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It was a long day for Zanka. Fighting trash beasts and some other missions in the cities nearby, like getting Semiu her magazines…
He was looking forward to a good night‘s rest to continue his training early tomorrow to finish where he left off. Zanka flopped down on his bed, but he can’t sleep yet. He’s got a routine of doing lovely assistaffs maintenance before hitting the hay.
After thoroughly wiping her down, redoing her warps, and doing some waxing to make her look extra shiny for tomorrow, Zanka can finally close his eyes. He immediately drifts off to sleep after his head hits the pillow.
————————
tap tap tap
„…“
knock knock
Man who could this be at the crack of dawn..I must be imagining things.
Thud thud THUD
CRASH
Zanka jolts up in his bed and for a second doesn’t know what happened.
„Upsy daisy…“
His head turns abruptly towards the window where the familiar raspy voice came from. His eyes widen in shock at what he finds to his right side. Jabber fucking Wonger is outside his window. No idea how he managed that since Zanka‘s room isn’t on ground level. But it’s Jabber, so what else is there left to ponder over?
Anyways.
Jabber slammed his fist through Zanka’s window. Through his fucking window.
„This must be a bad dream.“ Zanka lies back in his bed and closes his eyes, trying to get back into the dream, but all he hears is laughter from his window.
„Not a dream Zan-Zan. Now get up!“ Jabber said.
„You’ve got to be kidding me…“ Zanka says realizing it really isn’t a dream.
Jabber just smiles broadly at him and shakes out his hand, which is bleeding a little from the glass cuts.
„You just slammed in my window, Jabber.“
„Well, it couldn’t be helped. Ya didn’t hear my knocks before,“ Jabber counters, still with a wide grin plastered on his face.
„For starters, ya could have not climbed up to my window in the first place…“
„It’s an emergency though, Zan-Zan,“ Jabber pleads. Not very convincing considering his smile and calm aura. Not making it believable there’s an emergency.
„What could possibly be so important for ya to come to me at...,“ Zanka checked the time. „…3am?“
„A fight, of course, my dear Zan-Zan.“
„I’m not fighting you tonight, Jabber.“ Zanka answers tiredly. However, Jabber won’t let it go so easily. He is sure.
And he was right. Jabber, who opened his window since he can reach the lock through the big fat hole in the glass, climbs quickly through it and closes it behind him, which won’t do much considering the damage he did. Jabber jumps over to Zanka on his bed. Zanka rubs at his eyes, getting rid of his last sleepiness, preparing for a long night since arguing with Jabber about how he needs his 8 hours of sleep won’t get him anywhere. Zanka knows that much.
„Pretty pretty please, Zan-Zan. No one of the raiders wanted to fight me.“
That piques Zanka‘s interest. Jabber wouldn’t search for a fight with someone who wasn’t Zanka, right? Maybe because it was in the night, Zanka thinks to himself. But who is he kidding? Jabber always comes to him, not even considering the time or place. Zanka knows that since Jabber is currently sitting on his bed making himself at home in the Cleaners HQ at the crack of dawn. Which, by the way, isn’t the first time this happened.
Zanka must have started to pout a little since Jabber leans closer to Zanka’s face to examine his expression. Which must be hilarious to him since Jabber starts cackling like a crazy guy. Which he totally is.
„Are ya…perhaps…perchance…a lil jealous, Zan-Zan?“ Jabber asks him directly.
That pulls Zanka out of his head, and he blushes a little. He tries to hide this by looking to the side even though it is dark in his room and Jabber most likely wouldn’t see his reddened cheeks and ears. But better be cautious with that guy. Who knows what kind of night sight geniuses like Jabber have going on.
„Why would I be jealous?“ Zanka asks the intruder.
„Well…just the feeling I got based on ya very interestin’ facial expression, Mr. Bad attitude.“ Jabber says while grinning from ear to ear, „I could be totally wrong tho…happens to the best of guys sometimes, amiright, Zankaa?“
„I’m telling you I’m not jealous. Never was. Never will be. Especially not if it involves ya, Jabber.“ Zanka states.
„If ya say so, my friend, my guy, my man.“
They both just stare at each other for a moment. A cold breeze came through his window with its now shattered glass.
How should he explain the window to Enjin tomorrow? Zanka thinks to himself.
„So anyways...“ Jabber brings him back to the moment. He is digging in his pant pockets, which look like they could be fucking Mary Poppin‘s bag considering the amount of stuff he digs out of the small pockets.
„Like Mary Poppin‘s…“ Zanka speaks out loud, which makes Jabber stop in his tracks.
„Who’s that? Is he cool and strong?“ he asks Zanka.
„Ehhh, sure, yeah, super cool...“ Zanka says, not very convinced, but Jabber still takes his word as granted.
„Fuck yeah, I’m like Mary Poppin’s!“ he exclaims.
He continues to throw the random stuff to the side on Zanka’s bedroom floor. From some trash, probably from old snack packages, to paper notes, which, who knows, have what written on them.
The thought, He better clean up his shit before he leaves, flies through Zanka’s head.
„AHA,“ Jabber exclaims, which makes Zanka flinch, and his hand shoots to lovely assistaff leaning against the wall beside his bed. But he lets her sit there once he gets a look at what Jabber was searching for in his pockets in the first place.
„A card game...?“ Zanka speaks his question out loud, not being sure what this is supposed to mean.
„Yes, I found this today, and the other raiders didn't wanna play with me. A real tragedy for real, isn’t it, Zan-Zan?“ Jabber said while pouting at him playfully.
„So you came to the cleaner HQ, climbed up to my window, then slammed said window to…play cards with me?“ Zanka is in utter disbelief. But once again it’s Jabber we are talking about, so he really should be used to his shenanigans by now, shouldn’t he?
„Exactlyyy! Knew you would understand that, Zan-Zan. So let’s fight now, lemme shuffle the cards,“ Jabber says, the last part more to himself than to Zanka.
He fidgets with the box and tries to get the cards out. One of them is reopening his wound, though, and some blood drops onto Zanka’s *new bedsheets*. Zanka just sighs, opens his bedside table, and gets out a bandaid. To be exact, 3 bandaids, one for each cut Jabber got from the glass shards. He takes Jabber‘s hands into his and patches up the cuts. Noticing how Manikra is shining in the dim lighting.
Jabber must have a routine of caring for her like I do with lovely assistaff.
Jabber just stares at him, then back at their conjoined hands, and then at the bandaids. Zanka prepares to be made fun of already.
„Zan-Zan got Hello Kitty bandaids…interestin’ heh.“ Jabber says mockingly.
„Riyo gave me these, I don’t have any other ones...“ Zanka replies.
After Zanka finished patching Jabber up, he tried to get another look at the card box to know what game it even was he should “fight“ Jabber in. Turns out it’s Uno.
Jabber surprisingly shuffles the cards like a pro. Well, maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. It’s just another skill of this genius. But he likes to believe it only works that well because of his bandaids.
„Ya know how to play, right, Zankaaa?“ Jabber says, looking proud at himself after convincing Zanka to give in to his demands.
„Well, duh, it’s Uno. Everyone knows how to play that.“
Jabber grins, probably looking forward to their card fight like he does with all their fights.
Zanka looks at the cards Jabber gave him and tries to contain his poker face. It looks promising having two +4 cards.
He quickly averts his eyes to look at Jabber‘s expressions, but he is still smiling, so Zanka can’t really tell if he got good cards or bad ones. He sure is a master at poker faces without trying to be. Zanka is sure his +4 cards can wipe that shit-eating grin off of his face. Zanka can’t suppress the slight tuck on the corner of his mouth at this thought. Jabber catches that immediately and tries to get a look at Zanka’s cards.
„HEY, NO CHEATING,“ Zanka screams. Quickly realizing he should not be that loud at 3:15am with his teammates sleeping behind the thin, thin walls of his room.
Jabber lifts his arms in a surrendering motion to show Zanka he will play fair and square.
„Okay, okay, my friend, I won’t try to look again.“
„Good. Then bring it on, Jabber,“ Zanka says and looks expectantly towards the intruder on his bed. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he kind of likes Uno. His siblings and he always played it when he was still really young. Jabber brings out his first card, and the game starts. Well, can’t be reminiscing of the past for now. I gotta win this.
Nothing major happens for the first half of the game. It seems they both want to leave their good cards for the end, but soon someone has to make the first move. And this someone seems to be Zanka. He lays down his first +4 card and looks at Jabber challengingly.
Jabber just giggles and puts another +4 card. „Heh, Zan-Zan, it seems like ’m just too good at this game now pull eight cards, ya loserrr,“ he says.
„Don’t come to hasty conclusions. I still got some good cards up my sleeve.“ Zanka counters and puts down his last +4 card.
Jabber looks at him stunned.
„Wow, I knew ya had it in ya, Zankaaa.“
His hand moves towards the card stack that lies in the middle of the two, and Zanka starts to smile victoriously.
However, in the last moment, Jabber retrieves his hand and quickly swipes another +4 card at Zanka and laughs happily into Zanka’s face.
Zanka looks utterly defeated. All of his dignity stripped. He quickly pulls his 16 cards. Nothing too good among them, beside a +2 one, which he lays on the stack directly to give Jabber at least a little bit of his own medicine back. But that doesn’t stop Jabber‘s victorious smile.
Zanka has 19 cards now, and Jabber has 4. He shouldn’t give up yet, but he knows it’s a bit one-sided. Zanka just can’t get rid of his cards fast enough to secure the win. Jabber lays down his last card.
„UNOOOO,“ Jabber singsong screams, getting off the bed and starting to dance.
Zanka should feel utterly defeated since he lost to Jabber, but the guy is currently performing such a silly dance that it makes Zanka forget about his loss, and he finds himself laughing out loud. This makes Jabber stop dead in his tracks, and he jumps onto the bed and crawls towards Zanka.
„I made ya laugh! I didn’t know you could laugh like that, Zan-Zan, heh,“ Jabber says with a soft smile on his lips.
This makes Zanka blush a little, and he tries to hide it once again, for sure not fast enough though. With their eyes acclimated to the dark, Jabber must have seen his pink cheeks. However, he doesn’t comment on it.
„Rematch?“ he just asks, and Zanka nods.
————————
Zanka wakes up but can’t see anything. Something soft is lying on top of his eyes. He quickly strips it off of him and examines what it could be.
This can’t be. How even...? he thinks.
Jabber fucking Wonger is lying beside him, or, to describe it better, is lying half on top of Zanka. His dreads were lying all around Zanka and him, and it was one of the dreads that blocked Zanka’s view beforehand.
Jabber is snoring quietly, and Zanka inspects his face. It looks so different when Jabber is relaxed and isn’t smiling menacingly for once. Not that that’s bad. Zanka definitely doesn’t like Jabber‘s smiles, especially not when they are directed towards him. Nuh uh, no way.
Anyways.
They most likely have fallen asleep at one point after numerous games of Uno. To be honest, Zanka doesn’t really remember how many matches they even had in the end. The cards were still scattered on the bed beside their bodies, some lying on the floor.
Jabber is slowly starting to stir beside him, and Zanka tries to avert his eyes fast enough to not look like a creepy guy staring at people while they sleep.
„I know ya were staring at me,“ Jabber states while stretching and rubbing at his eyes to get the sleep out.
„I didn’t...“ Zanka counters but with no real bite behind since he knows that Jabber won’t believe him anyways.
„Man, that was a good fight yesterday, Zan-Zan. So good I even passed out in the cleaner‘s HQ.“ Jabber says while looking down at Zanka, you could say in an almost loving way if Zanka didn’t know any better.
They continued to talk a bit about the game from last night and had some different opinions on how it ended and who won most matches. They even were so engrossed in their conversation that they missed the hurried footsteps outside of Zanka’s door.
I should have sent him home right after waking up, Zanka thought when he saw the door handle moving in the corner of his eyes and Riyo bursting into his room with Rudo right behind her.
„Zanka you should get ready. We got a new...“ Riyo started. „Mission,“ Rudo continued her sentence and bumped into her since she was frozen at the doorframe of Zanka’s room.
„IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE,“ Zanka immediately screamed at his two teammates. Jabber was making it hard for the two of them to believe the words coming out of Zanka’s mouth, though, since he was lying beside Zanka, a hand decorated with the Hello Kitty bandaids draped over the latter‘s torso, smiling from ear to ear, and looking as chill as ever.
„Well, it sure does look like what I think it is. Also are these the bandaids I gave you?“ Riyo asks. Rudo behind her was looking shocked at the sight before him. He started searching for things to turn into a vital instrument to fight off Jabber, it seemed.
„WE WERE JUST PLAYING UNO!“ Zanka pointed towards the cards lying around him and Jabber, not only on the bed but also on the floor.
„Yes, yes, Zan-Zan is really bad at Uno, would y’all believe that?“ Jabber said mockingly.
„Who was playing Uno?“ Came a voice from the corridor. Enjin‘s head peeked into the room smiling, seemingly in a good mood this morning, having come from the direction of Gris’s room. However, his face twisted into an expression no one could really decipher.
„JABBER WONGER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN ZANKA‘S BED… WITH ZANKA BESIDE YOU?!“ Enjin started questioning.
„QUICK WINDOW NOW,“ Zanka said while turning to Jabber. Jabber was almost jumping towards the window and then out, but before he was gone from view, he said, „Gimme my cards back next time we see each other, Zan-Zan. Maybe ya can beat me sometimes,“ while winking.
Zanka was blushing while Riyo was laughing loudly. Rudo started calming down, not actively searching for an object to use as a weapon anymore, while Enjin ran towards the broken window, looking after Jabber, who was running away, jumping happily, and waving.
„So, you’re bad at Uno, huh, Zanka?“ Enjin said, turning back to the kids.
„Man, this was a funny start in to my day,“ Riyo said, whipping tears from her laughing fit away.
„You lost to Jabber Wonger, the raider…in Uno?“ Rudo stated more to himself than to Zanka.
„Someone gotta fix this window, though. I think I don’t even wanna know how that happened,“ Enjin threw into the room.
Zanka just hid his face in his hands and sighed. Everyone slowly left his room to go grab breakfast, talking hectically about the situation they all became witness to just now.
Zanka was getting ready to follow them when he saw all of Jabber‘s things still scattered on his floor.
Man, now I’m left to do the cleanup after all…
He looked at all the random stuff when something caught his eye. Zanka unfurled the crumbled note and read through it.
„To-dos“
•Buy hair oil
No wonder his hair was so soft, Zanka thought.
•Buy sweets
•Go to the market for new poisons
The last point was
•Fight Zan-Zan
with doodles of the two sparring and a little heart drawn next to it.
Zanka’s ears began to go red again. He quickly stuffed the note in his pocket carefully to not crumble the piece of paper anymore than it already was and decided to not think about it too much for now. He decided on cleaning this mess up after his well deserved breakfast, which didn’t go by without a lot of questions and teasing from his teammates…