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Spending time with Jabber seriously wasn't bad.
While the other university student could be very loud, very annoying, highly distracting, extremely lewd, among many other things Zanka could get into, he was… good company.
Ever since Zanka's minor crashout over the terrible grade he'd received on his research paper, Jabber had practically been glued to him. Zanka found his peace and solitude enclosing himself in his side of the dorm abruptly broken, and it was surprising to feel that a better part of him didn't care that much.
Jabber is fun. He makes the negative, self-destructive side of Zanka's thoughts quiet when he laughs too loud and maniacal, leaving him too flabbergasted to even remember what it was he was mulling over. Bothers Zanka when he's getting too absorbed in his writing, studying, or annoyance with his family and diverts his attention to him.
They even started going out to places together. Jabber had shown him this insanely good Chinese restaurant, and they had found themselves ordering it on Friday's after classes with a movie to watch.
Jabber still went out way more frequently than Zanka, but he always made sure to loudly announce his arrival back to the dorm and badger Zanka about his day while he was gone. On rarer occasions, Zanka was the one to leave. Usually to go out to see Enjin and the others for designated ‘family night’ they had every couple weeks or a study night with Follo, but other times he would force himself to just take a walk and get out of the dorm.
Yet, he found those walks less lonely nowadays, since Jabber basically insisted on coming with him. While they shared no classes, if Follo came over to the dorm for their study nights, Jabber was ever-present and chatty as ever. He never really saw Jabber do homework, or study for that matter, but it never seemed to bother the other man. School, that is. Zanka found himself absolutely confused by how nonchalant he could be.
During one of said study nights, Jabber had been going on about the show he'd been watching lately – and, ultimately, Zanka had been watching, too – and sufficiently distracting Zanka from their studying. Too busy talking about different aspects of the show, Jabber appreciating and Zanka analyzing.
Follo had watched them with amused eyes for the couple hours he was there, and while little studying was actually done and Zanka had ashamedly walked Follo back to his own dorm with a promise of a real studying session, Follo laughed at him.
“You and Jabber Wonger, huh?” Follo bemused, and Zanka had paused for a long time before breaking out into full red-face. Abruptly abandoning the other boy in the hallway, Follo could be heard laughing and apologizing while Zanka stormed away with denial on his tongue.
That had started up quickly. From Follo to Riyo, to Gris, to the inevitable outcome of Enjin.
“Don't tell me it's true,” Enjin says through the phone presently, anguish clear in his tone.
“The hell are you talking about?” Zanka responds, annoyed, as he was trying to study for a test coming up in his psychology course. He's sat on the couch, Jabber next to him but on the floor, arms spread out behind him and brushing against Zanka's leg when he adjusts. It was very comfortable, the TV on and idly playing while he worked, up until now.
“You know damn well what I'm talking about,” Enjin says, and he's starting to sound like a distressed mother from a soap opera. Jabber can apparently hear him from where he's sitting, since he slowly cranes his head back to give a catty smile up at Zanka.
Jabber chuckles deeply, “Yo, Dad, what's up?”
Zanka makes the minute decision to shoot him a glare, and rolls his eyes at the phone.
“He is NOT calling me ‘Dad’ already,” Enjin huffs, and in the background he can hear Gris’ voice, sounding exasperated as ever.
“Would you leave them alone?” He hears him ask Enjin, to which they squabble for a little over the phone. Zanka tugs the phone away, to not have their voices shatter his ability to hear. Jabber is cackling like a madman, enjoying all the chaos.
There’s a lot of noise on the phone, then much clearer comes Gris’ voice, “I’m sorry, Zanka. Follo came to visit, and-”
Zanka groans, exaggerated and embarrassed. Jabber tilts his head at him, only serving to make Zanka’s face fluster. He tries to not look at the boy beside him when he speaks again, “Whatever he told you is what he made up in his own head-”
“-eed to get Follo to check on your dorm more often? Do I need to come visit more often? Where did I go wrong as a dad?”
Jabber seemingly puts two and two together about the conversation, his giggles quiet and menacing as he pushes up toward Zanka slowly, like a predator.
Zanka’s too busy glaring down at his phone to notice the movement, especially since Gris and Enjin are apparently having the worst argument of their relationship over this misunderstanding.
“-Never messed up as a dad, would you stop that?”
“Is it so wrong of me to be concerned about my easily influenceable son?”
“I’m not easily influenceable.”
“CLEARLY YOU ARE! Do I really not know my little Zan-Zan anymore…”
“He’s probably in the middle of studying, Enjin. Please just hang up the phone already.”
“Seems like he’s in the middle of hiding things from his very caring father!”
“I am in the middle of studyin’. Was there really a point to this call or are you just whinin’ over nothin’? What-”
Jabber is close now, and Zanka finally realizes it with a startle as he looks over to his phone. The other boy is close enough to practically nuzzle his outstretched hand, holding his phone tightly.
“Zaaaaann…” Jabber groans, the most insanely attractive and downright devious grin on his face as he speaks, silencing the men on the phone line. Wait, attractive? “When’re you gonna get off the phone? Been waiting for you foreverrrr...”
Zanka’s face is very red now. Out of instinct, Zanka scrambles to push away Jabber’s face with his free hand, his laptop falling gently to the floor along with papers, creating quite the rustle.
“Zanka? ZANKA? What was that? I swear to God-”
“Can I call you later?” Zanka squeaks, blushing even more furiously over his own voice. Jabber is losing it next to him silently, cackling like he just witnessed the funniest thing in the world. Zanka’s hand slides over his mouth to try and silence him.
Immediately, something slimy meets his palm, and Zanka gasps and pulls away like he’d been burned. “Did you just lick me??”
“WHAT?”
“I am hanging up the phone,” Zanka says with finality in his tone, trying so hard to keep his voice even. He reaches out to press the big red ‘end call’ button like it would save his life. In reality, it was likely saving Jabber’s.
But unfortunately, it appears the other boy has a death wish.
“Mm, keep touchin’ me Zanka,” Jabber announces in the most sultry voice he’s ever heard, and a part of him realizes he likes that a little too much. “Right there-”
Zanka finally presses the button. His phone is promptly thrown across the room to the beanbag chair resting next to the coffee table. Zanka’s too busy shaking Jabber without mercy to listen to his ringtone going off again within seconds.
“DO YOU WANT TO DIE?” Zanka half-yells, unconsciously remembering the walls in these dorms are not thick and they don’t need another complaint.
He’s managed to basically pin the other boy under him, who is now laughing full-force. Jabber basically lets Zanka shake him down into the couch, his reddened face doing very little for proper intimidation. “Oh my god, man, your face-”
Zanka attempts a growl, but it comes out like a sad excuse of a whine. “I could choke you to death right now.”
“That a threat or a promise?” Jabber snickers, earning him more aggressive shaking and further amusement.
Zanka groans loudly, chin hitting his chest with the force of his head falling. “He’s gonna think we’re actually- that we’re-”
“Dating? Fucking? Eloping outta uni straight to California?”
“Pro’bly all of the above.”
Jabber takes a little while to calm down after that, wiping an invisible tear from his eye quite a few times. Zanka is still hovering over him, rubbing at his red face to try and make the flush disappear. Maybe it’d make him disappear if he rubbed hard enough.
Jabber sighs, overjoyed. “Man, your family is funny as fuck.”
Zanka shoots him a mean glare, earning one of those happy-as-can-be smiles. “Yer not.”
“Whaddya mean? You know I’m hilarious.”
“Absolutely not,” Zanka huffs, indignant. He begins to remove himself from Jabber, thinking that maybe the distance from the other boy would stop him from blushing.
Except Jabber grabs his arm, and Zanka’s head shoots to look at it, then back at his face. His expression is softer but still teasing, eyes half-lidded and smile turned into a lopsided smirk.
“C’mooon,” Jabber sing-songs, his voice straining Zanka’s poor heart with the palpitations it elicits. “You don’t mean that, Zan.”
“I-” Zanka seems to forget every word of every language all of the sudden, eyes wide as they stare into those curious ones studying him in return.
Zanka yanks his arm away, promptly standing. “Die in a hole, shithead.”
Jabber laughs again as Zanka collects his belongings, including his laptop and thrown-away phone. He huddles up in his room, sending Enjin extensive messages that he and Jabber were not dating or… sleeping together. It takes a while to actually convince the man that he’s telling the truth and that Jabber was just being a prick, but he eventually believes him enough to settle down.
He tries to write after that, to no avail. Jabber’s voice haunts his mind, becoming every second thought he can manage. Zanka feels hot all over from it, and it takes gruelling effort to realize that he is well and truly fucked, and should maybe get Riyo to shoot him in the head as a favor.
It strikes him again that he internally called Jabber attractive. While objectively it was true, there was no doubt about that, but to describe him as it mentally…
Zanka shuts his laptop after the millionth flash of his cursor on the same sentence he’d been on forever, deciding he needs to do something else. Take his mind off Jabber. When he checks the time on his phone, it’s been a couple hours since he came into his room. Shit, he needs to eat.
Slowly emerging out of his room, pushing the curtain to the side like an animal leaving its nest for the first time. The dorm is silent, which he didn’t notice before.
When Zanka peaks into their makeshift ‘living room’, he notes Jabber isn’t there. Confusion and a barely-ignored hint of sadness strikes him, and he whirls toward their mini ‘kitchen’ for something quick to eat.
He opens the small fridge, expecting nothing more than the few energy drinks typically stored there and the simple things like milk and filtered water, maybe a small snack he’d forgotten he put in there. Instead, Zanka finds a paper plate of… something with a sticky note on top, writing scrawled out on it in sharpie.
‘remember 2 eat zan-zan ;)’
It’s not the first time Jabber’s done this. Far from it. If they made too much for themselves, they’d usually give the rest to each other. Rationally, Zanka knows it’s just a kind gesture with no extra meaning than being a good roommate.
His heart disagrees, beating a million miles a minute and a hand coming up to his mouth, covering it with the effort it takes to not smile at the plate. It feels like his face is infinitely pink at this rate.
Carefully, Zanka sets the plate down on the tiny counter space he had to makeshift when they first started rooming together. Unraveling the plastic wrap revealed a few soup dumplings, along with not one, but two containers of what he can only assume is soy sauce. Shit. Jabber even remembered how much he likes having extra soy sauce?
Shit.
He’s so fucked.