Chapter Text
Zanka stared at the white wall with a growing annoyance. He lost again to him. He groaned in annoyance at the thought of losing to him again. That man had to be the bane to his existence.
Zanka won't lie he knows a few people can beat him in both the Cleaners and Raiders.
The others Zanka didn't absolutely hate losing to, they were at the very least reformed sophisticated geniuses, excluding Zodyl who he hasn't had a chance to fight yet and thinks of him as a possible Jabber 2.0 but has a feeling the man is too cautious to be like Jabber.
Even when he went through the mental breakdown of losing to Hyo he still wasn't as mad as when he lost to Jabber the second time.
The first one he could blame on being taken by surprise. He could even argue that given proper time he could beat Jabber if he could just prepare. The second time though he felt humiliated, lost in his own delusions from that annoying stupid poison.
How was he suppose to beat someone who could just one shot you?! He could land as many hits as he wants as long as Jabber can give one scratch one prick and it was over.
While Zanka tried calming himself he noticed a slight pain in his wrist, he didn't remember getting hit there. He pushed his sleeve back and saw it on his inner wrist and screamed.
"Bite marks! That little freak bite me!!" His eyes complete wide feeling the panic.
"Eishia!!" Zanka was panicking. He has rabies now doesn't he.
Riyo and Elisha came running confused. They saw him not bleeding and not dead but saw the look of a ghost.
"He bite me! I need a rabies shot!" Zanka yelled panicking while waving his arms around showing the bite mark.
"Oh I forgot about that, sorry I forgot to tell you he had gotten that Eisha," Riyo said nonchalantly while a smile.
"You knew I got bite by that freak!" Zanka yelled tears starting to prick his eyes. This where he dies isn't it, by rabies, can Eishia cure rabies?
"Yeah I kind of know what happened towards the end of your encounter with Jabber," Riyo shrugged while Eishia silently went over to Zanka with a quiet apology and was getting ready to begin working on the bite mark.
As soon as he heard Eishia apologize he immediately snapped out of it.
"I'm sorry I over reacted Eishia, don't worry about it, you've healed me enough already, I'll let it heal on its own. Even if Jabbers crazy he probably doesn't have rabies right?" Zanka said trying to convince himself while the others gave a not so sure about that look.
"It's okay Zanka I can heal it, I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier," Eishia was once again quick to apologize while Zanka quickly refused saying she was probably exhausted from all the healing from him and everyone else.
Eishia eventually gave up as soon as Riyo started explaining what happened towards the end of the fight.
"So this is run down of what happened..."
Flashback, a little further back though from Jabber
Jabber was taking Zanka with him to the trash beast heart to offer him when he stopped.
Jabber paused and looked at the delirious man he was dragging by the foot. Jabber had grown a bit fond of Zanka and all his angry faces so looking at him laughing and smiling was a nice change of pace.
Jabber won't lie and say he thought Zanka was all that interesting at first. All he had was a stick as a vital instrument with some stupid spikes. After he initially beat him in his mission to get Rudo he thought 'Boringggggg', then he saw him up and swinging already even after the poison.
He was smarter than he let on calling himself an 'average joe and mediocre' but Mr. Bad Attitude was much more than he let on making Jabber want to figure out what was going on in his head.
Now the second time he fought Zanka he couldn't help the giddy feeling he had when Zanka tried bathing him in the goopy goop, and the fact Zanka knew he wouldn't of lost that easily had his heart racing.
At first Jabber thought this was perfect. The perfect match, a man with an attitude and hidden sadism, with a freak that was a masochist.
Someone to fight, or at least that's what he thought for the moment. He didn't think he'd want Zanka as anything more than a final fight.
Then something snapped in Jabber when he was going to pierce Zanka through the skull with his Mankira to end their fun, but Zanka fucking bit it keep it from killing him to keeping the fun going. He bite his Mankira, no one has done that, and man was it doing something to Jabber he didn't understand.
He didn't just want to fight him, now he just wanted him.
Jabber had continued the fight and won once again. Although he was upset it ended already it was still one of the longest fights he's been in, Zanka was just that difficult of an opponent.
While he was laying down with the other laughing their heads off he started having doubts of bringing Zanka to the beast to die.
He tried ignoring it which was hard for him; a mad genius with bad impulses not doing what he should be doing was not uncommon.
That's when he sat up and tried just dragging the other to the beast to offer, even grabbing Lovely Assistaff to offer up with him.
He had to follow his orders from Zodyl, admittedly the Raiders had been the only place he been accepted not that it matters all that much. He glanced at Zanka and his heart started beating faster. He realized he actually liked Zanka a lot.
Jabber decided he didn't need the Raiders or want them. Zodyl was on a downward spiral and the rest couldn't fight him properly, Jabber stopped walking he wasn't going to get rid of Zanka not like this he wanted to fight more, he wanted a run for his money, he wanted Zanka.
He wanted Zanka in any way he could get him he didn't just want someone to fight he wanted to keep the banter they had, he wanted the teasing and nicknames. Then it truly struck him like someone getting a shoe thrown at their face, he wanted to date Zanka.
He stared at the other as he dropped his foot down and sat down next to him. He positioned Zankas head in his lap and began playing with his hair. He had to think of a way to get Zanka out of here alive.
He grabbed one of Zanka's hands and placed it on top of his and started giggling. 'Why are his hands so small, I wonder how big his-?' Jabber quickly composed himself from the thought. He began playing with the ring on Zanka's middle finger that connected to his black sleeve.
He noticed the other was now gritting in pain instead of laughing like before. He wonders if he can wake him up now to come up with a plan together. Maybe just a new jolt of pain could do it.
Grabbing his wrist and noticing the black fabric, he ripped it with his Mankira, and immediately pushed the fabric back to reveal perfect looking skin. Jabber smirked.
"Yooo, Mr. Bad Attitude if you don't want me taking a bite outta ya, better answer now," Jabber laughed and leaned over the others head trying to hear anything but the other gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes in pain. "Gave ya a chance,"
Jabber bite hard into his wrist and began licking at the blood when he heard a pained groan from the man beneath him. Jabbers face immediately contorted to a hungry that looked liked it'd match a sadist, or someone who just had a taste of new addiction.
Before he could take another bite a loud bang went off.
Riyo was standing there gun aimed at him and Jabber felt the pressure of the bullet begin to form right above his shoulder.
"What the hell chick! I was tryin to do an experiment here!" Jabber yelled annoyed while Riyo just glared wanting to shoot again but was nervous of accidentally shooting Zanka whose wrist was still held in the other hand.
"Get away from him," Riyo said coldly.
Of course Jabber doesn't listen and instead continues licking the bleeding bite until Riyo got grossed out and shot him again despite the risk only slightly nicking his shoulder.
Jabber then got up and tried getting to the other but got shoot in the leg as soon as he got close to her. He fell down immediately wanting to claw that girl to shreds for interrupting.
"You fucking cheat! Not even using your vital instrument!" Riyo heard the other yell while leaving after getting Zanka and Lovely Assistaff.
Now end of Flashback
"I'm fucking killing that freak," Zanka declared while the other two just nodded one of them not believing it. Zanka had too much self restraint to kill someone even if it was Jabber.
After the two left Zanka would have probably spiraled in a bad way, if not for over hearing a conversation. As Zanka was meditating he heard the door open and close, along with Enjin's voice praising Zanka's resilience.
Zanka smiled at the words of encouragement from basically his father figure and his spiral was able to stop before it started and festered.
Even Rudo's ugly smile made Zanka feel way better along with Remlin apologizing.
As soon as Zanka was free to go on a mission it was of course a difficult one, because someone clearly has it against him.
They were fighting a giant horde of trash beasts luckily for them they were smaller in size just a shit tone of them and it was just the four of them, Enjin was leading, and they had no supporters since they were all out just leaving the Givers.
Everything was going relatively well, Zanka had taken down one of the last few when he noticed it.
Rudo was in trouble, Enjin and Riyo didn't notice.
Rudo was barely holding off the beast in front of him when a new one was getting ready to attack him from behind.
Zanka didn't have time to kill the one running towards Rudo, or had enough room to get Rudos back. Instead he made a dangerous move.
"Rudo!" Zanka yelled and ran to the other pushing him out of between the beasts and efficiently got a stab from the back into his shoulder while blocking the one in front with Lovely Assistaff. He had to use one of his feet to hold back the one behind him leaving him in an awkward position.
Zanka let a pained gasp out but held Lovely Assistaff still against the beast.
Zanka was going to try and get out of between the beast but was trapped, the one in front wouldn't budge and Zanka couldn't push it back with his footing, then the one behind him just wouldn't move for some odd reason, leaving its deformed horn stuck in his shoulders.
"Hey! Brat! Snap out of it! Kill the one behind me that's stabbing me before it decides to rip me to shreds!" Zanka yelled seriously with a grunt keeping his position firm running on purely adrenaline. If he lost any strength he would get crushed.
Zanka was staring head on at the beast, he wasn't going to lose. Even with a stab he'd push through after all fighting with Jabber made him realize nothing is more painful than that man's goddamn poisons.
Rudo snapped out of it and grabbed a nearby piece of trash that was ironically a stick similar to Zankas. He quickly jumped up and stabbed the beast in the neck that was hurting Zanka.
The trash beast disintegrated leaving Zanka unfortunately hella off balance. Zanka put his foot down but was starting to fall back from the strength of the beast in front of him but felt something solid behind him keeping him grounded. At first he thought it was Enjin since it was too tall to be Rudo or Riyo, or god forbid another trash beast but something told him it wasn't especially when he felt a hand on his waist.
"Hey Mr. Bad Attitude need some help?" He heard the whisper in his ear and before he responded the other activated Mankira to the second level and stabbed the beast in several spots efficiently killing it. He heard the other deactivate it to the first form.
Before Zanka could even move he felt the other hand wrap around his waist. Zanka froze at the feeling of the metal on top of his clothes, his knuckles whitening from how hard he was holding Lovely Assistaff.
"We make a great duo don't we Zan-Zan?" Jabber glimmered with a laugh while he said that, making Zanka immediately feel embarrassed.
"Let go ya freak!" Zanka yelled feeling dread from the other's tighten embrace.
"No need to feel so embarrassed Zanka-a-a" The other drawled using his Mankira to slowly mess with the others shirt.
'Lock in Zanka, is Jabber fucking awful yes, but so is getting shit flung at you' He told himself feeling the blush spreading in his face from that embarrassing moment. He tried thinking of a way out of this but couldn't think of anything. He couldn't run away like he did with the shit.
With how Mankira is around his waist even a slight shift the other could prick him and he didn't feel like a neurotoxin round 3.
Zanka figured the best course of action was to let his team help him, even if that hurt his pride slightly. Luckily he did remember Enjin telling him relying on teammates is a strength not many were good at. So Zanka figured he might get praised for that at least after this.
"Get off of him, Jabber!" Rudo yelled while pointing his new weapon at Jabber. At this point Riyo and Enjin noticed and were finishing off their trash beasts as quickly as possible.
Jabber smirked and had a great idea to annoy the cleaners. Keeping one hand on Zankas waist still playing with the hem of his shirt he trailed his other hand up and forced Zankas face slightly away.
"Yo Mr. Bad Attitude, do you still have the other one?" Before Zanka could ask what the hell he was on he felt a sudden pain on his neck.
Jabber. Bit. Him. Again.
He could feel the other lick the blood coming off the new bite and felt his face flush harder.
"Goddamn it! I don't want Rabies!!" Zanka yelled and tried getting out of Jabbers grasp using Lovely Assistaff but failed because Jabber immediately pricked his neck with a combo of paralytic toxins.
"Calm down babe," Jabber teased.
Zanka almost immediately went limp from the high dose and Jabber picked him up bridal style easily along with Lovely Assistaff.
"See ya!" Jabber yelled with a giant laugh and smile.
Rudo began running up after what felt like a very inappropriate scene to watch.
Rudo was still lagging behind the two despite the fact Jabber was running with a mildly unconscious man. At this point both Enjin and Riyo had also begun catching up to Rudo.
"Where the hell did that freak come from!" Enjin yelled annoyed at the fact his kid was getting kidnapped and cannibalized.
"I'm telling Semiu to send reinforcements!" Riyo yelled while contacting Semiu.
Meanwhile Jabber was having the time of his life stealing Zanka. Although a part of him thinks it might have been better to leave as soon as he got to Zanka instead of taunting the other cleaners.
He's probably going to get his ass kicked now, and damn he can't wait. A giant smile plastered of his face either way was a win although he'd prefer the outcome of keeping Zanka.
"Let.. go" Jabber could faintly hear the other and looked down and saw Zanka with a glare at the other. His smile got wider.
"What's wrong my man, I'm taking you so we can fight and shit! It's perfect for us," Jabber told the other not even thinking of the giant hole on Zankas shoulder.
"Asshole," Zanka barely mumbled and then gritted his teeth from the pain the position was starting to cause.
"What's wrong Zan-Zan?" Jabber asked seemingly concerned about the other's discomfort since he didn't give Zanka a painful toxic-in. That's when he remembered the blood that was currently seeping into his own clothes.
Jabber didn't have anything to stop the amount of bleeding that was coming from the other, even at his hideout. Not to mention he lowkey quit the Raiders so he could bother Zanka, so no help there.
Jabber was faced with an ultimatum; risk the chance of not seeing Zanka for a while because the cleaners will be at heightened security if he gives him back, or risk never seeing Zanka again period.
Jabber was a lot of things, insane, inhumane, and always looking for a high but the looming thought of Zanka being straight up dead bothered him even more than during there second fight since he realized he liked Zanka maybe even loved him.
"Yo Cleaners!" Jabber yelled causing the other three to stop at the same time as Jabber.
"Listen as much as I'd love to take an ass kicking and get that sweet, sweet, sweet, high, Mr. Bad Attitude might bleed out by then," Jabber told them glancing down at the stab.
"So for now I'm goin to put him down and leave, but don't think that's the end of this!" Jabber yelled feeling his Mankira wanting to fight with an intense itch.
Jabber staying true to his word put Zanka down and bolted off.
"Tch that was bust! If only that damn beast didn't get that serious hit on him!" Jabber complained to himself with annoyed tone while running away.
He did however thought back to the bite he left on the other and immediately began thinking back to the taste of his blood. And damn did it taste just as good as he remembered.
Although he's starting to think he needs a different approach to getting Zanka to be his.
Meanwhile Enjin quickly ran up and applied pressure to the wound while Riyo got an estimated time from Semiu while Rudo was next to Zanka holding onto his hand so Zanka could squeeze something while he was in pain. Expect the fact that Zanka couldn't do that since he was paralyzed.
"I'm sorry Enjin and Zanka this was my fault," Rudo told the others tears brimming. Riyo had just left to go get the others that got the van.
"No, it was my choice and I'd do it again," Zanka said slowly barely conscious. "Rudo you're an annoying genius but I'll be damned you're my mentee, every time I'll be there to help you," Zanka told the other before Enjin could even say anything to Rudo.
Rudo quickly wiped his tears and nodded. Luckily they were able to safely transport Zanka to Eishia.
After that Zanka was on a lockdown from his boss. No leaving without permission and no missions.
Of course after he got his shit rocked by a trash beast of all things he was actually spiraling but then an angel appeared to guide him, which was really Eishia who was very worried about his mental health.
Although Riyo and Enjin are aware of how important winning and all that shit is to Zanka they figured he'd keep pushing through, but that's way easier said than done.
Eishia noticed it immediately when she finished healing the stab he had from the trash beast.
"Zanka." She paused nervously. "Thank you for taking such good care of Rudo, I don't think people appreciate you enough when it comes to being his Mentor," Eishia told him with a smile.
Zanka smiled back sadly.
"Thank you Eishia but I should have been stronger and no one would have gotten hurt," He mumbled clenching the white sheets with tears threatening to spill.
'I'm so goddamn useless I got stabbed by a beast and I almost got kidnapped by that freak Jabber' Was what Zanka was thinking.
"Zanka, I don't think a single person here except Corvus could of handled that better, Enjin and Riyo didn't even notice Rudo was in endanger but you did, and you saved him," She explained gently sitting next to him and gave him a head pat.
"Eishia," Zanka started but the words died in his throat.
"I'm not a fighter and never want to be, but I would be very glad to have someone who cares so much about his team like you. I know you keep thinking you aren't enough because you end up here, but that's because you're protecting those you love taking the hurt for them," She smiled brightly, "and that's a great gift most people aren't capable of,"
She grabbed his hands gently unfurling them from the sheets.
"You are so much stronger than you realize," Zanka hugged her without warning.
"Thank you Eishia, you really are the sweetest person I've ever met," Zanka told her while she had a slight laugh.
"Thank you, and I'm always here to talk, it'll stay private, you're not a burden or useless Zanka,"
After that Zanka went to Eishia whenever he realized he was spiraling and together his mental health improved greatly with Eishia's expertise in psychology.
After a few weeks
"Zanka, if you see Jabber I want you to just run, don't fight him," Enjin had told him at one point while the two were going out to grab something while Riyo tagged along as extra security.
"But Enjin I can fight!" Zanka responded his pride hurt by the fact Enjin thinks Zanka couldn't handle Jabber.
"Zanka, I know you can fight him and can probably beat him one day, but Jabber tried kidnapping you twice now, I'm not risking that so no fighting him," Enjin was stern as he said this and Zanka looked away still hurt and suddenly felt the other pat his head.
"I know your strong fighter, I wouldn't have lasted as long as you did," it was a slight lie but Zanka felt better until he felt a chill up his spine. He instinctively put his hand where Jabber bite his neck, he glanced around but didn't see the other.
Jabber was watching from the shadows and almost went down to slice Enjin's wrist off when he patted Zanka. Jabber quickly calmed down telling himself he just needed to gather info.
"Zanka. Rudo, and I are going to go to Canvas town if you want to join, I doubt Jabber can get in because of the barrier," Riyo offered to the other knowing he probably felt like he was suffocating at the headquarters.
"Sounds fun I'll join," Zanka responded with a genuine smile and laugh.
Jabber almost fell off the damn building from Zankas smile. It was a lot nicer than his tweaking out smile, Jabber eventually decided with a blush all though both were good in his head.
Even better news since he knew where they would be tomorrow and maybe could get a smile from him as well.