that he at least take it easy on his first job back.

They were a handful of small dog-like beasts. After finishing the job, Enjin wanted to go to a bar, but Zanka just felt like wandering around for a bit. He didn’t feel like himself after his most recent fight. He kept obsessing over little ways he could have gotten the upper hand. Hindsight is a bitch like that.

‘What is his problem anyway? He’s a good fighter, and he what? Gets off on harassing me?’

Zanka sighed.

‘Actually, let's not go there.’

After zoning back in, Zanka realised he was in an alley, and decided to just go to the bar where Enjin and Gris were.

‘No use in beating yourself up about it, right?’

“Hey Zan Zan, I missed you.~” A familiar voice called from behind.

‘Son of a bitch.’

Zanka spun around, ready to beat the shit out of Jabber, who was faster, and already managed to dodge his attack.

“And just what the hell are you doing here?” Zanka demanded, as he tried to land another hit that Jabber effortlessly dodged.

“Listen, I know this is going to sound very hard to believe, but I just want to talk.” Zanka swung again, but Jabber caught his staff and held it in his hand, forcing Zanka to get close to him. He retaliated by landing a punch on Jabber’s face, drawing out a satisfied groan.

“Pervert.”

He wrenched his Jinki out of Jabbers grip, swinging it at his opponent. Jabber barely managed to dodge him that time.

“I’ve got to hand it to ya, Zan Zan, you’re a lot better than last time.”

“Stop calling me that!” Zanka yelled as he swung his weapon again.

This time, Jabber was able to dodge it and knock him off balance. He kicked Zanka’s wrist, causing him to loosen his grip on his staff, allowing Jabber to take it from him and to toss it out of his reach. He squatted down next to him on the ground.

“I was definitely going too far by dosing you with that poison, can’t have you dying on me, so I thought I’d come find you and apologise. Maybe give you a better alternative.”

“Fuck off!” Zanka kicked him as hard as he could.

Jabber flopped over. Zanka took this opportunity to pin him down. He tried his best to grab him by the wrists to immobilise him, but Jabber somehow managed to flip their positions, pin Zanka’s wrists down, and knee him in the dick, all in one move.

“Why are you even apologising? You’re a raider! You’re supposed to fight me!” Zanka snarled.

“Because, and don’t tell any of your little buddies our secret-” He leaned down to whisper in Zanka’s ear, “-out of all the cleaners, you’re my favourite.~”

“What the fuck?”

Zanka tried to struggle out of Jabber’s grip, but that just earned him a tighter grip on his wrists.

“I love how much you hate me, the look in your eyes just says ‘I want to tear you limb from limb’, it’s just great.”

“Let me go! Asshole, you get off on this?” Zanka snapped.

“Yes.~”

‘Why did I even ask?’

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, keep talking to me. Just like that...”

‘What the fuck?’

Jabber’s grip loosened ever so slightly, and Zanka took this opportunity to wrestle himself out of his grasp. He kneed him in the dick as payback for him doing the same earlier. Jabber fucking moaned at that. What the fuck?

“You’re a real fuckin’ creep, you know that?”

“Hah. Yeah-” Jabber sprang up, kicked Zanka in the side, shoved him into the wall, and pinned his wrists down. Again, “-I know, deep down, you’re just like me.”

“Get off me!” Zanka weakly struggled against him. He was already off his game; all day, he was thinking about the feeling of that poison, creeping into every part of him, slowly killing him. Now he was face-to-face with the man responsible.

‘Come on, Zanka! You were thinking about how you could have kicked his ass differently all day, and now what? You just give up? Fight for fuck’s sake!’

“Why’d you even become a cleaner if you’re so ass at fighting?” Zanka’s train of thought was broken by Jabber’s sharp remark. Before he could come up with a response to that, Jabber’s choker started making noise.

“Jabber, where are you? Boss wants us back.”

“I’m busy, Cthoni, later.”

“It’s important. Get your ass over here. Now.”

Jabber ignored it in favour of deciding what poison to poke Zanka with.

“Why’d you become a raider if you can’t even follow simple instructions? Do you just hang out with whoever, as long as you get beaten up and high on poison? Asshole!”

Jabber snapped his head up and glared at Zanka.

“Shut up.”

He was pissed off. That was a first.

“Can you even fight without relying on that poison? Crackhead!”

His grip on Zanka’s wrists tightened.

“Stop.”

“Can you even fight without your Jinki?”

“I said shut up!” Jabber grabbed Zanka’s head and slammed it into the wall. He got a scary expression on his face, different from his usual one. He stared hatefully deep into Zanka’s eyes as he used one hand to pin both his wrists and the other to strangle him. Zanka tried kicking him, but Jabber wasn’t phased. He stared right into Zanka’s eyes.

‘Shit. This is how I’m dying. Choked to death by Jabber Wonger. Great.’

“I’m on my way to get you, Wonger.” The voice from his choker, now shakier, stated.

“I will kill you.” He grumbled as he let Zanka go. He gasped for air and started coughing uncontrollably. Jabber grabbed his chin and forced Zanka to look him in the eyes.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jabber said without any emotion in his voice.

After a couple of minutes of almost complete silence, the only noise being the cleaner’s coughing and heavy breathing, Zanka regained enough strength to try to struggle away from Jabber, who returned to his usual demeanour.

“Aww, you look so cute pinned against the wall for me~”

“Get off me! You psycho!”

Zanka kneed him in the stomach and fell on top of him. He managed to pin him successfully this time.

‘Somehow I feel like he let me do that on purpose.’

“Oh!~ What are you going to do to me now?”

Zanka looked around for his staff, as he was distracted, Jabber stuck him with his claws.

“Ow! The fuck was that?”

“A better alternative! Enjoooy~”

Before Zanka could react, he was hit with a heavy object from the side, knocking him off Jabber, sending him into the nearest wall. Zanka tried to get up, but the object, a manhole cover, was now pressing his lower half to the ground.

“Whoa, chill Cthoni, we were just messing around!”

The blue-haired woman had an angry red mark on her face and was visibly upset. She marched over to Jabber and practically yanked him to his feet.

“We are going back NOW, Jabber.” She dragged him to her manhole cover, stuffed him inside, and followed soon after. Just like that, they were gone. Zanka groaned as he sat up. He touched his choker.

“Enjin. I need help.”

No response. Shit. He touched it again.

“Semiu,” he groaned, “Help.”

“Where are you?”

“Some alley in the town near that trash beast you sent me after, I don’t know where Enjin or Gris is. I got jumped by some raiders. The blue-haired one threw her Jinki at me, and Jabber poisoned me with something.” He grunted in pain, “I think it’s starting to take effect.”

“Okay. I’m sending people after you. Hang in there.”

“Thanks, Sem’.”

‘Again, I’m bothering other people to come and save me. I should have just gone to that stupid bar.’

He passed out.

When he woke up, he was met with Eishia Stilza’s worried face.

“Zanka! Thank god you’re awake!” She shouted excitedly.

‘Great. Back so soon. Nice one, Zanka.’

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t treat the poison again. Can you tell me what the symptoms are?” She asked.

Zanka was surprised he wasn’t in any pain at all.

“I feel fine, actually. Are you sure?” He answered.

He tried to sit up.

“Ah, Jesus! What the fuck?” Pain ignited in every part of his body. He was hit with a wave of nausea.

“What’s wrong?” Eishia yelped.

“It hurts like hell to move.”

“Anything else?”

“I want to throw up.”

“Oh! I know what it is!” She hurried off over to a cupboard in the corner.

Zanka breathed heavily, wincing at the pain of moving his chest like that. He tried his best to calm himself enough to breathe painlessly again.

“I take my eyes off you not even for an hour and, damn. Who beat you up?” A half-concerned voice called from beside him.

“Who’d you think, Enjin?”

“Yeah, I know Jabber poisoned you again. I meant the, what was it?, fractured ribs that nearly killed you. That right, Eishia?”

She made a disapproving sound somewhere between ‘Leave him alone, Enjin!’ and ‘Don’t force him to speak.’

“Okay. The woman with the manhole, Jinki, the one who can teleport, apparently, she uses her Jinki as a weapon sometimes. I found that out the hard way.” Zanka managed to spit out, somehow.

“Wait, so she-”

“Hurled a manhole cover at me at full force? Yeah. Apparently, their boss, ‘needs you back. Now, Jabber.’ Where the hell even were you, Enjin? Actually, don’t tell me. I don’t care.”

Eishia speed-walked over to him, holding a small cup.

“Here, drink this. It will neutralise the poison, but it will knock you out.”

Zanka downed it without second thought.

“Zanka, I’m sorry I-”

“No, it’s fine. Nobody forced me to go off alone like that. It’s not your fault.”

“Still, I should have responded to you. Instead, I was with Gris in the-”

“Okay! You can just keep that part to yourself!”

Zanka screwed his eyes shut, waiting for sleep to claim him.

“Listen, kid. Don’t beat yourself up about it. It was unfair: two on one. Even I would have had my ass handed to me.”

Zanka grunted at him in response. Enjin said bye to him and left. After that, he passed out. Again.

When he woke up, he could barely understand what was going on. There were two, no, three people in the room.

‘Maybe Eishia? Is that the boss?’

He rubbed his eyes and groaned as he sat up. He wasn’t in pain anymore: just a mild discomfort that he couldn’t place.

“Zanka! Good to have you back.” A deep voice called.

He looked around. It was Eishia, Riyo, and the boss.

“Yeah, hi.” He yawned.

“You’re lucky that poison was all bark, no bite. Along with your other injuries, we could have lost you if it were dangerous.” Corvus stated. “You want to tell us what happened?”

Zanka groaned. He did not want to tell them about that.

“Ok, I got jumped by Jabber. I think what Riyo said is true, except that all of the raiders seem on edge. The blue-haired woman with the manhole cover Jinki which she threw at me, her name is Cthoni-”

“Shit.” Riyo said in an ‘I feel bad for you, but I’m glad it wasn’t me, that shit sounds like it hurts.’ tone.

“-Anyway, she looked beaten up and pissed off. She ignored me and dragged Jabber away.”

“There must be something happening with them.” Corvus muttered, “Thanks, Zanka, hope you get better.”

He got up and left the room, leaving him and the girls in awkward silence.

“Where were Enjin and Gris?” Riyo asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Where do you think?” Zanka groaned.

“Ah.”

Riyo looked away uncomfortably. Her eyes met Eishia’s, who was oblivious to what had just been said. Eishia didn’t know about Gris and Enjin’s relationship. Only a few members of team Akuta knew: Zanka, who found out unwillingly (Let’s just say Enjin always locks his door when Gris is with him now.), Riyo, who had to talk Zanka down from throwing up after what he witnessed, and Rudo, because Riyo can’t keep secrets for shit.

“Thanks again, Eishia. What would we do without you?” Zanka said, trying to change the subject and erase the image slowly reforming itself in his mind.

“Die, probably,” Riyo responded.

“Don’t say that!” Eishia squeaked while she swatted at Riyo’s arm.

After that day, life returned to normal. Almost immediately. Zanka would train Rudo and clean up trash beasts. He was called in to take care of one, a massive blob-like thing. It took so long to clean up. Zanka was completely exhausted. He was nearly crushed to death by that trash beast, saved at the last minute by Gris, whose genius idea to save him involved tackling him to the side and crushing Zanka beneath him. Still, he couldn’t complain. Given the choice between getting crushed by a teammate or a trash beast, the answer was obvious.

As they walked back into HQ, they were greeted by Semiu.

“Hey, Sem’, we took care of that trash beast for ya.” Zanka said, “Got anything else?”

“No, but we do have a new guy. He’s over at the boss's office if ya want to see him.” She replied.

Zanka couldn’t help but feel unsettled. ‘Why’d she look so smug when she said that?’

“Wanna go and see him?” Gris asked.

“Ah, what the hell? Why not?”

They made their way over to Corvus’ office. Gris knocked on the door.

“Come in!”

“Hey boss, heard we have a new-oh.” Gris’ voice dropped.

“What’s wrong?” Zanka asked. He came into the room.

He was greeted with familiar dreadlocks and magenta eyes.

“Oh, you have GOT to be fucking kidding me!” He exclaimed, “Jabber?!”

“’ Sup,” Jabber said nonchalantly, as if he didn’t have a fight nearly to the death with Zanka, just days beforehand.

“Oh HELL no! Corvus?!”

He looked at the man, who was calmly sitting behind his desk, staring unblinkingly at Zanka.

“Y-you... He!” He fumbled in frustration. After a few seconds of trying to say something, he landed on a simple “Why?”.

“Because he found us and asked nicely to join.”

If looks could kill, Arkha would have been cremated. Zanka and Jabber stood quietly, staring at each other. Corvus decided to break the silence.

“Okay, Zanka, now I know you two may have some, um, history, but- Semiu looked him over and-”
“He tried to kill me! He nearly did! Twice! You said it yourself!”

“You’re still alive, aren’t ya?” Jabber teased.

“Shut up!”

The boss put his hands up and stood up to get closer to Zanka.

“Listen, Amo did the same, but you had no problems.” He pointed out.

“She had a very good reason to, this creep did it because he enjoyed it. And he’s a raider!”

“Ex-raider, and so is Fu.” The boss corrected.

“Fu didn’t send me to the infirmary.”

“Okay, in my defence, it was Cthoni’s fault that you nearly died this time,” Jabber added.

“Jabber, I swear to god I’m gonna kick your ass.” He stepped back from him and took a deep breath, “Boss, I’m usually on board with all of your decisions, but Jabber? You’re crossing a line by letting that PSYCHOTIC FREAK-”

“-Enough!” Corvus barked, he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “Jabber is joining the cleaners starting today. Do not make this an issue.”

Zanka laughed incredulously. He rubbed his face, looking around at all of the people in the room.

“You have all lost your minds,” Zanka grumbled as he stormed out, slamming the door behind him. He was way too tired to fight this. Maybe if he went back to bed, he’d wake up the next day to discover it was all just a shitty nightmare, he hoped.

“I think we should leave him alone for now.” Said Gris.

“That would be a good shout, yes. Hear that, Jabber? Leave him alone.”

“Okay, fine.” He grumbled.

The next few days were all very similar. Zanka would get up, get ready, either train Rudo or clean up trash beasts, and get harassed in the halls by Jabber. He nearly popped a blood vessel when he saw his new cleaner's uniform.

“What the hell are you wearing?!” Zanka snapped.

“Oh, this, this is my new uniform. You like it?” He turned around to show him the back. “Pretty clean, right?”

“I fucking hate you.” Zanka spat at him.

Zanka pushed past him and went straight to August's room. He barged in without knocking.

“Hey! What the hell, man? Can’t you see I’m busy?” August complained.

“Why does Jabber’s uniform look like that?” Zanka demanded.

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know, an almost exact version of mine?!”

August scoffed, turning around to face him.

“For your information, it is not an ‘exact’ copy of your uniform. Don’t ever even imply that I would ever just reuse my own work.” He snapped.

“Oh, well, sorry, dude. Mind pointing out the differences to me? I seem to be having trouble finding them.”

August reached behind him, never taking his eyes off Zanka, and pulled out a large sketchbook. He flipped through the pages before finding what he was looking for. He turned the book towards Zanka.

“So here’s the deal. First of all, the base of his uniform is based on his raiders'. Secondly, his gloves are different-” August grabbed Zanka’s arm, “-Look. Yours only touch your middle finger, where your ring is-” He let go and showed him the sketchbook again, “-His touch all of his fingers.”

August pointed out a bunch of small differences, like sleeve length, different fabric choices, and colours.

“Okay! Okay, why did you take inspiration from my uniform then?” Zanka asked.

“Oh, I just thought it would look good on him. That’s all.” August turned back to his project, ignoring Zanka.

“Unbelievable.”

Zanka was done. He was so done with everything.

‘Has everybody lost their goddamn minds? It’s like they’re trying to piss me off.'

He passed Jabber again.

“Hey boo-”
“Fuck off.” He snapped.

Chapter Text

The next day, Enjin wanted to do some group training exercises.

“To break the new guy in,” he says.

Zanka was once told, “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it.”, so he decided it was best to keep his mouth shut, no matter how desperately he wanted to scream at Enjin to fuck off.

All of Team Akuta was in the training yard, well, almost all of them. The members who didn’t fight, like Eishia, weren't there, and they were missing both Riyo and Jabber.

“Hello, Rudo, Enjin.” He gave them both a polite nod. “Is Riyo sitting this one out?”

“No, she was showing Jabber around,” Enjin answered, “They should get here any minute.”

A strong feeling of irritation hit Zanka. Hard.

“Ah, I see.” He tried his best to hide his annoyance, “Didn’t Eishia do that already?”

“Yeah, but she got too scared of him halfway through, and we’ve all been too busy to finish the tour. Riyo volunteered to do it. I think it’s because she felt bad about shooting him.”

“She what?” Rudo asked.

That memory cheered Zanka up a bit, but he didn’t have long to enjoy it. Moments later, a loud noise from the other side of the yard drew everyone’s attention.

It was Riyo and Jabber, and she was... laughing? She was laughing! At one of Jabber’s jokes! Unbelievable.

“How long did it take for your hair to get this long?” She asked.

“Oh, about three years, I’d say.” He answered.

Seeing Jabber act so normal pissed Zanka off.

“Have you always done dreadlocks, or have you had other styles?”

“I change it up every now and then, but I like dreads.”

“Well, hey, if you ever need help changing it, you know where to find me.”

“Sounds great, Riyo.”

Zanka’s mood soured again.

It felt like a swarm of termites eating away at the foundations of a house; 'first, he joins my team, then he pisses me off, and now he's cosying up with my friends.'

Riyo wandered over to stand next to Zanka.

“Why the long face?”

Zanka glared at her, then Jabber, who was talking to Enjin about training or whatever.

“You know why.” He grumbled.

“Listen, at least try to get along with him. He's our teammate now.”

Zanka grunted in response.

He wanted to get back at him. He needed to figure out how to do that without pissing off Enjin or the boss. He got an idea.

“Ok, enough messing around.” Enjin said, “Now that everybody’s here, let's begin.”

“What are we doing exactly, Enjin?” Zanka asked.

“Well, I was hoping for you guys to give me some ideas. Do you have any?”

‘Perfect.’

“I do actually.”

“Oh!” Enjin tried unsuccessfully to hide his surprise. “What is it?”

“In one of my more recent fights,” He glared at Jabber, who grinned back, “I dropped my staff. I think it would be a good idea to work on fighting without relying on our Jinki. Don’t you?”

Jabber’s smile dropped instantly, and he started fidgeting with his rings.

“Also, I think it would be easier to build trust, knowing we can’t accidentally injure each other seriously.”

“That's...” Enjin looked impressed, “Not a bad shout actually. Well, y’all heard the man, put your Jinki away.”

Rudo gingerly raised his hand.

“Can I, um, can I keep these on. You know about my hands-”
“Of course, Rudo, just put your trash away,” Enjin interrupted.

Zanka propped his staff up on the nearest wall, Enjin did the same with his umbrella, Riyo put her scissors in her bag, and Jabber stood in the same spot awkwardly. They all stared at him. Reluctantly, Jabber fished around in his bag, pulled out a small pouch, and slowly pulled his rings off, putting them in the pouch. When he was done, he put the pouch back in the bag.

“Alright, people! To make this fair, I’ll pair you up against someone with a similar height. Rudo!”

“Yes!” He flinched.

“You’re up against Riyo. Zanka, you’ll be against Jabber when they’re done.” He leaned over towards them, “Do not try anything funny. Both of you.”

Zanka zoned out a bit as Enjin started coaching the two on throwing punches properly, disarming, and restraining opponents. Meanwhile, his mind drifted to the upcoming fight. He barely registered when Enjin finished and told the pair to try and win. Zanka wasn’t paying attention; he was lost in thought about how hard he was going to beat Jabber up. From their previous fight, he could tell that fighting without his Jinki was a sensitive subject for Jabber.

“Nice work, guys!” Enjin cheered.

To no one's surprise, Riyo had won their fight.

“All right! Jabber, Zanka, you’re up.”

Zanka damn near sprinted over excitedly, followed unenthusiastically by a very miserable-looking Jabber. Enjin demonstrated how to do all of the same moves he showed the previous two. When he was done, Zanka took a long look at Jabber.

‘Okay, Zanka, focus.’

“Right, you guys can start now!” Enjin called from a safe distance.

Zanka threw the first punch, Jabber dodged it perfectly, kicking Zanka in the stomach.

“Ouch,” Enjin winced.

“You sure this was a good idea, dude?” Riyo asked.

“Well, yeah? They aren’t armed, what's the worst that can happen?”

“Don’t- don’t say that.”

Zanka tackled Jabber to the ground.

‘Yeah! How’s that feel, asshole?’

Jabber backhanded him.

‘Ow! What the fuck?’

“Ooh.” Rudo cringed.

“Yeah. That one was definitely personal.” Riyo said uneasily.

Zanka climbed up and tried to punch him. Jabber caught his hand and tried to pin him down.

“Okay, Enjin, I don’t see how this is proper training,” Riyo stated.

“How so?”

“Dude. They’re just rolling around in the dirt.” Rudo pointed out.

Zanka managed to gain the upper hand. The rules of the fight were that if you managed to pin your opponent for 10 seconds, you win. Zanka straddled Jabber’s chest. He tried to push him off, and Zanka slammed him back down. He winced.

“What's wrong, crackhead? I thought you liked pain!” Zanka teased.

“Shut up,” Jabber growled as he struggled.

“Or is it only fun when it's your poison?”

“Shut up!” Jabber headbutted him.

He managed to shove Zanka off and get up. He tried to kick his head, but Zanka got out of the way in time.

“This is getting pretty heated, shouldn’t we-”
“They’re fine, Rudo, chill out,” Enjin reassured.

Zanka jumped to his feet and kicked Jabber in the head. Or he tried to. He missed and caught his shoulder. Jabber stumbled over to the wall, picked up Zanka’s staff, and swung it at him. It hit Zanka right in the face, causing him to fall over.

“Enjin!” Both Rudo and Riyo yelled.

“On it.”

He lifted it to swing again, but was stopped by Enjin.

Zanka could hear Enjin cussing Jabber out. He didn’t care much because he was so pissed off.

‘That son of a bitch. Hitting me with a weapon when I’m unarmed? My own weapon? My Jinki? Unbelievable’

Zanka’s vision started to fade.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Enjin shouted as he grabbed Zanka by the shirt, “You’re in the wrong, too. Get your ass up.”

Enjin practically dragged them both to see Eishia.

‘Great,’ he thought, ‘maybe I can convince her to give me a frequent fliers discount.”

Zanka was lying in the infirmary staring at the ceiling, again. He could kind of understand what was going on. He could hear parts of a conversation.

“Can you ... only the serious ... they need ... get along and ... will definitely help.”

“Okay, I’ll try!” A familiar small voice called.

He felt Eishia use her Jinki on him. He groaned and sat up.

“Zanka! You feel better?”

“Yeah, just-” He put his hand up to his face. When he pulled it back, there was blood. “-You missed a spot.”

“Y-yeah! Well, actually...”

“It was on purpose, Zanka,” Enjin said in a serious tone. “You two need to start getting along. Yes, Jabber did go too far with the staff, but you egged him on. If that were a real fight, it wouldn’t be a question of if the enemy kills you, but of how fast.”

“Ok, so my punishment is walking around with a busted-up face?”

“No. Your punishment is having to wait for your injuries to heal. However, his is to patch you up.”

“What?”

Enjin threw a first aid kit at the chair beside Zanka. He hadn’t noticed Jabber, who was trying his best not to draw attention to himself.

“Also, until you two learn to get along, I will make you do every single training exercise and trash beast cleanup together. Hell, I’ll even make you two sit next to each other every time we eat. Don’t piss me off.”

“What if I don’t know first aid?” Jabber asked.

“See? Told you this was a bad idea! Let me-”
“No Eishia, we all know damn well you crammed an instruction sheet, or whatever the fuck, into every damn medkit we have.”

“What if I can’t read?”

“There are pictures, also you spent half an hour reading Tomme’s report this morning, nice try.”

“Damn.”

“Let's go see your brother, Doc. Better get started, Jabber!”

The door slammed shut.

“You’ve really done it now, crackhead.”

“Stop calling me that, asshole!” Jabber snapped.

“Why? Did I hurt your feelings?” Zanka teased.

Jabber didn’t respond. Instead, he dug through the first aid kit. He pulled out the instructions, skimmed them, and put them aside. He pulled out a small bottle of antiseptic and some cotton rounds.

“Come here.” Jabber grabbed Zanka by the chin and yanked him closer.

“Hey! What the-OW!” The antiseptic stung. Zanka had a cut on his cheek from where jabber had hit him and a few scrapes from the fall.

“Quit squirmin’, it’ll only hurt more.” Jabber let go of him.

He went back to digging through the kit.

“I thought you didn’t know first aid.” Zanka scoffed.

“I don’t. You have like three marks. That's all.”

He pulled out a square-shaped Band-Aid. Jabber didn’t even say anything this time; he just grabbed Zanka and started applying it. As he did, Zanka noticed that his thumb was on his bottom lip.

‘The hell?’

When Jabber finished, he didn’t mention it.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Jabber started putting things back in the kit. He was weirdly calm when they weren't fighting. It was starting to creep Zanka out.

“So... why?” He asked.

“Huh?”

“Why’d you join the cleaners? I’m assuming you didn’t just do it to piss me off.”

“Ah. Well...” He started fidgeting uncomfortably, rubbing his fingers over where his Jinki usually sat. Zanka noticed that he hadn’t put his rings back on.

“I heard your boss lost it. That true?”

Jabber flinched.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Jabber sighed.

“Yes, really-” he pinched the bridge of his nose as he winced. “- I-he... He wasn’t a particularly sane guy to be around before; whatever the fuck happened, happened, but he started crashing out over the smallest things. Remember when Cthoni dragged me away from our fight that one time?”

Zanka cringed at the memory of it.

‘Great! Just remind me of when I had the upper hand before I took a fucking manhole cover to the ribs.’

“Yes.”

“Well? You didn’t notice how pissed she was?”

“I thought she was always like that.”

“Okay, fair. But she was pissed because the boss slapped the fuck outta her when she told him that I wasn’t immediately on my way back to base,” he shifted guiltily, “He threw a bottle at me when I got back! A fucking glass bottle! Can you believe it? I got out of the way in time, but seriously, that's fucked up.”

Jabber took a deep, shaky breath.

“And! And get this, he took my fucking Mankira away!”

“He what?!” Zanka was genuinely shocked and felt bad for Jabber. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if Corvus took his Jinki away as a punishment.

“Yeah! he said ‘You’ll be better off without all that poison. Fucking junkie.’-” His voice started to break. “Bundus convinced him to give her back, but still. I thought he’d break her.”

Jabber was upset. Zanka was usually shit at comforting people, but the fact that Jabber was his enemy-turned-teammate made things worse.

‘The fuck do I say?’

“What did he even want?” Zanka finally asked.

“That’s the thing, Zanka, it was just a regular meeting! That was my first red flag. There were a couple of other things, but the final straw was when he got pissed like, really fucking pissed off at Momoa, and he straight up nearly beat her to death!”

“Jesus!”

“I know! After Cthoni and one of the others helped me drag him off, we bailed. Fuck that psycho.”

There was silence for a minute. Zanka was trying to think of things to say, from ‘thanks for patching me up! Let’s never bring this up again!’ and ‘I’m sorry that happened.’. Jabber felt awkward for trauma-dumping on Zanka.

“So, um-” Zanka shifted awkwardly, “-Great thing you left then, huh?”

“Yeah,” Jabber looked down at the floor.

Zanka started to feel bad about the whole ‘suggesting a training exercise with no other motive than to bully Jabber’ situation.

“You fight pretty well without your Jinki.” Zanka almost whispered as he turned his head away.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

Silence. Again. Zanka could feel Jabber staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing! It’s just- Usually, you’re swinging your staff at me. This is one of the first times we have had a real conversation.”

“Yeah, and you called me by my real name.”

“Hah, don’t get used to it, Mr bad attitude.”

Zanka noticed a small cut on the back of Jabber’s right hand.

“Give me your hand.” He demanded.

“W-what?” Jabber stammered.

“Your hand, you got cut.”

“Oh! No, it’s okay. I can just-” Zanka grabbed his hand and reached for the antiseptic, “-Or you can do it.”

Jabber winced as Zanka cleaned his cut.

“You’re not pressing down hard enough.”

“What?” Zanka looked up. He was met with Jabber’s smirk. “You- I! I’m not doing that, freak!”

Jabber cackled at him. Zanka got a Band-Aid from the kit and gently smoothed it over the wound. He didn’t let go yet; it was the first time he got a proper look at Jabber’s hands up close. They were slightly bigger than his own, with black nail polish, and surprisingly soft. There were small lines at the bottom of each of his fingers where Mankira usually sat. Zanka ran his thumb over the wound.

‘What the fuck am I doing?! I literally hate this guy! And now we’re sitting around and holding hands? What the fuck?’

Zanka looked up, trying to come up with something to do or say to get rid of the strange vibe in the room. Jabber was closer than before; it nearly startled Zanka, who was already too nervous to react.

They sat, staring into each other's eyes, a little too close for comfort.

“Okay, I didn’t expect you to get along that well,” Enjin chuckled from the door.

“Ah, Enjin! W-we were just- He was-”
“Just checking to make sure the band-aid covered the whole wound!”

“Y-yeah!”

Enjin snorted.

“Oh, okay then. If you’re done, get your asses outta there.”

“Okay!” They both called in unison.

He turned to face Jabber, who was turning uncharacteristically red.

“We will never speak of this.” Zanka snapped.

“Don’t need to tell me twice.”

Chapter Text

At breakfast the next morning, Zanka avoided eye contact like the plague. The faint clatter of cutlery against plates filled the room, heightening the tension around him. He was sitting next to Riyo, who was across from Jabber. It was uncomfortably silent.

“So... You feel better, Zanka?”

“Yes.”

“Okaaay. Hey, Jabber, Enjin was pissed yesterday. What’s your punishment?”

“He needs to do everything with Zanka. Speaking of, Jabber, shift. You thought I was kidding about everything?” Enjin put his mug down on the table.

“Dude.”

“Move it. Next to Zanka. Now.”

Jabber grumbled but got up and sat next to Zanka, who wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

Riyo giggled.

“Shut up, Riyo.” Zanka snapped.

“I’m sorry! You two just look so sorry for yourselves! It’s hilarious!” She laughed.

“Okay! When you're done with breakfast, get ready. There’s a trash beast situation in the town near us. Semiu said that some people managed to stick one with a tranquiliser. It stayed down but didn’t die, of course,” Enjin rubbed his eye, “Jabber, I’m taking you and Zanka with me. I want to see if your claws will work on it.”

‘Isn’t that convenient? Trash beasts that can be put down with sedatives, right after Jabber joins. I don’t like this.’

“Aren’t two givers enough?” Zanka asked, hoping Enjin would let him stay home.

“You know exactly why I'm bringing you along.”

Zanka groaned.

Before going to clean up trash beasts or any situation that required physical activity, Zanka did stretches. He was sitting on the floor with his legs extended in front of him, stretching down to touch his toes.

‘God damn it, Enjin! I like you, but why do you have to be such a prick sometimes?’

He sat back up, mood already ruined.

“Ooh, you’re flexible~”

Zanka whipped his head around. You already know who was standing there.

“Jabber! Fucking knock on the door, weirdo! What if I was getting changed?”

“But what if that’s what I wanted to see~”

“Ah-ew. Get out!”

“Okay, but Enin told me to tell you to hurry the hell up.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m comin’”

The car ride over was hellish. Enin was driving, with Gris in the passenger seat, and Tomme was sitting in the back with them. Of fucking course, Enjin made him sit next to Jabber, who dug his elbow right into Zanka’s ribs for half the ride, and on top of that, Tomme kept asking him about how his Jinki worked.

“Have you ever tried to use it to administer medicine before?”

“The thought hasn’t even crossed my mind before now,” Jabber looked down at his hand, “I’ll have to try it when we get back to HQ.”

“Okay! We’re here. Get ready, guys.” Enjin called, a little too cheerfully.

Zanka had a bad feeling about the situation, the same feeling he had when he first encountered Jabber, who tried to kidnap Rudo.

‘Ah. Good times.’

“Are we sure there even are any trash beasts this time?” Zanka asked as he shut the car door.

“If there aren’t, then what's that?” Jabber asked as he pointed over Zanka’s shoulder.

Zanka turned around, just as a beetle-like trash beast rammed into him. He got thrown to the side. The group was surrounded by about six or seven trash beasts.

“Yeah! Thanks for the warning, asshole!” He yelled at Jabber, who was just staring at the beetle, who was staring back.

‘Hell is he doing?’

“Jabber! Stick it with the strongest stuff you’ve got!” Enjin yelled as he took out a trash beast.

“You got it, Boss!” Jabber got his claws out and stabbed the beetle right in the face. It stood still for a second, then rammed right into him.

‘Wait, what? It didn’t work? Why?’

“Zanka-”
“On it!” Zanka hit the beast with his staff, then stabbed it in the head with the spiked outer part.

“Get up, dreads. There are more beasts.” He dragged Jabber up, who looked more in shock than in pain.

“It didn’t work...” He was dazed.

“Yeah! Whoever reported it must have lied or used a specific toxin on it or some shit, fuck, Jabber! The fuck?” Zanka shook him; Jabber snapped out of it.

“Right! Trash beast, got it!” He ran to the nearest one and got to work.

‘That was weird. Why is he so off recently? If only he were like this when I had to fight him.’

Zanka took care of the last two with the help of Gris and Enjin.

“Okay! Is that all?” Enjin called.

“Think so!” Zanka responded.

He looked over at Jabber, who was absent-mindedly fidgeting with his rings.

‘Why’d he deactivate his Jinki so fast?’

“Hey, do you guys hear that?” Tomme asked.

“Hear what?” Zanka asked in response.

There was a shrill sound that pierced the air, coming from a nearby building. It sounded like a little kid who was screaming.

“HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME!”

Tomme ran towards the building, followed by Gris.

“Tomme! Gris! Wait!” Enin called as he ran after them.

“Should we?-”
“Yes.”

Jabber and Zanka followed them in. As soon as they stepped through the door, everything went black. They didn’t pass out; it was like all of the light had just been stolen from the room.

“What the fuck?! Hey! Where is everybody!?” Jabber yelled.

‘Must be a giver. I swear to god if it's one of the raiders, I’m kicking his ass.’

There were sounds of feet shuffling and a grunt, as someone who sounded like Gris tripped over something. There was a strange crackling noise.

“Hey guys! I can still see, just walk towards my voice, I can help you get out!” It sounded like Enjin, but unnatural; like he decided not to bother with his speech patterns or mannerisms at all.

Zanka spun his staff and jammed it into the floor. He sensed three people clumsily stumbling around in the dark, and four people standing at the other side of the room. Three of them had their hands touching the wall, while one stood freely.

‘That must be the giver responsible, judging by the fact they’re all holding the wall, I’m assuming they can’t see either.’

Zanka could sense that the leftmost person was shifting in place for some reason, like they were digging around in their pocket for something.

“NO! Nobody move!” He barked.

He waited for whoever was there to get out of the way, and he dashed in the direction of the free-standing person. He heard a panicked gasp as he swung his staff and knocked them onto the floor.

‘Found you.’

Light rushed back into the room, revealing their attackers, plus Zanka’s teammates, rubbing their eyes, trying to adjust to the light. There was a muscular man holding a birdcage, a tall man holding a megaphone, a woman with sunglasses on the floor, and a smug-looking teenage girl with her hands in her pockets.

“Where’s the person who needed help?” Tomme demanded.

“They're not real, dumbass.” The giver with the megaphone said.

“Hey, watch it, asshole!” Gris yelled.

“Who was copying my voice? What do you people want?” Enjin growled.

“What do you think?” The teenager snarked.

‘No raider uniforms, must be a bunch of punks looking to get a high price for Rudo.’

“The spherite isn’t with us, so nice try.” Zanka snapped.

“Not the spherite, the raider!” The muscular man yelled.

‘Wait, Jabber? Why?’

“Hey! The hell do you want me for? You guys don’t look like raiders.” Jabber complained.

“Yeah! And that's ex-raider!” Enjin corrected.

‘Not the time, Enjin.’

“Whatever!” The teenager rolled her eyes in annoyance, “We need the ex-raider so I can get paid and ditch these assholes, so hurry up, hand him over.”

“Oh, okay, Kid. I didn’t exactly expect to be besties with you, but can you at least pretend to like us? especially after I saved your ass from that guy.” The muscular man seemed genuinely offended; in any other situation, Zanka would have laughed.

“Birdie, does she seem like the grateful type to you?” The tall man asked.

“Hey fuck off, Mock!” She yelled as she flipped him off.

“And what do you mean by ‘I saved your ass from that guy.’? You didn’t do shit! That was all me and her-” He pointed at the woman on the floor. “-Right, Shades?”

She groaned in response.

‘So, I take it the woman is Shades, the muscular man is Birdie, the tall guy is Mock, and the teenager is Kid. Who’da thought. Wait, why do they have such fuckass names? Are those their real names? Are those their Jinki names? Maybe, but who the fuck would call their Jinki ‘kid’? Do they even know each other's real names? Who are they?’

Jabber charged Mock, who hit him with his megaphone.

‘Damn, that easily? What is up with him today?’

“Enough! Shades, get your ass up!” Mock nudged the woman with his foot and pointed his megaphone at the cleaners. He pressed a button, and the whole room was filled with a horrible screeching noise. Zanka and the others doubled over in pain, covering their ears. Darkness consumed the room again, and the noise stopped.

‘Right, Zanka, get up and sense the vibrations again. You can’t let everybody down.’

Before he could even stand up properly, he got tackled to the floor. Zanka blindly struggled against his assailant, who wrenched his Jinki out of his hand and tossed it to the side. Zanka remembered his fight with Jabber and tried his trick of inverting their positions, but due to the fact that he couldn’t see even an inch in front of him, all he managed to do was scratch up the arm of the person pinning him down, who retaliated by choking him until he was too weak to fight back.

The light returned to the room. It took a second for all of their eyes to adjust. Mock was pinning Zanka to the ground, out of reach of his Jinki. Jabber was in a ... cage? What the fuck? So was Enjin.

“The hell?” Jabber yelled.

“Nice one, chickenshit. And in complete darkness? Fuckin’ A plus!” The teenager patted Birdie, who was holding his hands out towards Enjin and Jabber, as if he was squeezing them in his fists, on the back.

“Bite me, shrimp.” He grumbled.

“Right, how do we take this one back?” Shades gestured to Jabber, who was shouting profanities at them through the cage, “He’ll just stick us with a bunch of nasty shit the second we let him out.”

“What if we injure him?” The teenager asked, “Typhon said he had a pretty good healer; it’s not that big a risk.”

“Okay, but you’re doing it.” Shades said.

“Oh! This is just priceless! You’re gonna what? Kill me when I can barely fight back? Yeah, real nice, assholes.” Jabber snarled.

“Yeah! Let us out and do it fairly!” Enjin added.

The kid started walking over to Jabbers cage. She pulled a small seam ripper out of her pocket.

‘What is that? A pen or something?’

She held it up, and it got bigger, big enough to be considered a spear.

‘Shit. She could kill him with that.’

“Like fish in a barrel.” The teenager giggled.

‘What the fuck?’

“Hey!” Shades called to Mock, “Can you deal with him so we can leave already?”

“M’kay!” The tall man pulled out a knife.

Now that he could actually see, Zanka decided to try Jabber’s trick again; this time, it worked. He slammed Mock’s head down into the ground twice, grabbed the knife, and held it to his throat.

“Get away from him or I'll kill your friend!” Zanka yelled.

The group turned to face him. While they were distracted, Gris bodied Birdie, causing him to release his grip on Enjin and Jabber. All hell broke loose.

Tomme ran over and backhanded Shades, who retaliated by tackling her to the ground. The two of them were trading blows as they both unsuccessfully tried to get up. Birdie punched Gris, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him to the floor. Enjin tried to stab him with Umbreaker, but Birdie dodged just in time. Jabber kicked the kid, right in the face. She yelped and fell to the floor, dropping her Jinki. She desperately reached for it, but Jabber kicked it out of the way, stepping on her arm with all his weight. The kid shrieked.

‘Shit.’

“Shades! Do something!” Birdie bellowed.

The room was dark again. It was getting old, like really old, to Zanka. He heard various sounds of fighting around him.

‘I was giving Jabber shit earlier for being off, but I’m not any better. I need to train my grip strength or something, people keep knocking Assistaff away from me as if it’s nothing.’

There was a pained groan, followed by a wail. Zanka blindly felt around in the dark for his staff, but he felt something else. First, the spear, or whatever the hell that fuckass kid was using as a weapon, the metal part was wet, then, a warm, thick substance.

‘Ew, the fuck is this?’

He brought his hand up to his nose and sniffed it. It smelled metallic.

‘Shit. It's blood.’

“Hey!” He called desperately into the darkness.

Zanka heard someone groan weakly beside him. He rushed over, feeling for them. He felt someone's hand, with rings at the base of every finger.

“Jabber! Are you okay?”

“Zanka I... I-I’m bleeding. I don’t... don’t know where... where from.” He gasped. He sounded in pain, not like his usual self. This really scared Zanka.

“Shit! You’re gonna be fine! We’re gonna get you right back home to Eishia! She can help you, just... just, hold on!”

Zanka was panicking, like really fucking panicking badly.

There was a pained grunt and a sound of something metal falling to the ground. Light rushed back into the room again. Enjin was standing next to an unconscious Birdie, Gris was trying his best to restrain Kid, who was flailing around, slowly getting weaker, Tomme was standing above Shades, who was on the floor again, and Jabber was bleeding from his midsection.

“I need help!” Zanka screamed.

Jabber was trying to press down on his midsection to stop the bleeding. He looked like he was trying to form words, but nothing came out. Tomme ran over.

“I got this. Keep him awake.”

“Jabber! You keep those fuckin’ eyes open or so help me god!” Zanka hissed.

Jabber looked at Zanka, lifted one of his hands, and Zanka immediately took it in his own, trying to soothe him as best he could.

“No.. no. I-I’ll get blood on you.”

“It’s fine! Just stay awake!”

“I’ll try my... my best.”

Jabber’s eyes slowly shut.

“No, no, no! Wake up! Wake the fuck up!”

Zanka gently swatted at his face.

“Jabber! Please!”

Chapter Text

The ride home and the following hours were a blur. Zanka couldn’t shake the sight from his mind, Jabber going limp like that.

‘I’m supposed to hate him! I was sent with him as a punishment! So why do I feel like this?’

Zanka buried his face in his hands and groaned. He had his back against the wall outside the infirmary, and he slid down to the floor. For once in his life, Zanka wished it were he who was there instead. He shoved his head into his knees.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Zanka looked up and was met with the half-concerned face of the scrawny, fuckass little kid he was in charge of training.

“Go away, Rudo.” He mumbled.

“Did someone get hurt? Was it Riyo?” He gasped.

“No.” Zanka almost whispered.

The infirmary door gently opened.

“Y-you can see... see him now.” Eishia’s weak voice called.

Zanka sprang up, causing Rudo to jump, and rushed into the infirmary. The privacy curtain was drawn, hiding Jabber from view.

“He’s... he’s asleep, Zanka, don’t... don’t bother him too much.”

Zanka slid the curtain aside to reveal an unconscious Jabber. The image hurt him so much, and he didn’t know why. He looked closer. Jabber still had scrapes, cuts, and bruises peppering his arms and face.

‘Did she... did Eishia really do that on purpose? Still thinking about that stupid fucking punishment when a man nearly died?!’

Zanka clenched his fist in anger and turned around to face Eishia. When he did, he noticed that she looked terrible, drained, as if she were struggling to even stay standing. She, painfully slowly, looked up at Zanka, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I-I didn’t do... do it on... on p-purpose.” She stammered, leaning dangerously to the side.

All of Zanka’s previous anger dissolved immediately as he rushed to catch her before she passed out.

“Whoa! Watch it!” He helped her to sit down in the nearest chair. “Do you need anything? Food? Water? Rudo!”

“Yes!” The boy, who had been shyly watching from the door, shuffled into the room.

“Go get...” Zanka nearly said Eishia, he was so used to asking for her automatically when someone got hurt that now he didn’t know who to ask for when it was her, “August. Get August.”

“N-no don’t... don’t bother him, he’s... working.”

“Go! Rudo, Now!” With that, he scrambled out of the room.

Zanka opened the nearest cupboard, looking for something, anything to make Eishia feel better.

‘How could I get pissed at her? Eishia damn near drained the life out of herself, and I’m angry? On behalf of Jabber? The guy whom I hate?’

He opened the last cupboard to see that it was filled with snacks and bottled water. He grabbed some water and what looked like a salty snack.

“Here, have this.” He said as he offered the food to her.

“Thanks.” She said weakly.

He sat in the chair opposite her quietly, the only sounds being Eishia’s munching and Jabber’s faint breathing. Zanka couldn’t help but stare in his direction.

“I tried to... to fix everything wrong with, with him. I-I couln’t do it.” She said miserably.

A pang of guilt flared up inside Zanka.

“Listen, Eishia, you did great. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”

“Yes, but-” She looked away, trying not to cry, “-You had similar injuries and... and I did way, way better.”

“Yeah, but any normal doctor would have given up the second they saw someone in his condition. You brought him back from the edge of death! I’m sure he won’t care about some small cuts or whatever.”

Eishia drank the last of her water; the colour was slowly returning to her face.

“I fixed most of the internal injuries, but there’s still the external wound.” She said quietly, voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh, please!” A loud voice hollered from the hallway, making them both jump, “That freak will probably thank you for the pain and scar!”

“August!” Eishia jumped up and immediately started to usher him out of the infirmary, “You can’t be that loud around sick people!”

“I heard you’re sick! Can’t I be concerned for my lil’ sis?!”

The door slammed shut. Leaving Zanka alone with Jabber.

He sat on the seat next to his bed. He watched him breathe, chest rising and falling. Zanka got the same uneasy feeling when Jabber was patching him up; it was unusual to see him so calm.

‘He can breathe normally, that’s good, at least.’

Zanka let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

‘Wait. Why the hell should I care? He put me in the exact same situation, down to where the injury is on his body! And I what? Feel bad for him?’

He started to nervously tap his foot on the floor.

‘It hurt like all hell!’ Zanka clenched his fist and glanced over at Jabber, who was still asleep, ‘it hurt like all hell, and it showed-’ He remembered Jabber’s panicked expression, all the blood, and the sight of Gris and Tomme carrying his limp body to the car, ‘- Why did that scare me so much?’

Zanka buried his face in his hands for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

‘Empathy isn’t a limited resource. I’m allowed to feel bad for my teammate who nearly died in front of me today. Even if he almost killed me too.’

He pinched the bridge of his nose and cringed.

‘Okay, fine! I’m allowed to feel bad, but why am I still here?’

Zanka got up, the chair scraping across the floor behind him, causing Jabber to stir. He hesitated, looking down at the unconscious man.

‘I can’t just let him wake up alone! But I also can’t just sit here and do nothing until he wakes up.’

Jabber woke up with a quiet gasp. His eyes were darting around the room. He tried to move, but it took more effort than usual, so he decided to stay lying down.

‘Where am I? Have I been here before? What happened?’

He tried to sit up, but felt a sharp, hot pain spread from his midsection outward. He winced.

‘That’s right, the little shit speared me. Hope she learned her lesson from my Mankira.’

Jabber turned to his right, and he froze. It was Zanka, and he was asleep, head on his own shoulder with a book in his lap. He stared in disbelief.

‘No way... Zanka was waiting for me to wake up? The Mr Bad Attitude waited long enough to fall asleep, for me?’

Jabber was giddy. He couldn’t believe his eyes; he just kept staring at the sleeping man beside him.

‘I could get used to waking up to this every morning.’

“Hey!” He tried to shout, but it came out more of a raspy whisper, “Zanka! Wake up!”

He jolted awake.

“Huh? Wha-”
“Morning, princess~”

“Oh. You’re alive. That’s great, I guess.” Zanka yawned.

“How long were you waiting for me to wake up!” Jabber murmured.

“Dude, I can not understand a word of what you’re trying to say. I’ll be back.” He got up and walked out of Jabber’s view.

‘Great. He’s gonna go get the doctor. I wanted more alone time with him.’

To his delight, Zanka came back alone, holding a small paper cup.

“I got some water. Here.” He extended the cup towards Jabber, who was more than happy to accept, but his hands started to shake so badly, he nearly knocked it out of Zanka’s hands.

“I can’t...” Jabber trailed off.

‘What’s wrong with me? I usually recover fast as hell. I’ve had worse injuries. Why am I shaking like a leaf?’

“Oh for-” Zanka took Jabber gently by the chin, thumb on his bottom lip, parting them, mirroring what Jabber had done to him in the infirmary days earlier, and brought the cup to his mouth. “-drink.”

Jabber short-circuited, but immediately obeyed, trying his best not to choke on the water but struggling, as Zanka’s sudden bossy side did something to him.

“There,” Zanka took the cup back and let Jabber go, much to his disappointment, “Now what were you saying?”

“Um, I-uh,” he cleared his throat, “how long was I out for?”

“A couple of hours, I think.”

“Ah.”

They both stared at each other silently. The reality of what just happened started to dawn on Zanka.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll go get Eishia!” He hurried out of the room.

“Yeah, thanks!” Jabber called after him.

‘What the? Did he just- I thought he hated me.’

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Zanka slowly blinked awake. He stared at the ceiling, wondering what he had done yesterday to make himself so tired.

"...Yeah, guess he was real tired from training yesterday."

He froze.

'Is someone in my room?'

Zanka sat up.

"Morning, princess. We were just talking about you." Jabber beamed. Suddenly, Zanka remembered exactly what had happened the night before. He looked up to see Jabber, Riyo, and Eishia.

"Uuh, Hi?" 

"Good morning! I'm here to get Jabber to change his bandages!" 

"And I came with her to find you on the way," Riyo eyed him suspiciously. "I didn't expect to find you here," she smirked.

"Y-yeah! I just... Uh-"
"Fell asleep after washing my hair. They know." Jabber turned to face him, "I bet that took alot outta you, didn't it?"

Before Zanka could respond, Riyo let out an awkward laugh.

"Okaaaay. Let's all go to the infirmary!" She half-yelled.

"Yeah-Wait. Why me?" Zanka asked.

"Enjin said something about a punishment."

Zanka groaned and fell back on the bed.

Eishia did her thing with her jinki and healed Jabber. After testing if he could properly walk and raise his hands up and everything, Eishia got ready to change his bandages, before Enjin reminded her of their punishment. After a very detailed and lengthy explanation of how to change bandages and clean wounds, Zanka was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I think it's better for me to clean the wound firs-"
"Zanka can do it!" Enjin sing-songed.

"Is this 'punishment' ever going to end?" Riyo asked.

"Yeah, when he gets bored of it," Zanka huffed. He was starting to get extremely impatient. Riyo noticed how he'd been since he'd woken up and got an idea.

"Hey, Enjin. I heard Gris is cooking right now."

"Shit, really?"

"Yeah!" Riyo threw a glance at Zanka, "You should go check it out."

"Yeah, I'll be back!" Enjin called whilst walking to the door.

'You will not. Riyo, what are you doing?'

"Eishia, your hair is getting pretty long," Riyo said with fake concern, "I can trim it for you!"

"Thank you, Riyo. We can do that after-"
"Oh, they'll be fiiiine." She said, practically dragging Eishia out of the room, "You guys play nice now, okay?" She called, whilst giving Zanka a 'tell me all about it later' look and a wink before slamming the door shut.

Zanka had to remind himself that, yes, Riyo was in fact one of his closest friends whom he loved very much; no, he shouldn't throw a chair at her full force, no matter how pissed he was.

'Okay, put more gauze over the wound and secure it with bandages. Easy, right?'

He had to take the old bandages off first, though. Eishia had helpfully laid out what he needed on the bed: scissors, new gauze, bandages, and some other medical crap. Zanka cut the bandages and slowly peeled the gauze off. Jabber winced.

"Sorry," Zanka mumbled.

"It's fine," He replied.

It was starting to get awkward. When the gauze came off, Zanka cringed. The wound was a ragged hole about three inches long. 

'Fuck, those stitches look painful as shit.'

"What? I've had worse," Jabber scoffed.

"Yeah, pretty sure you haven't." Zanka mused. He soaked a cloth in some saline solution and gently dabbed at the wound.

"Why doesn't it sting?" Jabber asked.

"Because it's saline. I'm not hurting you with that alcohol stuff again."

Zanka braced for whatever lewd 'you didn't have trouble hurting me last night' comment Jabber was about to spit out, but nothing came. Come to think of it, he didn't bring it up the second everybody left, as Zanka had expected. He opened the fresh gauze.

"So... We gonna talk about it?" He asked.

"'bout what?" Jabber didn't meet his gaze.

"Last night." Zanka smoothed the fresh gauze over the wound.

"What is there to talk about?"

"Well, we..." Zanka looked away. 

"Yeah, we just kissed. That's it."

'Oh.'

Zanka tried to keep the sadness from showing on his face, because why would Jabber like him romantically? He was a genius, and Zanka was... average. There were probably loads of other people on his level he could choose from. Zanka finished changing his bandages and left without saying a word. Jabber was silent too. 

Zanka walked back to his room and collapsed into bed. He didn't know what he felt like. He decided to just go to sleep and figure things out when he woke up.

Riyo watched her friend's whole miserable walk back to his room.

'Damn, I left him alone for less than ten minutes. The hell happened?'

She spotted Jabber leaving the infirmary.

"Hey!"

Jabber froze.

"Weren't you giving the doctor a haircut?" He asked.

"Yeah, she got distracted by her brother," She took a step closer, "What happened?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Jabber asked in response.

"Why'd Zanka run off like that?"

"Oh! Yeah, you know how he is-"
"Exactly. He doesn't just run off. So why?"

"Well, um..." Jabber nervously looked away.

"Has it got something to do with why he slept in your room?"

Jabber looked at her with wide eyes.

'Bingo.'

"Ah, I see," Riyo said whilst staring into his eyes, "Why don't we talk about this somewhere else? Your room is on this floor, right?"

"Yeah, it's this way," Jabber led her in the direction of his bedroom. She strode in in front of Jabber, who shut the door behind them. She sat on the edge of his bed.

"So, what happened? Spill."

Jabber sighed and slumped to the floor next to his bed. He let his head fall backwards onto the mattress. 

"Promise me you will not tell a soul."

"I promise."

"And do NOT tell Zanka that I told you this."

"Okay."

"Right," He took a deep breath, "Zanka and I made out last night after he washed my hair."

'Shit.'

It was hard for Riyo to hide the surprise on her face, but she agreed to play couples counsellor the second she stepped into the room, so she'd have to press Zanka for the details later.

"Oh! Was it... Good?" She said, trying to act casual.

"Yeah,"

'Okay...'

"So... Do you know why he ran off?" She asked.

"I think I-I don't know..." He replied.

"Come on~"

"I think I pissed him off or something."

"How so?"

"When he was patching me up, he asked me if we were gonna talk about it..." He pinched the bridge of his nose, "I said, 'No, it was just a kiss, why would we?', so he finished up and left."

"Damn. The hell'd you do that for?" She pryed.

"I don't know. I think..."

"What?"

"I thought he still hated me, and it was just... a mistake to him."

"Well, at least you know that isn't true now," She looked at Jabber, who was miserably staring into space, "You should just find him and apologise."

"That sounds a lot easier said than done. He for sure hates me now."

Riyo rolled her eyes.

'Seriously, these two are idiots.'

"dude, you can either talk to him and maybe make it worse, or avoid him and definitely make it worse."

"Zanka obviously hates me now, Riyo!"

"He kissed you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but it was- I - He... Shut up!"

"Jabber, just talk. How much worse can you possibly make it?" Jabber gave her a blank stare and started to say something, "Actually, don't answer that. But seriously. Talk. Now, go!"

"Okay! Okay! Jeez," Jabber got up, he stopped at the doorframe, "Thanks, Riyo-"
"Go!"

Jabber stopped in front of Zanka's door. He hesitated before remembering Riyo's advice. He pushed the door open.

"Zanka! We need to talk!"

"'bout what?" Zanka asked miserably, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I thought you would still hate me because of the things I did as a raider. I thought last night was just a mistake for you, so I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Jabber felt his face burning.

"I thought you didn't like me. You're a whole level above me, and I'm just some guy."

"Of course not! Zanka, you were the only one who managed to get me to use my whole power in a good three years. You are way above average!"

Zanka looked up. He patted the bed next to him. Jabber sat down. 

"That was my first one, you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, no need to be so shocked."

"Oh! I didn't mean it like that!"

Zanka laughed dryly.

"I didn't mean to pressure-"
"You didn't pressure me into anything; I wanted to do it."

"I'm sorry," Jabber mumbled.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry-" Jabber briefly looked away, swallowing hard, before turning to face Zanka again,"-I'm sorry for nearly killing you. Twice. And I'm sorry for being such a dick after beating you."

Zanka cringed at the reminder of how he'd been defeated. Twice. Then he looked away, unable to look at Jabber's face. Almost as if he was scared he'd start laughing and say that he was joking.

"I'm sorry too," Zanka said, close to a whisper, "I'm sorry for setting up a training exercise to bully you, and I'm sorry for calling you a crackhead." He hoped that Jabber couldn't see the redness that was slowly making itself known across his cheeks.

"Aw. You're so cute when you're embarrassed~" Jabber teased as he pinched Zanka's cheek.

"Shut up!" Zanka snapped, and he lightly shoved Jabber away from him, "You don't need to start your old bullshit right after we apologised to each other and everything! I take it back, asshole!"

Jabber laughed. A genuine laugh, not like when he was fighting.

"Okay, sorry, why don't we start over?" Jabber asked.

"Okay, fine." Zanka rolled his eyes.

"Hi, my name is Jabber. Nice to meet you." He offered his hand.

He could tell that Zanka wasn't expecting that, but he played along.

"Hello. I'm Zanka. Nice to meet you, too." He awkwardly shook his hand. 

"I love spicy food. What's your favourite?" Jabber asked. His tone somehow managed to feel sincere and sarcastic at the same time.

"Soup."

"Nice."

They both looked at each other expectantly, each hoping the other to continue the conversation.

"So, Jabber, I know this spot that does great spicy food. Would you like to have lunch with me?" Zanka asked. 

'Listen. I stuck my tongue in the guy's mouth. The least I could do is buy him lunch.'  He thought.

"I would love to, Zanka."

Chapter Text

"C'mon, pleaseeeeee!" Riyo whined.

"No, that's fuckin' weird, dude." Zanka sighed.

"We've been friends for years, it isn't"

It had been a couple of days since Zanka and Jabber's conversation. After a long day of fighting trash beasts, he was on his way to shower and go to sleep to prepare for his date with Jabber the following day, when he was accosted by Riyo in his bedroom. For some reason, she wanted to know every little detail of their kiss.

"Ok fine," She huffed, "At least tell me what he tasted like?"

"No-Riyo! What the fuck?" 

"You'll come around eventually," She winked. Zanka shuddered at the thought, "You WILL tell me about the date though, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now shoo," He lightly nudged her towards the door, "I need a shower."

Zanka threw on his usual casual clothes and went to find Jabber. He heard an overdramatic gasp from behind him.

"You're going like that!?" Riyo yelled.

Zanka sighed, "Yes?"

"You wear that all the time!"

"So?"

"The fuck you mean 'so'? You look boring!"

"Well, what else should I wear?"

"Oh, I don't know... anything else?!" She pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why not the outfit we got for the Too Lily concert?"

"Riyo, we are going for lunch, and I am not wearing that." Zanka huffed.

"Ok, fine. But seriously, you need to get changed," Riyo sighed.

"Why, what's wrong with his clothes?" Jabber asked, appearing out of nowhere. Zanka and Riyo jumped.

"Fuck! Where'd you come from?" Riyo yelped.

"Jabber! Hi, are you ready to go?" Zanka started dragging him towards the lobby before getting an answer, "Bye, Riyo!"

"Well, you're eager," Jabber chuckled.

"If I didn't leave then, she would have gone through my whole closet."

"What's wrong with the way you're dressed now?" He asked.

"It's too plain, apparently. "Zanka looked at what Jabber was wearing. It was a simple black tank top and jeans, his hair was down as usual, and he didn't have his glasses on; equally as plain as Zanka's outfit, "She might have raided yours too."

"Hah, she'd be right, though. I still need to get myself some new clothes."

"If you asked August to make you some, he would. He's probably bored as shit right now."

"Yeah, I forgot where his room is," Jabber admitted.

"Seriously? We can go later today."

"That would be great, thanks."

They reached the lobby.

"What's up! You guys need a lift?" Enjin asked.

"Yeah, actually," Zanka answered.

The ride was pretty quiet. Enjin gave Zanka a 'when did you two get so buddy-buddy?' look, and Zanka gave him a 'Say anything, and I will bring up what I saw Gris doing to you, don't piss me off' look. They got to town, thanked Enjin, and Zanka led the way to the restaurant.

The restaurant was fairly small but cosy. They sat in the nearest booth. Jabber stared at the drinks menu for a long minute.

"What're you getting?" He asked.

"The peach iced tea."

"Is it good?"

"Hell yeah, it is."

Jabber hummed. 

"Dude, it's a drink. Don't overthink it." Zanka pointed out.

"Okay," He put the menu down and looked around before side-eyeing it again, "I'll just get a soda."

The waitress came after a couple of minutes. She took their drink orders and gave them the main menus. 

"Ooh, they have tacos here! I love tacos!" Jabber beamed.

Zanka smiled.

"What?"

"It's nothin'"

Zanka didn't bother looking at the menu; he already knew what he was getting. He drummed his fingers on the table.

"Zanka."

"Yes?"

Jabber cleared his throat and suppressed a smile. He made a serious face and looked right into Zanka's eyes.

"If you were a type of bird, what bird would you be?" He asked.

"You being serious?"

"Very."

Zanka sighed.

'It's not the worst weird question he could have asked.'

"I don't know... pigeon?"

"Pigeon? Really?"

"Well, shit Jabber! I didn't know there was a right answer." Zanka huffed.

"You could pick any bird!"

"So I picked pigeon! What would you pick? Since you're the expert here."

"A falcon."

"Why? Coz of your sharp ass talons?"

Jabber snorted.

"That would be funny, but no."

"Why then?" 

"I just think they're cool"

Zanka burst out laughing.

'God, this is so fucking stupid!'

"What?"

"I hate you."

"Yeah, hate you too."

They ordered their food, and after a few more similar conversations, it came. Jabber ordered spicy beef tacos, and Zanka ordered French onion soup.

"Won't your breath stink after eating that?" Jabber asked.

"I brought gum," Zanka answered. He eyed Jabber's drink. He said he'd order a soda, but Zanka never caught what kind. It was a deep pink, bordering on red.

"What's your drink?" He asked.

"Soda."

Zanka fixed him with a blank stare.

"What kind of soda?"

"Strawberry."

Zanka didn't expect that. The surprise must have shown on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing! It's just that... you don't seem like you'd like strawberries."

"And why's that?" 

"Umm..."

Zanka tried to come up with a reason that wasn't just straight-up rude. 

'I really got my ass handed to me by a guy who drinks strawberry soda?'

"Try some." Jabber slid the glass towards him.

Zanka took a small sip. It was good, not too sweet and not too fizzy.

"This is pretty good." 

"Right?"

"Let me get a sip of yours," Jabber reached for his glass before Zanka could say anything. His definition of a sip must have been different from Zanka's, as he slurped a good quarter of the glass, "It's okay, I guess."

Zanka just stared at him in disbelief.

"Is that soup any good?" He asked.

"You want to try some?" Zanka emphasised 'some'.

"Sure."

He gave Jabber a spoonful.

"Hmm, this tastes better than I thought it would," He eyed Zanka's bowl, then his own plate, "Want a bite?" He asked whilst gesturing to it.

"Maybe, I don't know"

Jabber picked up a taco and held it in front of Zanka.

"Take a bite." He invited.

Zanka rolled his eyes and made a big show of taking a bite out of the taco without taking it from Jabber first. It was pretty good, just too spicy for his taste.

"That's hot," He said whilst taking a sip of his tea.

"Oh?" Jabber winked.

"The food, Jabber."

He chuckled. They finished their food, and Zanka paid, not before fighting with Jabber over who would, but Zanka won in the end. His reasoning being 'I asked you out, so it's only fair for me to pay.'

They left the restaurant chewing Zanka's gum and decided to wander around. Zanka's hand brushed against Jabber's. He silently took his hand and threaded their fingers together. Neither of them acknowledged it. They passed a stall selling jewellery. Jabber stopped.

"You ever think about getting any more piercings?" Jabber asked.

"Yeah, but I can never decide what kind," Zanka answered.

"How about another lobe?" He picked up a small silver stud earring and held it in front of Zanka's ear.

"Maybe."

"Where did you get your ears done?"

"Riyo did them."

Jabber looked taken aback.

"Really? She doesn't have any piercings, though. Does she?"

"Nope. She asked Enjin how to, and then just did it."

"How?"

"With a sharp needle and a shot of jack." Zanka was only half joking about the last part. Riyo said she took a shot of something before she pierced him. She only told him afterwards, though.

"Hey, what's the worst that can happen? We have Eishia after all." Zanka pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess. Oh, look!" Jabber picked up a silver ear cuff, "You can wear this without getting another piercing."

"Yeah, I could."

Zanka tried to pay for it himself, but Jabber was faster.

"Oh, you didn't need to-"
"Please! You paid for the food, now come here," He grabbed Zanka's hand and led him to a nearby bench, took his face, turned it to the side and secured the cuff on the side of his ear. He turned his head back to face him.

He didn't let go.

"Jabber I-"
"-No way."

They both turned. It was Cthoni and a black-haired girl with headphones.

"Holy shit! Cthoni!" Jabber sprang up and trapped her in a, no doubt, rib-crushing hug, "Momoa! What's up!" He petted her on the back.

Zanka only remembered Cthoni from their last run-in. He rubbed his side. He didn't recognise the other girl, Momoa, but he remembered Jabber told him that she was the one Zodyl beat up.

"I had to get a new choker, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you guys."

"No, it's all good, we found you, didn't we?" Momoa glanced at Zanka, "Who's your friend?"

"Ah!" Jabber made Zanka stand up, "Cthoni, you remember Zanka, right?"

She looked at Zanka without any recognition before something must have clicked in her head.

"The cleaner?" She looked at Zanka, then at Jabber a couple of times, "You actually managed to join the cleaners?"

"Shit." Momoa scoffed in disbelief, "I'm assuming you're the 'Mr Bad Attitude' that he wouldn't shut up about?"

Zanka sighed, "Yes."

Cthoni chuckled.

"Anyway, how have you guys been?" Jabber asked.

They had a lengthy conversation about how they managed to get new jobs after leaving the raiders. They never specified what jobs, but Zanka could guess. He shuddered at the thought. They exchanged blood.

"I can drop you guys near the cleaner's HQ if you want. I just can't go inside."

Zanka was about to politely decline before Jabber enthusiastically agreed.

"Dude, it's so fun. Come oooon."

"Yeah, I remember."

Zanka was reminded of the disoriented feeling he had when he was transported into the trash beast. Cthoni made a portal in front of them. Jabber thanked her, grabbed his arm, and jumped in. It wasn't as bad last time, so she must have done it on purpose. Zanka stumbled but didn't fall. Jabber caught him before he could.

"So, what was it that we were going to do when we got back?" Jabber asked.

"Go see August," He stood up straight, "Don't shove me into portals like that, jerk!"

Jabber ignored that last part and strolled inside. Zanka led the way to August's room. They stopped in front of the door.

"Hey, Jabber"

"What"

"I dare you to open without knocking."

"Oh, you think I won't? Watch."

Jabber confidently yanked the door open with Zanka close behind, excited to see how August would react, and the pair froze. August and Follo quickly pulled apart, August trying to stammer out an excuse and Follo wiping his mouth whilst looking anywhere but the door. Zanka apologised and shut the door as quickly as possible.

"We did not just see that, did we?" Jabber asked.

"Let's get your clothes tomorrow, okay?"