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Zanka couldn’t believe he was more nervous knowing that was a date than just a huge threat of a possible massacre by Jabber like the last time. The necessity of arranging his hair and clothes was even greater than just trying to not look like he just came out of bed like last time he saw that childish idiot.
Sunrise broke between the buildings of that ruined and abandoned city that seemed to become their date spot or something. Certainly they would be alone there, and no one would annoy them or interrupt them, but it was clearly antihygienic and dangerous. He wouldn’t expect less from Jabber, actually. It was such a detail that he wanted a wide place to play there like a playground.
The good thing was that this time they could see what they were stepping on, unlike the last time when it was all pretty much based on intuition and praying the floor would not give in…
Zanka assumed they would start chasing each other like the last time. Surely. Jabber seemed to over-enjoy that game last time they saw each other. But that meant he was fixing his hair and clothes for absolutely nothing because everything was going to end up a mess from the sweat and the body movement of jumping and fighting.
Still, he wanted to look good. Even if he knew Jabber wouldn't appreciate it the same way other people might.
“Oi! Pretty face with a bad attitude! You look better sweating while chasing me!”
Oh, this bastard…
“JABBER!” Completely embarrassed, he turned to face the other man, who was perched on the edge of one of the buildings, a radiant smile on his lips, mocking him. “Don't you dare to run away again!” Yelled, clenching his fists.
Ignoring the threat, Jabber's laughter echoed throughout the place as he started running through the edge of the building, getting away. Zanka knew that's what he would do; he wasn't even surprised. He groaned exaggeratedly and grabbed Lovely Assistaff, leaning against the wall, just to start running after him.
That's what we actually came here to do, isn't it?
Zanka leapt and climbed through an almost broken rusted metallic balcony to hold onto the edge of the building. To Jabber's surprise, Zanka started to get used to that place really quickly and was able to reach him more easily. The balcony gave in just in time, it crashed against the ground, but no one of them paid attention to that. Zanka skipped and reached the rooftop, Jabber, instead of keeping running straight, turned to the right, following the railing of the rooftop. Zanka jumped over it, and followed him tightly, using his staff to make him trip.
“That's creating!” Yelled Jabber, holding to the railing and Zanka’s wrist when he immediately handed him his arm to hold and avoid falling down in case his hand slipped or didn’t hold onto the railing.
“In love and war, anything goes.” Purred with a malicious smile. “I won” hummed, widening his smile.
“Uhhh… You'll regret it”
“Is that so?”
“I’ll make you regret it” stated, holding to the railing with both hands and climbing to squatting over it comfortably.
“I want to see you trying…” teased.
Jabber grinned. It seemed like Zanka was in a good mood that day. Perhaps he was a morning person, not like him, but still, he liked him with that smile on his face. It looked so good on him.
He liked that mocking tone coming from him. Perhaps it was the primal inner pride demanding him to act like a beast and make him regret immediately, but… taking just a second to admire that smile on his face, it looked so gorgeous… Seeing him feel pride and satisfaction was actually what made him so appealing, to be honest.
Now yes. Time to make him regret.
Zanka stepped back, dubious distrust rising as Jabber’s smile widened with malice. His magenta eyes turned pink, bright and intense and mankira activated. The morning breeze suddenly felt cold. Zanka tensed and prepared to parry the attack, sliding one leg back to steady himself as the impact arrived. He held Lovely Assistaff tightly in his hands, a confident smile playing on his lips, though it quickly vanished as Jabber lunged at him, his claws seeming to gleam in the subtle light of the rising sun.
The impact clanged metallic, echoing through the air, a sharp, painful screech. None of them hesitated or showed a reaction to it. Zanka shoved Jabber aside, leaping back and narrowing his eyes as the staff spun at an abysmal speed, his deep blue eyes blazing with intensity. He halted the spinning motion, pointing it at his opponent in an imposing and ferocious stance. Lovely Assistaff seemed more dangerous with that glare. Launching towards him seemed more risky even.
Jabber seemed to relish the challenge, or at the very least, he seemed determined to take it seriously.
The precise impact of his Vital Instruments echoed through the area with a chilling sound. Then, a treacherous kick sent him flying. Zanka spat out saliva and blood from the impact against the building's edge, his elbows gripping the railing. Slightly disoriented and dizzy, his head spinning, Jabber didn't even bother to let him recover from his disorientation. Zanka had to leap over the railing, using his staff for support, and managed to land a kick to Jabber's torso, knocking him back. Zanka landed on the railing, tense, his eyes wide open, surely didn’t think he would manage to knock him down to the ground. A sudden spark of satisfaction grew within.
Jabber dug his claws into the ground to slide and stop, then glared almost maniacally before launching himself into the air, arms outstretched and claws ready for a brutal slash.
Zanka could only dodge by backing away, which meant falling backward. Jabber's eyes widened at the risky move. Zanka propelled himself against the ruined building to reach the next, then used Lovely Assistaff as a pole vault to reach the following one, it was stable, more than the previous one.
"Okay, that's impressive..." Jabber admitted, chuckling, but not too loudly.
Seeing him fly like that just because of propulsion.
Mankira vanished. For now, he would dedicate himself to chasing him until he caught and immobilised him. Then they would have a real fight. He planned to return the kick to the torso.
It wasn't resentment; it was about returning the attacks.
And he refused to accept that, theoretically, he had landed a more painful blow on Zanka, one that would surely leave his back aching for a couple of days.
“Run while you can, because when I catch you, you'll regret the kick you gave me!” He warned, letting out an almost macabre laugh as he jumped over the railing and impulsively lunged diagonally, grabbing the pole of a lamppost to propel himself and leap over the ruins of a building that had given way who knows how long ago. Looking closely at the layout of the buildings, it was the same area where they had been chasing each other the last time…
Zanka didn't stay there waiting for him to arrive; his steps quickened, running across the top of the building, jumping onto a rooftop, running along the centre of the tiles, several of which broke. He dropped down the cut and open drain; there was stagnant water at the end, it was clogged, but he didn't care much. He used Lovely Assistaff to get out above the greenish water.
He could hear Jabber's footsteps right behind him, so he didn't stay long on the pillar of that building whose roof had given way; he jumped between the pillars, reaching the next one. The building’s rooftop gave in completely the moment he landed on it.
“Shit!”
Hopefully for him he didn't fall over the pointy rubble, his eyes widened, and moved up his head.
“You okay?” Jabber's voice echoed among the roar of the collapsing building, the tiles shattering, and the echo deafening everything around him. Adrenaline surged through his veins, his heart pounding in his ear. He barely could listen to him, still, he nodded, clenching with both arms to Lovely Assistaff.
Jabber was holding himself to the very edge of one of the pillars of the building, and the other hand was holding the interception where Lovely Assistaff decided in two. If Zanka had to bet, he would say he was barely holding onto it, the effort he was making to keep them both hanging at that height was impressive and humiliating at the same time. However, Zanka felt a déjà vú from the last time, when Jabber slipped in the tiles and the drain tube, and almost felt…
“This place is a box of surprises, Huh?”
“You're going to get us killed at the end…” huffed Zanka, rolling his eyes. “You better hang on to that edge”
“Climb on my back, would be easier to get us out here”
“I can't climb from here, I'm literally hanging in the middle of nowhere, I'm going to fall!”
“Don't whine, you idiot with Bad Attitude!”
Zanka frowned.
“Don't call me that!”
“Then climb!”
Zanka focused his gaze, noticing that Jabber's arm, the one that was literally keeping them alive at that moment, was trembling. He realised Jabber needed to hold on with both hands or they would fall. To do that, he needed to let go of the staff, but that would mean letting him fall, and apparently he didn't want to do that. Or at least he was not willing to.
Zanka tensed at the realisation, but held the staff a bit tighter. Looked down it would be fatal for him, not only how massive the fall was, but also the rubble of the building and the dust covering it slowly fading. Zanka swallowed hard, trying to use the wall of the building as momentum to reach his wrist. Jabber lowered his sight to him, the moment he felt the grip in his wrist, he let go of the staff, and returned to grip, holding also Zanka's wrist.
Zanka, then, held Lovely Assistaff with his mouth, and held to his arm, over his hand, almost his elbow, and then his shoulder. He could feel his whole body tense, and shuddering out of adrenaline pounding in his body. Finally managed to surround Jabber's waist with his legs, and his arms surrounding his neck. Once he was holding his staff with his hand again, he started panting from exhaustion. The effort had been so massive that he was barely able to do anything else.
“You good?” heard from Jabber when he was holding with both his hands to the pillar.
“That was… shit… I hate you so much…”
A chuckle escaped Jabber's lips, who started moving to one side, stretching his arms to grab into the edge of the next pillar, trying to reach solid ground by surrounding the building.
“My pleasure is saving your life, then…” Zanka didn’t say anything, just rolled his eyes at those sarcastic words, tightening the grip around his neck, not to choke him, he was not stupid, they would surely die if Jabber let go. “Don't worry, I'll be making the effort now. Just don't let go…”
He nimbly moved along the edges of the building and grabbed onto the next pillar until he reached a floor slab to which, using only his fingertips, he was able to grasp the railing. Then keep climbing, clinging tightly to literal vertical frozen metal tiny bars of the railing, until he reached the thicker horizontal edge of the railing, and passed over it. Finally reaching solid ground.
Zanka could hear him gasping, his breathing was heavy and deep, the movement of his body intense, and he crouched on the ground, letting him go, sitting on the roof, then turned back, and sat down, crossing his legs in front of him.
“What an experience!” He chuckled
“I almost got myself killed” huffed Zanka, rolling his eyes.
“But you didn't” Jabber waved his hand.
Zanka's dark blue eyes focused on Jabber's hand, the fingertips were red, and he could see little marks, tiny wounds, barely bleeding, if the effort and the weight he had to carry through those uneasy and unsteady places. The pillars had a lot of pointy cuts from the metal of the building that strongly supported the house or whatever it was before the abandonment and collapse. His palms also had those same marks. Zanka reached his hand, seeing how serious the tiny wounds were… not much, luckily.
“No need to worry about it…” started Jabber. “You would have ended up worse if you had fallen over the debris and the metallic surface. Lucky you, I was following you tightly.”
Zanka pressed his lips, and moved the rings, his eyes opened wide when he saw that the rings had left pointy and deep cuts on his fingers. Jabber bit his inner flesh on the mouth, and turned his head aside when Zanka started revising one by one all his fingers.
“You, idiot! You could have lost your fingers!” Scolded Zanka.
“You could have died!” Responded Jabber plainly, then lowered his eyes to his fingers.
Not all the wounds were as deep, some of the rings had buried less on his flesh. The pain was the same in his hands, he could barely feel them, actually, but he didn't care. He enjoyed that pain quite a bit, it was satisfying.
Having saved Zanka was satisfying.
“I’m sorry…” Zanka was surprised by that sudden apology. “I wanted to avoid you getting hurt…”
“You're an idiot”
“Your idiot”
Zanka was about to reply with an automatic line, but words got trapped on his throat, and blushed. He slowly shook his head.
They hadn't even done anything official to make him say that!
“Let's get out of here. I'm going to heal you…” He stood up, grabbing Jabber's wrist to pull him up and down the building to get out of that area. “Hopefully, we will reach the city before noon… I know someone that—”
“Zan-Zan…”
“What?”
“I’m a Raider” reminded him. For a moment Zanka stopped breathing, and bit his lip. Perhaps that old crazy woman would refuse to heal him if she realised who Jabber was. “Don't worry…” shook his head, looking at his palms, pulling off the rings slowly, his fingers had reddened lines where the edge of the rings had been. He was not bleeding, hopefully. “I’ll have to take them off for a while… No fights in one season…” he chuckled.
“Let's go clean it anyway. If it gets infected, you seriously could lose your fingers…”
Jabber sighed, defeated, and nodded slowly. Zanka didn't let go of his wrist until they got out of all that chaos of collapsed buildings and reached an area much less ruined. What made him tense was Jabber confiding in Mankira, handing him the rings to hold while he cleaned his hands and the small puncture wounds on his fingertips. The simple movement of his hands made him grimace, which gave evidence that it hurt him badly, but he was trying to pretend it didn't.
Zanka lowered his eyes to the rings, they were weightier than normal rings, like the were small Jabber constantly wore weights that might have held him back, but in reality, they greatly enhanced his strength. Would he hit harder and faster without those rings?
“Are you satisfied now?” Zanka woke up from his reverie, looking up.
“Now I should find bandages…” muttered with a sigh, Jabber stood before him, ran his fingers through his hair, and held his cheek. His hand was wet, and cold, it made Zanka flinch. “What?”
“Can I kiss you?”
Zanka winced and blinked a few times, raising his brows. He should get used to it. Bit his lip to contain a smile.
“I guess…” whispered, still holding his rings, making fists with them, and surrounding his body in a tender embrace.
Jabber kissed him, a subtle gesture, and slid his fingers through his hair again, sliding his hand to his neck, then on his shoulder.
“You kinda look cute when you're not frowning.” Zanka immediately frowned, then twisted his lip. “Nooooou…” purred with a childish tone of voice. “Why the frown? I didn't say anything wrong! Smiiiiiiiiiile…” slid his fingers and caressed his cheeks, trying to draw a smile on his face. “Smile, handsome, smile~”
Zanka blushed softly, turning his eyes aside, the movement was not painful at all, indeed, it made him feel considerably hilarious, and pulled his hands off his face. Shook his head slowly, grinning delicately.
“I’ll go get bandages…” He glanced at his hands, then sighed heavily, tightening his grip on the cane. “I’ll be back…”
“Fine…” he sighed, defeated, and sat on the edge of a rock next to the water where he cleaned his hands. “Oi!” called.
Zanka turned back to him.
“You look better when you’re worried than when you’re all sweaty…” Zanka blinked a few times, then rolled his eyes and shook his head, resuming his steps. “I saw you smiling!” Exclaimed Jabber with a wide smile on his face.
“Fuck you, Jabber!” yelled Zanka without turning back.
Zanka returned almost twenty minutes later, and judging by the angry and frustrated expression on his face, he'd probably argued with whoever had given him a whole roll of bandages. Jabber was idly watching the people passing by in that area slightly further from the city centre. Since it was nearing noon, there were more people than usual; if anyone pointed him out, the other Cleaners would be quick to appear and kick him in the ass, which would only make the situation more unfair given his inability to use...
He looked down at his hands. Zanka had taken Mankira.
"I'm back..."
"Mankira..."
"You can't wear it anyway..." he muttered as he unwrapped the roll of bandages. "First I'll disinfect your wounds and bandage them, then I'll give it back."
"You don't want to make sure I don't do anything to you, do you?"
"You can't do anything, can you?"
Jabber twisted into a malicious smile.
“Stop turning the questions back to me” Zanka chuckled, which made Jabber draw a wide smile on his lips.
Before he could say anything, he let out a slightly satisfied groan at the sting of his finger wounds. After cleaning them, Zanka began bandaging his hand.
"Now, besides taking Mankira away from me, you've left me vulnerable."
"I didn't do any such thing… Plus, Lovely Assistaff is just at your side, I’m vulnerable too.” Jabber moved his head, realising he did actually leave his staff there. “I'm just trying to keep the wounds clean... And with how close you are to poisons and chemicals all the time, who can trust that you won't get it on your wounds?"
Jabber was about to retort, but ended up closing his mouth and rolling his eyes. Maybe he would have experimented with it, but that didn’t mean anything, was a supposition— a real one, actually. When Zanka finished bandaging his hands, he returned the rings.
"Will you be able to get back on your own?" asked Zanka with a concerned voice while grabbing Lovely Assistaff again.
"Why? Are you worried about me?"
Zanka grimaced at how obvious it was, then snorted, slowly shaking his head. Jabber was exasperating, much more so than usual, but he supposed that was how he was when he was calm and didn't want to kill anyone— him, specifically.
Frankly, he preferred him when he acted that way. Jabber put away the rings in a pocket and with a swift movement grabbed Zanka's staff right in his hand, pulling it closer to his body and around his neck. He knew perfectly well that, just like last time, Zanka wouldn't let go of Lovely Assistaff for anything in the world. A smile played on his lips as Zanka gently slammed against his chest due to the sudden movement.
Zanka's eyes widened, and he blinked a few times, staring at him intently, their lips barely parted. He felt his presence almost against him, and instinctively licked his lips— it was an automatic, sudden gesture. Jabber seemed to understand the apparent and obvious hint, so he leaned closer and pressed his lips to Zanka's.
Zanka responded immediately, tightening the grip, holding to Lovely Assistaff with just one hand, and the other clenched onto Jabber’s dreadlocks. Not pulling them, just keeping him close to his mouth, deepening the kiss.
When they separated, they were only a few centimetres apart again, but this time, between the tension and the sudden nervousness, a smile spread across Zanka's face.
"You're driving me crazy."
"In a good way?"
Zanka let out a laugh against his shoulder. Jabber's smile widened, and he hugged him tightly. It was a yes; it had to be, judging by the reaction.
“The best way ever, dumbass…”
“Good to know, Mr. Bad Attitude”
Zanka bit his lip. Gosh… He couldn’t fall for that nickname. He refused to accept it as part of the sort of relationship they were seemingly developing.
“I should go back…” muttered Zanka.
“Awwww… Funkiller”
“It was an early morning date…” Zanka looked up to the sky. “It’s noon already.”
“Fine, fine… Next time I’ll ask for a full-time date”
Zanka chuckled.
“Sounds good… But it looks more like a relationship…”
“Would you like that?”
Zanka remained silent for a few seconds, but a smile spread across his face and raised his eyebrows. For a moment Jabber considered a negative response, but the smile made him distrust.
“Perhaps…” winked.
At that response, Jabber let go of Lovely Assistaff, his eyes widening, as Zanka spun around on his toes to retreat back to the Cleaners' base.
"What does that mean?" he asked aloud.
"You're cunning enough to know," he replied, turning to face him with a sly smile before continuing on his way, leaving Jabber standing there, eyes wide and a beaming grin on his face.
"I love him..." he muttered to himself, also leaving before panic could set in if he got recognised.
Zanka moved his head back, Jabber had already disappeared, leaving to not be recognised. He didn't listen to that whisper coming from Jabber, but still it felt like it, judging by the indelible smile on his face.
“I can't believe I actually fell for this idiot…” sighed.
FIN