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1. Riyo and Rudo
Enjin had tasked Riyo and Rudo with getting Zanka out of bed. They had a mission, standard cleaner stuff but abnormally far way, meaning they had to leave quite early. The problem with early mornings is that Zanka is not a morning person. The teen physically can’t wake up before 6:30, and he can only do that because he trained himself so strictly that it became second nature.
The duo had bemoaned having to be the ones to get Zanka before marching up to his room to drag him out of bed if they had to.
Figuring that he was still in bed, snoring away, Riyo shoved the door open and loudly called “ZANKA!!! TIME TO WAKE UP!!”
But Zanka wasn’t in his bed, he was over by his strangely open window, leaning out it like a weirdo.
He flinched at the intrusion, reeling back and slamming the window, but not without the pair seeing a flash of unmistakable purple fabric. But that couldn’t possibly be right. The owner of that particularly recognisable fabric would never be in their HQ, Zanka would never let him into their HQ. They must’ve been seeing things, that’s their conclusion and their story and they’re sticking with it.
“Anyways, weirdo, we gotta go so get moving!”
“Yeah, we’re all waiting on you dude.”
Zanka shoved them out of his room, exclaiming about how he knew and to give him a sec. He took five minutes to gather his bearings and even out his breathing while he hurriedly changed into his uniform, he knew there was a very likely chance they’d caught a glimpse of Jabber jumping off the ledge. But he also knew they wouldn’t see him if they went looking outside, because he’d definitely already slipped back into the building by way of the medical office’s window. It wasn’t like the others would’ve seen Jabber had they come in ten minutes earlier, they hadn’t spent the night in Zanka’s room. The only way they would’ve been found out is if they had entered mere seconds earlier or if they’d gone to Eishia’s room. Jabber and Eishia had woken Zanka and explained very hurriedly that he had to get back up to his room or the rest of team Akuta would be very concerned to find his bed empty. He and Jabber had scaled the building over to Zanka’s window, Jabber had used Mankira to open the latch and Zanka had gotten in just in time for the door to burst open.
If they asked questions, which he prayed they wouldn’t, he’d simply lie.
2. Semiu
It wouldn’t be correct to say that Semiu didn’t know about Zanka and Eishia’s ‘little’ secret. She definitely did, what she hadn’t known was how lazy they were being when it came to keeping this secret.
She can, with confidence, say that the one time the three jolly weirdos had actually surprised her with their dedication to not being sneaky in the slightest, was when she had been walking through the halls, in the middle of the day mind you, and saw Zanka leaving Eishia’s office and Jabber leaning out the door to steal a kiss before the staff wielder properly left. She’d seen it happen, heard the spritely sound of giddy teenagers laughing about how red Zanka had gotten, and decided to turn away. They weren’t ready for people to know, so for their sake she didn’t know. Though, Semiu was certain that Jabber was aware she knew, Corvus and Shikage too, given that odd, mismatched little gifts keep showing up on her desk addressed to ‘boss-man’, ‘eyes’ and ‘blanket’ and had it been a cleaner they would’ve had the recipients names, as opposed to odd titles and Jinkis or just been given straight to their intended recipient. One of his first gifts to her had been quite the appetising selection of adult magazines, so she wasn’t complaining.
Semiu had, of course, spoken to Shikage and Corvus about this and they decided that if Jabber kept playing nice and staying mostly hidden in his partners rooms, that they didn’t really mind his presence or his gifts. Semiu was certainly enjoying the gifts. That meeting had also made it obvious that Jabber was being invited in and had been the whole time, Shikage’s jinki wouldn’t have allowed it otherwise. Their relationship had to have been going steady for a while for them to be this lenient about keeping it a secret.
Her first proper encounter with the truth happened at three in the morning. Semiu had been unable to sleep, a feeling she couldn’t quite place had been plaguing her for hours, so she got up. She was walking through the halls, not putting any thought into where she was going when she realised that she’d subconsciously walked to the reception area. Jabber was standing at her desk, facing away from her and writing on something. He must’ve known it was her because surely he’d have hidden if it wasn’t.
“Bye, eyes!” She was snapped out of her stupor by his voice, noticing that Jabber had crossed the room and was about the leave.
“My name’s Semiu.”
“Noted. See you later… eyes.”
She may think that Jabber’s a smug little shit but she can tell he’s not actually as bad as some people would want her to believe.
He’d left more presents on her desk, ‘Semiu’ scrawled on one of the tags with a small pair of glasses drawn next to it.
“Little shit.” She muttered with a smile.
3. August
August is a good older brother, or at least he thinks he is. Eishia tells him everything, every bother, stress, secret, all of it! So why was she acting so cagey around him recently?
Eishia thinks August is a great older brother but she also knows she’s not ready to tell him about her relationship yet, it’s hard for her. She’s always told him everything so now that she has something big that she can’t risk getting out to all the cleaners, and potentially damaging her relationship with her brother because he’d feel really guilty about upsetting her, she feels stuck.
On one hand, she wants him to know, on the other, she doesn’t want everyone finding out because her brother can’t keep a secret to save his life.
August has been brainstorming, desperate to figure out what’s causing his sister so much distress. He eventually concludes that going straight up to her and asking was his best option, subtlety is for people with patience anyways!
He opened the door to the medical office with way too much force while screeching for Eishia to come and talk to him. The room was empty… strange, she was usually there treating people or doing a stocktake of her supplies.
August noticed that the door to her office was closed right before he heard a thud, soft like if someone fell while kneeling, and concluded Eishia was in her office before barging in there too. She was at her desk when he entered, which didn’t make sense considering the context clues, in his mind she should’ve been on the floor or only just standing up. But oh well! He finally had a chance to talk to her about her odd behaviours!
“Why are you actin’ soooo strange, sis?!?!?”
She made a short, cut off sound, akin to a squeak. “I’m not.”
“You’re a terrible liar!”
She eyes widened a fraction, she was bad at lying, especially to August. “August please, nows not a good time. We can talk later, I prom…”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep! We both know you won’t come talk to me later, or you would’ve told me whatever it is ages ago!!” He could feel himself getting angry, he hated being angry with her, he hated being angry in general, but she’d been making everything more difficult! He was just trying to understand. And he didn’t understand why she was pushing him away. He didn’t want to be mad at her, so he decided to walk away from this conversation. He’d come back to it later, she could count on that.
Before he left, he leaned over the desk to get closer to her, to voice his own promise as seriously as possible. However, he didn’t get to make his point before he got distracted by movement at the bottom of his vision. It looked like a hand, resting against Eishia’s knee and adorned in many silver rings. He moved his head to get a proper look but the hand was gone and there didn’t seem to even be anybody under the desk. He must’ve been seeing things, she wouldn’t be keeping something like that a secret from him anyways! Surely not, right?
August straightened up, having forgotten his point entirely, shook his head and marched out of the room. He must be losing his mind, especially if his eyes were lying to him.
Eishia released the breathe she’d started holding when August had gotten up into her space. Jabber put his hands against the edge of her chair and pushed it out so that he could get out from under the desk. “That was a bit too close for comfort.” Jabber said after climbing out and stretching, Eishia let her face fall into her hands as Jabber giggled at her despair.
“You don’t think he saw you, right?”
“He might’ve, but will he trust what he might’ve seen enough to go yap bout it?”
“You should’ve just kept your hands under the desk!”
Jabber stuck his tongue out and winked before pressing a kiss to the top of Eishia’s head.
“It’ll be alright” he assures her with a gentle hand on her cheek and the soft tilt of her jaw.
4. Gris and Tomme
Tomme was the first to notice the sudden appearance of the labelled containers in the fridge, she told Gris and they decided to investigate together. The containers were always full of home cooked food when they popped up and labelled with Eishia and Zanka’s names, but neither of them were very good at cooking so something wasn’t adding up.
Gris knew that asking either of them outright wouldn’t bear any fruit, Zanka gets defensive and Eishia freezes up when asked personal questions, so they had to figure out a different way of finding out who was making it and how they were getting there.
Tomme wasn’t sure why she’d agreed to do a steak out with Gris to find out who was leaving food for the teens, but here she was, losing sleep over something so meaningless.
She didn’t think it was that deep or that it required this level of dedication to solve, Eishia and Zanka aren’t allergic to talking and if it’s brought up gently enough neither will react poorly, so why the hell did she agree to this!?
They had been waiting for hours. Gris was losing hope, Tomme wanted to go to bed. She was right about to suggest that they give up for tonight and try again some other time or some other method, when the door creaked open. Both the supporters suddenly whipped around to face the door to see who had walked in, maybe it would be the culprit. Zanka stood in the doorway carrying a bag.
“What are you two doing?” He asked, voice drowning in sleep like he’d just been woken up, he looked it too.
“Nothing, don’t worry about!” Gris was quick to reassure him that everything was alright, “what’re you doing down here so late?”
Zanka blinked slowly has Gris’ seemingly sudden burst of energy. “Just putting these in the fridge, they’ll go bad if they get too warm” he said, motioning to the bag.
The teen slipped more labelled containers into the fridge, Tomme saw her chance and she took it, “say Zanka, where do those containers keep coming from?”
“Oh, a… friend”
Believable.
“What’s this friend’s name?”
That question went unanswered, Zanka’s face visibly darkened as he blushed, the chance had passed. The silence was starting to become awkward, thankfully Eishia walked in and grabbed Zanka’s hand. She started walking back out of the room before she even noticed they were there.
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you two there” she turned back to Zanka to speak to him in a hushed voice “we have to go, Jabs is waiting for us.”
The pair said their goodbyes and departed back up to whichever of their rooms they were spending the night in. Tomme had caught the fact that someone was waiting for them so mystery half solved? There was an involved third party and they’re in the building right now… and no one knows who it is.
That could be a problem, but surely if it’s been going on for as long as the containers would imply then surely Corvus knows.
“Wait… those two are dating?”
“Jabber, we’re back!”
Jabber practically threw himself off Zanka’s bed and rushed over to hug his partners and litter them with kisses, occasionally nibbling their skin just a little. He still didn’t understand why he couldn’t just put the containers of food he spends hours making in the fridge for them, save them the trouble, but oh well, his favourite people were back where they belonged.
5. Enjin
Enjin hadn’t thought that Zanka would ever lock his door, hell, Enjin didnt realise his door had a lock. And yet. It’s locked. And he’s standing in the hallway like an idiot, because Zanka’s door has never been locked and when Enjin comes knocking he always opens it quickly. But he hasn’t, Enjin cant even hear any movement inside that would imply Zanka’s even in there, so he’s at a bit of a loss.
He knocked louder while actively considering kicking the door down or getting Riyo to climb in his window. But he decided against both, if Zanka was truely doing something that would be embarrassing for him, or even both of them, and Enjin didn’t respect his privacy, it could ruin years of trust building. Ultimately, he decided to wait and if Zanka wasn’t up in an hour, he’d come back and try again.
Enjin didn’t go back in an hour, he forgot but when he realised it was midday and Zanka still hadn’t come down, he made the trek back up to the teens room. The door was locked. But there were signs of life, a shifting sound that would imply that someone, or something, was moving inside.
Which was good, he could tick that off the mental checklist. Zanka’s most likely alive, good.
He’s still in his room, bad.
“Zanka, you in there? Haven’t seen ya today, you alright, kid?”
Silence. No shifting, nor shuffling, talking, nothing. Enjin knocked harder.
“C’mon kid, if something upset you, you can talk to me, you know that, right?”
Suddenly something. Far too much something. More movement then one person could possible cause, far too much noise for someone as simplistic and composed as Zanka. It sounded more like multiple bodies, minimum two but Enjin thought at least three. But that didn’t make any sense, why would Zanka ever be in his room with the door locked and with unknown people inside. Something had to be wrong.
“ZANKA IF YOU DONT OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW I AM KNOCKING IT DOWN”
The locked clicked open and Zanka, for the first time all day, left his room. He didn’t open the door fully, solidifying the suspicion that someone was in there with him, potentially multiple people07:49, and closed it the second he was fully out.
“Sorry Enjin, I… slept in.” Zanka said with far too much hesitation before he spat out his excuse, he always had a hard time lying to his mentor. Enjin fixed the boy with a hard stare, before promptly pushing him out of the way and walking into his room. It was empty, extremely messy, but empty. The window was open just a bit, like someone had tried to pull in shut from outside. Enjin was at the window before Zanka could catch up to stop him, and perched on the ledge was a pair of very frightened teenagers. One Eishia Stillza and one Jabber Wonger, clinging to the narrow ledge and each other, wearing clothes that didn’t seem to be theirs.
“As much as I hate inviting your psycho ass into this building, would the two of you please come back inside?”
Enjin allowed the trio and few minutes to straighten out themselves and their story, he was praying they wouldn’t try lying to him cause it would be pointless. Given the situation and all the context he had been provided, he can pretty easily guess what was going on, despite really wishing he couldn’t. After the three of them were ready to talk, implied by their silence, Enjin straightened up from where he’d been leaning on the wall and crossed his arms, waiting for them to talk. They stood there in silence, none of them even making eye contact.
“Ok, guess I’ll start then, how long has this been going on?”
A beat. A shift.
“Bout a year.” Jabber was looking at him, it surprised him that the one person ballsy enough to tell him anything was the one person who shouldn’t feel comfortable enough to talk. But Enjin supposed he didn’t care, as long as he got answers. No one was dead so did it really matter that Jabber was there? He didn’t think so. However, he wasn’t happy with the answer. They’d been keeping with secret for nearly an entire year! God knows how much shit Jabber is aware of that he most definitely shouldn’t be!
“Fuck sake” Enjin was clearly unimpressed, the two cleaners curled in on themselves a little. “Couple of questions for the psycho, are you still a raider? Have they detailed anything classified to you? Is the boss aware you’re here?”
“Not really, no, they haven’t, and yes, him, eyes and blanket are very aware, have been the whole time”
Enjin paused at the fact that Corvus, and Semiu and Shikage as well apparently, had known the whole time and had absolutely nothing to say to him on the matter.
“Well… none of you are dead, or even clearly injured, so that’s a plus. Damn it! The one time either of you rebel and I can’t even really be mad!” He knew himself far too well, he knew that not only would he have done the same thing, but he is doing something very similar. He can’t really fault them for hiding this, he had been dating Gris for two years and very few people knew, but he can fault them for their taste.
“You think you’ll ever join the cleaners, Jabber?”
“Maybe. But it’ll take a ton of convincing.”
This is a massive, frankly terribly situation, but at least they were found out by the handful of easy to bribe people or the one who can’t judge them. Aren’t they lucky.
“Wait, Eishia, does August know?”
She straightened up and looked the closest to terrified he’d ever seen her, Jabber started snickering.
“Not with any concrete belief. He mighta interrupted me interrupting her an’ potentially caught a peak at me.”
Enjin knew she told August everything, the fact that she hadn’t concerned him.
“Eishia, why have you not told your brother about this?”
Two sets of eyes in the room held questions, Jabber held concern and came with a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“I love August, hes a great brother, but he can’t keep a secret to save his life… I didn’t think I could risk it”
Enjin found that explaination sad, it put a bit of a damper on the mood.
“I think you three should come clean, this has gone on in secret long enough.”
They all knew Enjin was right.
+1
For Eishia and Zanka, showing was easier than telling. They decided that they didn’t want to use words to display their relationship, so they landed on a more visual representation of their affections. Zanka swapped out his usual tassel earrings for a pair of pointed purple glass ones. Eishia donned a purple fabric belt, the same fabric that Jabber wore as his belt.
It was subtle but it sent a message. The other cleaners noticed but didnt immediately pick up on the message, couldn’t figure out what the sudden changes meant.
The two of them were content keeping their declaration quiet, but Jabber swore off being quiet a long time ago and he wasn’t about to go back on a promise he made to himself. It was a lovely afternoon and Jabber had spent the better part of the day at a market, then made quite the trek to the cleaner HQ. He bought some sweets and tea leaves, figuring he’d make a overt but welcoming gesture to breach the topic of his presence in their lives. He knew that most of cleaners liked candy and that Corvus enjoyed a good cup of tea, and he might’ve gone a bit overboard with his purchases.
From chocolate to pastries, and the most eclectic varieties of tea he could find, Jabber thought there was plenty, though he wished he could give them things he made himself, the labour of love and all that jazz, but decided against it because they’d probably, and somewhat rightfully, think they were poisoned.
Semiu was at her desk when he walked in, mug in hand, flipping through a magazine. She glanced up when she heard the door and froze when she saw who was standing there.
She’d never known Jabber to show up during the day, be there hidden in Eishia or Zanka’s rooms sure, but not showing up in the middle of the day. She’d also only ever known him to use the door after leaving his bribery gifts on her desk.
“What are you doing here?” Semiu asks, voice a lot more strained than it should be, “it’s the middle of the day and you’re just waltzing in here like no one here wants you dead?”
Jabber shrugged, like the smug bastard he is, and decided he had some questions for her.
“How many people are here right now? And is there like a living room or something?”
Semiu sighed, figuring if she left the boy to his own devices he’d probably get lost, so she lead him to the common room. While they walked there, she told him that team Beauty and team Eager were out and no one had seen any members of team danger for about a week, everyone else should be in the building.
Thankfully, the common room was empty. It was around lunch time so everyone was either eating lunch in the cafeteria or out in the training yard or gym. Both of them counted this as a blessing.
Jabber started laying out everything he’d brought on the table while Semiu called Corvus to tell him to come down just incase anyone tried to get violent.
Corvus and Shikage joined them in the common room five minutes later. Shikage was no exception to the sweet tooth rule and Corvus did like a good cup of tea, so they both chose what they liked from Jabber’s sudo-buffet before sitting down and actually interacting with Jabber for the first time.
They’d both obviously been told about Jabber but everything was being contested by what they were actually seeing. It wasn’t a lie that Jabber had a crazy and dangerous streak, but clearly he also knew how to calm down and have a relaxing time. Their conversation was pleasant but the calm atmosphere didn’t last. Team Child and team Akuta walked in together, the younger members immediately zeroing in on the sugary snacks on the table, while Bro kept his eyes on Dear and Guita, Zanka and Enjin noticed Jabber.
With a firm pat on his back, Enjin pushed Zanka forward, he stumbled, his shock making it hard for him to find his footing. He was broken from his trance by those all too familiar giggles, which also prompted the rest of the room to notice the raiders existence.
Everyone froze at the sound, turning to confirm their suspicions as to who was in the room with them.
“WHY THE HELL IS HE HERE!?!?!”
“HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?!?!”
“YOU CANT BE SERIOUS!! HE’S CRAZY, WE ALL KNOW THAT!!!!”
Bro was a little surprise but it really wasn’t his problem so he turned back to his kids. Dear cared more about the lollipops and getting as much sugar as he could while Rudo was distracted, and Guita thought the outburst was funny but ultimately also stuck with stuffing her face. Riyo and Rudo were pissed. Zanka was embarrassed, Enjin was tired and Jabber was slowly devolving into a fit of laughter.
Eishia walked in with Gris, Tomme and Follo and promptly tried to walk back out again upon seeing Jabber in the common room with her boss and entire team. She nearly smacked directly into Gris trying to escape, the door was blocked by bodies and she couldn’t leave. Enjin decided teasing them was his new favourite activity by reaching over and pull her to stand next to Zanka, whose face was slowly leaving the realm of possibility for redness.
“Way to give away that you have a part in this” Enjin was not shy about making it obvious that he was still mad at them. Rudo fainted.
Once Rudo had woken up and August had joined them in the common room, Zanka and Eishia were pushed to explain the situation, they dragged Jabber along for emotional support.
With all the relevant people present, Zanka started, “Eishia and I have been lying to all of you for a while, for about a year now, actually”
“We’re dating, which some of you know, but what you don’t know is that we’ve been dating Jabber this whole time too” Eishia continued, her voice getting quieter the longer she spoke. August was the first to pipe up with a reaction, “I KNEW A SAW A HAND THAT DAY!” Roughly turning to Jabber he said, “It was yours, wasn’t it? You wear rings! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING UNDER MY SISTERS DESK?!?!?”
Eishia wanted the floor to split open right under her feet and drop her straight down into the core of the planet for the lies she’s spent a year telling.
“Was hiding from you. I broke in, wanted to distract her but then you came in and I couldn’t risk being seen” His voice lacked the usual softness that his partners were use to, like he was challenging someone to vocalise an opinion he disagreed with. No one was ballsy enough to say anything to them, so Riyo turned to Enjin.
“You knew about this and you didn’t make them leave his freak ass or kill him?”
Jabber decided to respond for him, “He ain’t got a leg to stand on, you tryna make him into a hypocrite?” Apparently it was Enjin’s turn to be shocked, because how did Jabber even know about that?
Corvus cleared his throat to get the rooms attention. “Myself, Semiu and Shikage have been aware of their relationship almost the entire time they’ve been together. We been monitoring them and if we had thought, at any moment, that Jabber posed a threat to anyone in this building he would’ve been removed and banned.”
After an hour and the collection of cleaners asking a boat load of questions and eating all the food Jabber bought, they finally allowed the three of them to leave. They were in Zanka’s room now, the door locked and the curtains drawn, Eishia was sitting on the bed with her legs pulled up to her chest and Zanka next to her, while Jabber lay stretched out on the floor.
“Fuck, that was horrible” Zanka exclaimed, “I never want that to happen again”
“Same” Eishia muttered, her voice wet like she was going to cry. Jabber shift, sitting up and moving over to the edge of the bed. He placed a hand on both his partners legs, “It wasn’t great but it coulda gone worse. Look at this way, we aint dead, neither of ya were fired and they don’t totally disapprove of us”
None of them were sure how Jabber, of all people, had become the voice of reason in their relationship, but they supposed it didn’t really matter.
They loved each other and everything felt a lot lighter now that they weren’t hiding that fact.