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It was a rather random question one evening, when Zanka and Enjin were having dinner at the Cleaners headquarters dining hall after the leader just came back from a mission.
The blonde raised an eyebrow at the question.
“Why would you ask that all of the sudden?”
Zanka hesitated. He lowered his face as he clutched his fists, holding on to his vital instrument in his hands tighter. Enjin spotted that reaction and it clicked.
“Ah, I see. You’re still thinking of its name, aren’t you?”
Zanka stiffly nodded. He trusted his mentor to be just as observant as him, or even more. It was a question from Enjin himself days ago that had gone ‘so, have you thought of a name?’
And Zanka had considered carefully and pondered persistently on it for days but still being unsure of the answer, and of himself. He found himself rushing to find his leader when he heard that he had returned to the headquarters even though he still did not have an answer, a name.
After all, if there’s any help or reassurance he needed, his best bet was definitely the older man who was his admiration, his motivation, his inspiration. He tried to hide it all the time, but everyone knew he had an extremely soft spot for Enjin, answering diligently to every call and responding gleefully to every praise from his leader.
So, for starters.
“What does ‘Enjin’ mean?”
And thankfully, Enjin seemed more than glad to help.
“It’s a name from someone I owe a lot to,” the blonde had shown his full attention to the young Giver by placing his cutleries and food down before giving his signature smirk. “From an ancient language, it means ‘someone who connects others’.”
Cobalt eyes widened. Enjin’s smirk widened at the obvious awe from the younger man.
“Did that help?”
And then cobalt blue eyes blinked this time, before Zanka had seemingly caught and contained himself by turning away his face and coughing once, his expression quickly changed to a serious one.
“T-Then,” he then hesitated a little, wondering if he was able to continue that conversation without touching any nerve regarding Enjin’s past. The blonde was still smiling, still nodding for him to continue, so he did. “Do you know how to say ‘partner’ in the same language?”
“Oh, that’s a good one,” wow, did Enjin’s smile just go wider? “If I got it right, it’s ‘Aibou’.”
“Aibou…”
“And, here’s where it gets interesting,” Zanka perked up. It seemed like his mentor was enjoying this conversation as much as Zanka did. The younger Giver mentally gave himself a new errand to go to the library to learn more about this ancient language as much as he could now. “If you play around with the translations and puns, ‘Aibou’ could also mean ‘lovely staff’.”
Cobalt blue eyes widened again. Zanka thought he could see gold; he thought he could see sparks. He could see something. His heart began to soar high up, as if his mind had told him that he had discovered something new, something important, something groundbreaking.
“Guess you found something already, Zanka?” Cobalt eyes blinked again. Zanka could still see the smile on Enjin’s face, this time the smile showing the obvious pride behind.
“Yes,” the answer came quick and firm this time, and Zanka stood up, hands clenching on his treasured staff weapon tighter, before he turned to leave the dining hall. “Thank you, Enjin.”
The blonde waved as the ash-coloured hair retreated, the prideful smile never leaving his face. The kid had just joined the Cleaners and the conversation with uncertainties, but Enjin was certain that Zanka would be alright now.
And no one was prouder than him, when Zanka took out the trash beast in the north ward by himself weeks later, as the latter called for his Lovely Assistaff (his unique expression and high-pitched cries of victory after that kind of scared him though).