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Zanka returned from a mission with the team. Zodyl and his brotherhood of raiders attacked an anti-mutant rally once again.
Forcing the X-Cleaners to come in and save the day once again. Only to be called ‘Muties’ and ‘God's greatest mistake’ by the same people they risk their lives to protect.
All Zanka wants to do is crawl up in bed and listen to some music. He had had enough of today already, what it is.
Being a mutant is hard already, but with Zanka's ability, it's even worse. Usually, he tries not to let what those idiots say get to him. But today was different than any other day.
It was the day that his family found out he was a mutant. And poor Zanka could remember the fear and disgust on his parents' faces to this day, even after 9 years.
“We are cursed!” His father yelled, pointing at Zanka like an animal. “I knew the fates were right; you have brought nothing but destruction upon this family!”
His mother, stricken with intense grief, cried on the armchair, covering her face in hurt and shame. Kyouka and Goka stood beside her, offering the support they could as their mother wept.
Zanka held back tears, his arm wrapping tightly around himself. “I’m sorry I didn’t know I-“
“ENOUGH!” His father yelled, silencing him. “I will not stand for a mutant like you to ever stay in this family! You have punished this family with your disobedience and your failures as it is…but this is simply unforgivable.”
Zanka held back a sob in his throat. He never meant for this to happen! He didn’t know this would happen to him out of all people!
“You have no place holding our family title, for you are damned!” His father spat bitterly, his mother wailing harder at her husband and his words. Goka held her shoulder tighter to keep her from falling over herself, and Kyouka tightened her grip on her mother's hand to keep her stable.
No…this can’t be true…
…it can’t be true!
“F-father, please-“ Zanka pleaded desperately. Tears began to fall from his eyes.
“Don’t call me such a thing! You are NO son of mine.” He turned his back, facing away from Zanka. “I want you out of this house by tonight; pack your things. And never come back.”
His father's bitter and cold tone struck deep into Zanka's heart. He looked to his mother and siblings for one last chance…for one word they could speak to defend him. Yet none of them looked in Zanka's direction. His mother firmly kept her face in her hands; Goka refused to look, closing his eyes. And Kyouka just looked down at her and her mother's hand.
…They have abandoned him.
Overwhelming grief, hurt, and deep emotional pain struck Zanka to the core. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. But here it was blatantly right in front of him.
Zanka wept as he got up and headed to his room to pack his things and leave. He didn’t look back once.
The memory stung like a thousand pricks in his mind and heart. It was already hard enough to try and forget that painful memory as it is. But with the added bonus of what happened today, it felt impossible to stop replaying the faces and words within his mind.
He turned his head to the clock beside his nightstand. 8:30 PM.
All he wanted to do was sleep, but the aching hurt in his heart kept his eyes awake and his brain focused.
Zanka turned away from the clock, curled into himself, closing his eyes. Hoping that if he closed them for long enough, maybe he would be granted his first real peace of the day.
And as it slowly seemed to be working, Zanka's mind drifting far deeper, something jolted him back awake.
*TAP TAP*
Zanka's eyebrows furrowed; he squeezed his eyes tighter. Acting as if with enough force the sound would go away completely.
*TAP TAP*
“Hey! Open up!”
Zanka groans and grabs his pillow, placing it over his head. Trying to signal to the man tapping his window that he’s not in the mood. But his actions only pushed the man further.
*BAM BAM BAM*
Zanka groaned again in frustration, having no choice but to get up and open his window.
“What da hell is wrong with ya!” He whispers-yells.
The man giggled, “You were taking too long to come; bad attitude. You know I’m impatient.~”
Zanka grits his teeth, “Go away, Jabber.” He glares at the raider. “I ain’t in da mood.”
Jabber smirked, “When are you ever, Zannie? Now move over, I wanna come inside.”
“You care not comin’ inside!”
Jabber snickers, so immature, my God.
“I mean it, Jabber, go home-HEY!” Jabber just suddenly jumps up from where he was hanging, slipping through his window and forcing himself inside.
“J-Jabber!” Zanka yells.
“Shhh, people are sleeping, Zan-Zan. Have some respect, my man.”
Zanka's jaw dropped; no fucking way he’s getting told about having respect by The Jabber Wonger.
Zanka glares straight at Jabber, fist balling up, “Why-You-YOU!”
Jabber smiles and fall onto Zanka bed, “Woah, did you get a new mattress, this shit feels like I’m laying on a cloud.”
“GET OFF MA BED!”
“Shhh,” Jabber said, putting a finger over his mouth, “you're gonna get us caught.”
“No, imma get YOU caught now, off!” Zanka said, stopping in front of Jabber and pulling his arms, trying to get him to stand up. But Jabber, being Jabber, used his strength to weigh his body down on the bed, making it harder for Zanka to pull him off. “I mean it, Jabber.”
Jabber giggled, seeing an increasingly growing irradiated Zanka trying to pull him off his bed. “Chill, Zan, there's space for two.~”
A small blush appeared on Zanka's face; he hesitated for a second. That little ounce of hesitation was all Jabber needed. He grabbed Zanka's covered wrist, pulling him down onto the bed with him.
“J-Jabber!” Zanka said, flustered, as he tried to sit up in the bed. But Jabber wrapped his arm securely around his waist, keeping him in place.
“Yesss, Zannie.~” Jabber asked, leaning in.
“I-Stop! Yer too close.”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
“You know what's exactly wrong with that!”
“I don’t think I do.”
“…Jabber. What did ya come here fer!”
The raider shrugs, “I wanted to check up on you. You seemed distracted during our fight, acting all boring and shit.”
“Listen here dipshit-“
Jabber continued cutting Zanka off, “Your mind looked to be somewhere else during the whole thing. And after, when those weaklings started talking their shit. You looked all zoned out of it.”
Zanka's expression dropped into something more melancholy. Jabber was right he was distracted, how pathetic, letting a couple of insults get to him like that. I mean, it's been years; Zanka should be over it…right?
“Hey,” Jabber follows Zanka's retreating gaze, “what's wrong?”
“…it nothing.” Zanka lies.
“Bullshit, it's something. You can play all those games you want with your friends but not me.”
Zanka bites his lip; he can feel tears growing in his eyes again. Suddenly, in his mind, all he could hear was the names and slurs being said to him.
“Zanka?”
Zanka covered his face, not wanting the shame of Jabber seeing him cry. “…’ M sorry I jus’…I can’t…”
Jabber runs his hands up and down Zanka's covered arm, trying to comfort him the best he can.
“You don’t gotta apologize, baby.”
“‘M not in the mood fer yer insults.”
Jabber lets out an assumed scoff. “It was a term of endearment, Zan.”
Zanka sniffed, “…whatever.”
Jabber smiles and gently grabs Zanka's gloved hand.
“Don’t-“
“Zan, I saw you in a more embarrassing position. Crying is the least of your worries.”
Zanka scoffed, but allowed Jabber to gently move his gloved hands away from his face.
Zanka stopped, refusing to meet his eyes, his own a little red from the tears growing in there.
“Was it the things they were saying that got you upset?”
“It got eveyone upset, that why Yer boss attacked.
“Yeah, and it would have taught them a lesson if y’all didn’t swing in and save their ungrateful asses.”
A small smirk came on Zanka's face; Jabber could be so ridiculous sometimes. But…to be fair, he was spitting some facts, though.
“…it wasn’t them in particular.”
Jabber raised an eyebrow. “So then what was it?”
“And never come back.”
“…today jus’ a hard day fer me…it always is.” Zanka takes a shaky inhale. “It's the day ma’ former family disowned me…I guess after all these years I still have yet to get over it.”
Zanka wipes a stray tear from his eyes. “I try to keep on forgetting it, but…da memory jus’ keep on haunting me.” Zanka turns his face away from Jabber and sits up slightly in the bed. “I’m sick of it…I’m sick of this. Sometimes I jus’ wish I could jus’ be normal like the next person.”
Jabber sneers, “Are you serious?” He sits up, along with Zanka, tilting his head to catch sight of Zanka's eyes. “You really want to be like the rest of them.”
Zanka turns his head to meet Jabber. “Don’t act like you didn’t think of it once, too.”
“I did.” Jabber admitted, “But then I realized that I’ll be losing myself, and I’ll be betraying who I am to fit in with a society that's already unfair as it is. Sure, as mutants we have problems more than an average human, but that's what makes us who we are.”
“It's easy fer you to say that.” Zanka jeered, “You have control over yer mutation! If ya wanted, you could blend in within society! You can still do things like touchin’ another person and them being able to touch ya back.”
“That may be true, but that still don’t take away the point of what I said. We all been through some shit, Zanka, maybe not to the same extent as yours, but I been through the gutter too. Don’t think you're the only one cause you're hurting right now.”
The room grew silent, neither man knowing what next to say to each other.
“…I’m sorry.” Zanka spoke up, breaking the silence, “I didn’t mean to invalidate Yer experience…I was jus’ so caught up in ma head…and in my memories I thought that maybe if I were…normal, then maybe…” Zanka sighs, not having the strength to finish the sentence.
Yet Jabber understood him perfectly well; he grabbed Zanka's gloved hand, brought it to his lower lip, and placed a kiss. “You're forgiven.”
Zanka smiled,”…sometimes I really wonder why you stick with me.”
“Ain’t it obvious?” Jabber laughed, “I love ya, Zanka.”
“…But I can’t give ya what you deserve…I can’t touch ya, hug ya, or kiss ya.” Zanka closes his eyes, “that another reason why…I wish I could feel you for once.”
Jabber stares at him for a minute, then smiles.
“Then feel me.”
Zanka's eyes shot open and turned to Jabber, confused and scared. “Y-You know I can’t. I’ll kill ya-“
“You won’t,” Jabber said with a teasing smile. He took Zanka's gloved hand and pressed it firmly against his heart.
Ba-dum
Ba-dum
Ba-dum
“You feel that?”
A blush bloomed across Zanka’s cheek; not trusting his voice, he nods his head.
Jabber laughed, “I wanna hear you say it, baby.”
“... yeah.”Zanka's eyes widened, then melted into something dangerously soft. “I feel that.”
“That's how you make me feel…even without feeling your skin.” Jabber leans in closer just to whisper beside Zanka’s ear, “You still find a way to touch into my heart.”
Zanka let out a trembling breath, his pressing firmer against Jabber chest.
Jabber's heartbeat pounded beneath Zanka's touch.
“That's the reason why I love you, Zanka, not because of your face-no matter how cute it is when you get all upset.”
Zanka lets out a quiet chuckle.
“But because of who you are. Touch or no touch, you're perfect just the way you are. And I wouldn’t change a damn thing about you for the world.”
Zanka smiles and puts a hand over Jabber lips; he leans in and kisses him.
Jabber eyes perk up, a faint blush growing on his face.
“…Woah…can I get 10 more of that?”
Zanka laughs, rolling his eyes, “I literally hate you.”
Jabber chuckles and pulls Zanka into a loving hug, of course being wary of Zanka's face, trying not to make direct skin-to-skin contact.
“I love ya too bad attitude.~”
Zanka had lost this family this day, but at least now he’s comforted knowing he found a new one.
The End.