Chapter Text
Zanka had already known that he was his own worst enemy, but this was an all-time low. He was currently slouched over in the back of class, hiding behind his laptop screen while other students scrambled to find a partner for a project that he certainly didn't want to do. This was a chemistry class he was forced to take as a prerequisite, not something he planned on putting THIS much effort into, but this was just his luck. Students finally started to settle back into their seats, Zanka assuming they all already partnered up with their friends. The professor begins to mutter something about students without a partner seeing him after class, as another student walks in, about fifteen minutes late to Zanka's personal nightmare. The tall boy immediately starts scanning the full room for a seat, Zanka notices an almost pink glow to his eyes, but averts his quickly. The boy ends up taking the seat immediately to the left of Zanka, now closer, Zanka takes a better look. He has incredibly long locs, tied in a messy bun atop his head, a few loose locs falling into his face, leading Zanka straight to the two lip rings sitting opposite each other. The boy matches his stare, a wide smile adorning his face. There's no way this guy is actually this happy to be here.
"Heyyyy man, I miss anythin' important?" the guy loudly whispers to Zanka. As soon as Zanka realizes he is speaking to him he replies "um, yeah man, we got a partner project, it's a pretty hefty percent of our grade." watching his eyes. Suddenly, the kid's smile somehow grows wider as he says "damn. well, you have a partner yet?". As Zanka watches him use his tongue to mess with the piercings in his lips, he realizes he might not be so down on his luck after all. Zanka nonchalantly shakes his head, leaning down to whisper a bit quieter "wanna be mine?" he asks. "don't you wanna know my name first?" the boy asks with a shit eating grin. Zanka just rolls his eyes, already tired of this whispering back and forth. He decides to return his attention back to the agitating voice of their professor, who is currently talking about his grueling late work policy. Just as Zanka forgot about his conversation with the stranger next to him, he suddenly feels (and hears) a quick smack to his right arm. He snatches his arm towards him and turns his head to meet wide magenta eyes and a huge smirk. He looks down to the boys ringed fingers, noticing a rubber band suspended between two. This motherfucker just slapped a rubber band on his wrist. Zanka gives him the dirtiest look imaginable, as he whispers "the name is Jabber, don't forget" shooting him a wink and turning back to their professor. What the hell?? He just met the guy. Jabber is suddenly very loudly ripping a piece of paper from his brand-new notebook, all while Zanka is still staring absolute daggers at this freak. Jabber slides over his ripped-up piece of paper and a chewed-up pencil, saying "how bout' you give me your number? for the project of course!". Zanka swears he could see his reflection in this dude's huge ass smile. Zanka grabs the fucked up looking pencil and begrudgingly writes down his phone number, afterwards, writing his name atop it. Sliding the paper back to Jabber, he snatches it up and glances it over. "Zankaaaa, I like the sound of thatttt" Jabber says. Zanka narrows his eyes at him, now turning his head back to the professor, realizing that he just dismissed class. He didn't even remember a single thing said, hopefully it wasn't important.
As Zanka is packing up his stuff, he feels a gentle tap to his shoulder, he glances up, immediately seeing Jabber a bit too close for comfort. Before he can even think about pulling his face away, Jabber talks, finally more than a whisper, "see you around, partner" shooting him a wink and quickly walking out of the lecture hall. Zanka scrunches his eyebrows, trying to figure out what the hell he has just gotten himself into. He concludes that this is something he can worry about later, and begins his walk out of the science building.
Zanka's next two classes aren't as torturous as the first, as he actually enjoys the subject matter and doesn't completely drown out the professors. His final class ends quickly, and he makes his way out of the lecture hall. Taking a big breath of fresh air at surviving his first day of the semester, he begins his walk back to his dorm. He lucked out this year, managing to score a shared dorm with one of his closest friends, Follo. Just as he's thinking of the black-haired boy, his phone rings. He picks up quickly, recognizing the contact photo immediately. Before he can say anything, Follo is loudly speaking to him over the phone, "Heyyyy zan zan, how'd first round of classes go?". Zanka groans loudly, so Follo knows he's rolling his eyes. "They ain't bad I guess, stressful as usual". Follo giggles at his attitude, while Zanka continues "How bout you Follo? make any friends?". Zanka listens as Follo rambles on about some "Fu" who is apparently really weird but super nice. As Zanka listens, he continues his walk to their shared dorm, but suddenly, he sees a familiar figure sitting right outside the doors to the dorm building. Jabber. Jabber hasn't noticed him yet, as he has his headphones in and is distracted by something that is apparently funny on his phone. Zanka decided almost immediately that he will do absolutely anything in his power to avoid another interaction with this freak. But how is he supposed to avoid him when he is stationed right outside his damn dorm? "I'm gonna need to let ya go Follo" he whispers into the phone, scared of Jabber hearing. Follo makes a bunch of confused noises from the other end of the line as Zanka hangs up. Damn it all. Just as he thought today was taking a turn for the better. He decides his best bet is to simply put the hood of his jacket up and speedwalk past Jabber, hoping the man won't even look up from whatever he is giggling at on his phone. He successfully speedwalks through the doors of his dorm building, just as he thinks he's made it, he hears the sound of the automatic doors from behind him. He picks up his pace to the elevators, as someone grabs him by his hood.
"Zankaaaa, baby I KNEW that was you man, what're you doing round here?" Jabber playfully asks, as Zanka is mad as hell removing Jabbers hand from his hood. " THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOIN?? THIS IS MY DORM BUILDING!!" he whisper yells at Jabber. Jabber is immediately enjoying the rage he just ignited, ignoring his tone, he exclaims "no way man, mine too!! You're telling me that me and my favorite partner are neighbors?!" Jabber begins jumping around while cackling and holding onto Zanka's shoulders. Zanka is glancing around at the students staring at Jabber, realizing that this makes it look like he is friends with Jabber. There couldn't be a worse misunderstanding. He immediately grabs Jabbers hands off his own shoulders, shoving them into Jabbers chest. "WE ain't neighbors, we only know each other for this goddamn project, AND THAT'S IT!", Zanka yells and quickly turns to enter his frustratingly slow elevator. Despite being yelled at in public, Jabber follows him into the elevator with an absolutely entertained smile on his face. Zanka angrily turns to him to ask, "The hell are you doin??" as Jabber happily says, "goin' to my dorm! what floor partner?". Zanka rolls his eyes and begrudgingly mutters "six", somehow igniting another flame in Jabbers eyes. "NO FREAKIN WAY!! ME TOO!!" Jabber exclaims.
This is going to be a long ass semester.