Chapter Text
It was so silent during the night in the house. Zanka always loved the silence, he loved it even more after Enjin adopted him, only staying alone in his room for days on end to get the least bit “comfortable” in his new living arrangement. What Enjin didn’t know was that Zanka hasn’t been all that “settled” in, he’s been cutting himself almost constantly in secret with an old box cutter he got from his other foster home. That is beside the point though, Zanka is finally out of his room, in the kitchen probably to finally eat something. He was just in the middle of trying to find a cup of instant noodles or something, not really liking American foods whatsoever.
That was until he heard a noise and looked back as quickly as humanly possible. “何だよ、くそ！?” He yelped, obviously startled, until he saw Enjin standing there, looking at Zanka with confusion, not knowing what he said. “What…?” Zanka just stared at him, he knew that Enjin didn’t understand what he said, barely ever tried to, but it’s not like he cared all that much. “…nothing…” Zanka replied blankly before speaking up again. “You got any cup noodles or anything like that here, I’m hungry…” Zanka murmured quietly as he stepped away from the cabinet that he was looking through and pulled his sleeve a bit down over his hand.
“Oh, uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure I do, kid, if not I can go ask Riyo if she has any in her room, I know how much she likes to keep the shit she likes in her room so nobody else could have it.” Enjin replied with a casual and laidback tone, to which Zanka just nodded a little bit before he looked away and waited. “Ah! Here ya go! It was pushed all the way back.” Enjin said with a slight chuckle as he handed Zanka a ‘cup’o’noodles’. “ありがとうございます...” Zanka whispered quietly, Enjin just looked at him confused again before he nodded awkwardly as he stepped away and let Zanka do his thing. Enjin was just quietly observing the boy as he tried to silently think of ways to communicate with a boy that he’s barely even seen since he’s been living here. He was going to say something before he just shut himself up and silently watched Zanka, his eyes were more specifically trained on the boy's sleeves that were revealing a bit of his forearm, showing too many cuts for such a small amount of skin, too much to be normal.
“Hey kid.” Enjin said in a slight commanding and firm tone, his demeanor switching up just like that, his laidback demeanor completely gone now. Zanka’s breath hitched lightly before he looked over at Enjin, scared and confused as to why he was all of a sudden all firm and in ‘dad mode’, only ever being downstairs once when Enjin was in ‘dad mode’ only because Riyo wouldn’t clean her room. Enjin immediately noticed when Zanka’s breath hitched but he ignored it for now and walked over to Zanka and just picked him up, almost as he if weighed nothing, and walked out of the kitchen and into the living, dropping Zanka down on the couch before he disappeared into the hallway, leaving a trembling and clearly not mentally stable Zanka alone in the living room. Only coming back after a minute or two with a first aid kit, only seeing now that he fucked up a little bit for just tossing Zanka down on the couch like that, now seeing that Zanka was trembling. “Kid, I’m jus’ gonna bandage up yer arm, anywhere else that I should know about you cuttin’?” Enjin asked with a slight sigh as he gently took a seat beside Zanka on the couch, Zanka kept silent as he quietly pointed to his other arm, to which Enjin just sighed again.
“ごめんなさい…” Zanka whispered quietly, he was trying to make sure that Enjin didn’t hear him, Enjin didn’t say anything much to Zanka’s delight, before he gently lifted Zanka’s sleeve, silently wincing at how much there was on the kids arm, the cuts were all the way up to his shoulder almost, and sprayed some antidisinfectant onto his wounds before wrapping it with the bandages, doing the same to Zanka’s other arm. Zanka then silently rolled his sleeves back down and kept his eyes down on his lap, Enjin was about to say something before Gris walked into the living room, obviously looking tired as fuck before he blinked and looked at Enjin before looking over at Zanka. “What happened?” He questioned with a slight yawn, almost immediately sensing the tension in the room.
“Wha-oh! Uh, nothing too bad, the kid just accidentally hurt himself… sorry if we were a bit loud…” Enjin murmured with a nervous laugh as he looked up at Gris before he stood up from the couch. Gris stood there for a moment before he sighed and nodded a bit as he crossed his arms. “これから食べに行きます...” Zanka murmured quietly as he quietly and quickly stood up and left the living room, making his way back to the kitchen. “…We need to get that kid some therapy… he could use it… everyone in this house could use some…” Gris muttered with a slight sigh as Enjin just nodded in agreement as the two left the living room to go back to their room, leaving Zanka to his own devices in the kitchen, Enjin only praying that Zanka wouldn’t do something stupid to himself.