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Zanka was recovering from the last fight that he had with Jabber inside the giant trash beast, he was alone in the infirmary looking down at his lap thinking about the fight repeatedly. He didn’t understand where everything went wrong during the fight, he was retracing it and what he could have done better during the fight with Jabber. He decided to let it ago by cursing at himself, he felt a bit down that he even lost to someone like him again but at the end he just accepts it, and he was sure that next time, he would beat the shit out of Jabber.
Zanka looked out the window to see it was dark and he needed to rest, all he was doing was thinking about that fight that had happened between Jabber and him, but he couldn’t get his mind to function right ever since it happened. It was eating him up, but he wondered if it was the actual fight that was eating him up or the dread head himself.
He groaned and was about to lay down to head to sleep until he heard his chocker ringing making him raise an eyebrow and sat back up wondering who was calling him at this hour. Zanka touched his choker to hear who it was and there was silence for a second before he let out a ‘hello’ to see who was on the other side.
“Mr. Bad Attitude…”
Zanka’s eyes widen slowly, frozen in place when hearing the familiar voice. He then heard the small giggles coming from his chocker after. It was like the universe was punishing him for thinking about the man that led him to the infirmary room for many days, he knew he should have just let it go. It then made him wonder when they exchanged blood on each other’s chokers. But the whole fight was bloody, so he wasn’t surprised that some of their blood landed on the chokers.
“I know you’re there.” He heard him sing quietly, Zanka frowned instantly.
Zanka took a deep breath before responding to the annoying man on the other side, “Why are you calling me! You piece of shit, you have some balls to be calling me!” Zanka angrily exclaimed, but in a hush voice to not wake anyone up in the headquarters. He didn’t want anyone passing by hearing that he was speaking to the enemy.
He heard soft laughter at first which made a vein pop out of his forehead when hearing the giggle. “I wanted to see if it worked after all the blood at was thrown around! It was fun while it lasted! Haha, don’t tell me you’re all grumpy!”
“Son of a bitch! I’ve been out of commission since the fight! I should rip your throat out!” Zanka exclaimed angrily but he was still quiet and all he heard was laughter on the other end. “Wow, that sounds like fun!” Jabber replied, voice clearly getting pleasure off what was happening.
Zanka could never win against this insane man, why was he even trying to. Everything that he said Jabber found it amusing and just teased the other. Zanka was too tired to be dealing with someone like this right now.
There was silence for a second from both ends, until Jabber broke it.
“How are you feeling?”
The blonde’s eyes widened once more at the sudden change of tone; it was soft and quiet. Not like his usual loud whiny one that he always uses to taunt him. It made the blonde stomach feel weird when hearing the soft tone. Has Jabber ever used a voice like that since they met? Zanka doesn’t think so, or maybe he wasn’t paying attention. Maybe it was a trick to get Zanka off balanced and fall of the masochist’s tactics.
“What?” He questioned, voice clearly toned to be disgusted but for some reason it wasn’t coming out like that.
There was silence on the other end then soft breathing, “You know, the venom. Pretty sure you aren’t feeling it anymore. How you feeling?” Jabber asked, in the same soft tone. It caused Zanka’s brain to malfunction, not understanding what was happening and if this was a dream that he needed to wake up from. This must be some sort of prank.
“I’m…feeling fine.” Zanka responded with a whisper, unsure in his voice, wondering if he just fell into the other’s trap. He had instantly folded just by the soft voice of this insane person, and the blonde mentally cursed at himself. He wondered what was going on through Jabber’s mind when he asked what he did. Was he lonely? He probably needed someone to speak to, just like Zanka did.
Maybe they both just wanted someone to talk to.
“You know…” Jabber continued with his soft tone, almost a whisper. “…fighting you is exhilarating for me. I don’t know what it is, but every other raider doesn’t make me feel like you do. I don’t even know what to call this.” Jabber confessed with a nervous chuckle, it was like a love confession towards Zanka, in the most fucked up way. This soft version of Jabber was maybe the cause of how late it was at night. Usually, many people get emotional at night.
Zanka’s heart started to accelerate when hearing what Jabber had to say, even if it wasn’t a love confession directly. Zanka knew what Jabber meant and he himself didn’t know what to call what they had. Did Zanka even like the guy? He knew it was fucked up, the raider hurt his friends and hurt him, but he didn’t care about himself, he cared about his family, the cleaners. Would the cleaners think Zanka was insane and hate him for even talking to Jabber.
Zanka breathed in then out before responding, “A fucked up relationship?” He heard Jabber chuckle which made the blonde’s stomach twist weirdly. “Fucked up alright, but that fits us…right?” The raider responded with an unsure tone, Jabber was clearly nervous to hear what the cleaner was going to answer him.
The blonde chuckled softly nodding to no one, as if the other could hear him, “I guess. I don’t know how the cleaners would handle this information. You did hurt Gris a while back and you are part of the raiders.”
“I know. Should I apologize?”
“Why?”
There was silence for a moment.
“Ah, never mind. Sorry for ruining your night with my bullshit.” Jabber’s voice cracked a bit and Zanka’s heart fluttered.
“Wait, what were you going to say!? Don’t back down now, idiot.” Zanka quickly responded and was clearly annoyed that the other was just running away after everything he was saying. Zanka had realized that the raider was bad at feeling compared to his fighting skills. This was the first time that Zanka could hear what the dread head was really feeling and didn’t want to let him go away, he needed to know more.
Jabber sighed, “When we see each other again. Don’t hold back, yeah?” He said instead of talking about his feelings now and Zanka frowned leaning against the bed frame. He was so intrigued by the raider and wanted to know more about him; it was eating him up now. “Can I continue calling you?” Jabber continued before Zanka could respond to his last question.
“Yeah, you can asshole.” Zanka whispered, his cheeks warming up a bit when answering so quickly.
“Ha, don’t die on me before we meet again.”
The blonde chuckled shaking his head a bit, “Don’t plan on it. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
There was silence between the two ends now, a lingering feeling of warmth was in the air. Even if they fully didn’t say what they wanted, they understood one another as if they had known each other for a long time. Maybe they both were just crazy and wanted someone to understand them. They both knew that the next time they saw each other, they would most likely fight, but when fighting they both knew what was underneath.
No matter how much it hurt, it felt good. It was a good kind of pain between the two. That only they understood.