Rilzit Chapter 04

Rilzit
By Kitteh and Neofox
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence and intense smooching
Disclaimer: Smeets will eat our souls if we dare claim Invader Zim.  So yeah, Jhonen can keep his smeets of DOOM!  We just want to borrow Zim and Dib for a fic, so calm yourselves.
Summary: ZADR.  'Why didn't I listen to Dad? I could have been safe at home studying science or some stupid shit, but noooo....I had to fall in love with a stupid alien and help him take over the Earth. Real smart Dib. Maybe next time you should just stamp moron on your forehead, much more effective’
Beta: Krimzon

Chapter 4

A robotic arm that had a case built into its end pulled from the Pak, and one of the normal spindly legs came out taking each vile and put them into the case with careful ease, then the case shut tight, keeping the vials safe before pulling back into the pack. The other leg took the dropper taking it with it as it pulled inside as well. "I wouldn't worry." The Irken smirked before turning to leave the lab, down the hall to the elevator Dib had come in through.

Dib quickly followed behind him, not wishing to be left behind this time and figuring it was safe enough for the both of them to be on the elevator together.  Hell it seemed big enough. "We'll have to be extremely careful while doing this though. We can't just waltz into the cafeteria or the nurse's office after almost a whole day of missing skool and expect nobody to notice, especially with what we're about to do. Although I wonder sometimes..."

Zim laughed sharply as he tapped the first floor button. The door shut with a whoosh and the elevator hummed as it went up. "No one has wondered for several years now. It's like they have no eyes!"

Zim lowered his energetic fist. "One of each of us will go to either room." He pointed at Dib. "You, Dib-huumun, will go to the food hole, with that disgusting" Zim shuddered a moment sticking out his tongue "meat, and put a few drops of the joos in every food pile. It's potent enough that you don't need a lot in the food." He placed a hand flat on his own chest standing straight, tall and noble. "I will go into the sick area and put a drop in all the medicines."

The Irken blinked as something dawned on him and he cackled as he rubbed his hands together in a devious like fashion. "When those stoopid moose-cows eat the slop, they will be sick- and go to the nurse for medicine. Little will they know that they will get a double dose of the poisonous poison of DOOM!" Zim erupted in boisterous evil laughter, hands clutched tightly to the air in his revel of his vast ingeniousness.

Dib simply watched, slightly amused this time by Zim's laughing fit. He couldn't help but let out a small laugh of his own, though not quite as loud. "I suppose it will be funny to see them screwing themselves over."

He gave Zim a stern look. "Remember, this is just an experiment though. We can't be sure if this will work. We may have to make a few adjustments to the chemicals if nothing serious happens." He gave a small shrug of his shoulders, "I really don't think it will be necessary, though, if what you say is true and both are so compatible."

"Seeing as I deal with it everyday, I think I would know the cell structure and properties of that joos." Zim made the wavy lines of DNA in gesture, his fingers criss-crossing in example. "I am definitely sure that this is the right mixture. If anything would needed adjusting it is the amounts combined."

The Irken rubbed his fingers together with a wide spread grin. "Oooh to see those drooling morons at skool WRITH beneath our power-- twitching, screaming, BEGGING for mercy!" He cackled. "BEGGING, Dib-worm! BEGGING!" Zim sighed, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye "It will be quite beautiful. Mmmmm. THEN THE WORLD!" The Irken began laughing loudly again.

The elevator dinged as it reached the main room and the door swooshed open, revealing the kitchen and a Gir starring blankly. The little robot tilted his head, watching his master laugh loudly only to begin at a giggle for no good reason and then continue into as crazy a laugh as Zim only much more high pitched and deranged.

Dib looked between the both of them, cautiously stepping out into the kitchen as he did so. It unnerved him a bit how Zim's laughter could be so contagious to everyone but himself, although he guessed Gir would just laugh at anything. He reached out and pulled the alien off the elevator by his sleeve, placing his hand over his mouth to quiet him down with a small smirk on his lips.

"Alright genius, that's enough out of you. You wanna get your disguise on so we can get going, hmm?" He moved away from Zim to walk into the living room making sure not to trip on any of the junk on the floor.

"Glak. Mmf." Zim huffed at Dib, giving him light glares when he pulled away from the hand covering his mouth. He then blew a raspberry the human's way and walked over to the wall where a compartment of the tacky wallpapered wall pulled aside as two robotic arms offering the wig and contacts extended.   The Irken took and put them on and promptly marched over to Dib and scowled, giving his scythe lock a flick "Stop doing that to Zim." So saying, he brushed past with a 'regal' sort of air, opening the door and marching out.

Dib's hands shot up to his precious hair, frowning as if Zim had just wounded him deeply. After making sure his scythe was still in place as it always was, he followed the Irken outside, shutting the door behind him and trailing his eyes over the creepy gnomes as if they were going to jump out and cart him off at any moment. Once past that point though he eased up and fell in step behind Zim with a thoughtful look on his face before he finally spoke up. "We'll probably end up infecting Gaz while we test the stuff out... Why does that not bother me as much as it should? I just feel sort of numb when I think about it."

"You hate her." The Irken bluntly answered. It couldn't have been a more uncaring statement if Zim had tried. He crossed his arms behind his back as continuing his determined march towards Skool. For someone about to kill roughly a good hundred of students in a rather disturbing and tortuous way, he was sure cool and nonchalant about it. Though conquering was one thing; killing was another.  Zim looked over his shoulder at the other who followed in time behind him. "You hate all people." The alien's eyes narrowed with a sly sort of craftiness as his voice fell to a hushed hiss.

"You just don't know it yet."

Dib's eyes widened slightly at Zim's statement, but then went back to their normal size behind his glasses after looking away in slight sorrow. He knew there had to be some truth to what the alien said, considering what he was about to do. The only person he could stand to be around was Zim, and he wasn't even a 'person'. His fists tightened at his sides for a few moments before an annoyed sigh escaped his lips. "Hate is a really strong word...you have to be careful how you use it..."

The Irken turned his head and tapped his lip in mock thought. He turned around on the ball of one boot to face the human. "Hate: to feel hostility or animosity towards. To detest. To feel dislike or distaste for. A feeling of dislike SO strong that it demands action." Zim clapped his hands together with a final and sharp 'HA'. "Am I getting warmer?" He tilted his head with a cocky sort of motion. "Just tell me if I am..." the alien practically purred.

The Irken had turned so sharply that it had startled Dib, and his eyes narrowed in surprise at just how well Zim had memorized the meaning of an Earth word. He frowned a bit, as he tried to look anywhere but at Zim while he thought over the word, before finally coming to a decision. He shook his head slightly, his hands unclenching and moving into his pockets. "You're right Zim, it does mean exactly that. I suppose I do hate everyone on this damn planet, and because of that it will be doomed to suffer the fate we've chosen for it, and that includes my unforgiving sister."

"Eeexcellent." Zim rubbed his hands together, quite pleased with Dib's agreeance, not really caring at all for the other's inner strife mauling the current circumstances. "In that case-" The Irken's sudden joyous personality fell and plummeted down to a rather dark, sadistic octave. His lips peeled back revealing those blatant sharp even teeth as he licked them, wickedly liking the ruthless flavor there; it brought one to wonder how such a world could not perceive Zim as something not of this green, God given Earth "will it be you serving her lunch then~?" The words slipped out with luxurious viciousness.

A small shrug fell from Dib's shoulders as if it were the most normal thing in the world, what Zim had just said. "I suppose I could. It would be nice to have a sort of front row seat, if you will, to see what happens to her." A small smirk formed on his lips as he kept walking, the Skool getting closer in view. "It's nice to not feel guilty as I say that. I've been hanging around you for far too long." He glanced at the alien for a small second before looking back in front of him.

The Irken considered a moment as he ran a casual hand through his false black hair. "You've been a worthy foe, dirt-monkey." The same hand fell, hovering in the air as if Zim was going to offer a hand shake or something of the sort. But the idea seemed rejected and the alien lowered it without a second thought. No need to pat backs too hard and too long now. That was good enough.

Zim turned back around, facing their scheduled place of attack. Yes, this was to be glorious. "Glory. Victory is at hand!" He clasped hands together, practically beaming.

"Well, we don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, Zim. If we let our egos get the best of us, then more than likely we'll just fail miserably." He glanced in Zim's direction as he said this but didn't say anything else. Once his foot touched down on the sidewalk that lead to the steps of the Hi Skool, he turned back to the Irken and pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them out.

"Ok, hand me one of the vials and droppers, I’m going in the cafeteria like we agreed. You go ahead to the nurse's office and start filling the medicine bottles with it so they'll be ready."

Zim reached back as a metal grabber from his Pak handed him what Dib requested. He paused a moment, looking over the deadly liquid inside before looking back to the human. He then raised his free hand, taking the tips of his gloves from his fingers as he pulled his hand free of the tight black material. It had been a long while since his slender green fingers had seen air, and he wiggled them, feeling practically half naked. He took the glove from his mouth and handed it to Dib, an ‘ask no questions’ expression plain on his 'disguised' face.

"If it touches you, you'll be dead. You're no good to me as a corpse." Zim smirked wryly. "Except as a pin cushion, target practice, space ship hood ornament, door matt, kindling, an amusing toy for Gir, an umbrella, or a victory flag proclaiming my victory over you stink-buckets..." He looked skyward with a grin; oh the uses, the uses, so many degrading uses.

He snatched the glove away from Zim, pausing to put it on before taking the chemical away, a scowl on his face. "Yeah, yeah. I show you gratitude and you still have millions of ways on how you could use my dead body. You're so sweet." He shook his head slightly, not really angry, just a tad bit annoyed. Dib turned around and walked up the steps of the skool, then opened the door only a bit so he could make sure the coast was clear.  Finally stepping inside, he kept the door open so Zim could follow behind.

When Dib was out of sight and assuredly out of ear shot, Zim's grin faded. His teeth chattered and he quickly tugged down his sleeve, tucking his hand in and gripping the inside with coiled, clawed fingers to keep it closed. That would have to do for now. Looking around with quick, shifty eyes, a thin, mechanical arm pulled from the Pak. Zim tapped the long measuring meter as if the thermometer with its glowing pink liquid inside was lying.

"There's still enough... just enough... for a little longer." Zim quietly said, smirking softly to himself and letting go to let the arm slip back into the Pak. Hugging himself, he tip toed towards the door and slipped inside as well. Time to head for the nurses office, where, ironically, Dib had come up with the idea. Ahhh, how linear and ironic time was; like pie.

Dib let go of the door once he heard the Irken move into the hallway, glancing back at him for a brief second and noticing how bundled he was, but letting it pass with a shrug of his shoulders. He gave a small wave in Zim's direction to let him know he would meet up with him later before he himself headed for the cafeteria, which was just a few doors down the hall. Opening the doors once he reached them, Dib went inside.  He noticed kids were just starting to come in, and only a few of them were in line at the moment.

He looked around before walking in the room, not really too surprised no one was watching him.  His feet lead him to the line behind one of the kids from his homeroom. Once the kid got his food he went up to the trays himself, looking around before taking the cork out the vial and using the eyedropper to place the chemical in each of the trays. He did all of this as quickly as possible before moving back over to the doorway and leaning slightly against it to watch the massacre, his eyes settling on one person in particular.  Gaz.

Slinking along the stark shadows of a hallway, Zim made his way to the nurse's room. Amazing, how empty the halls were when there was rotted meat to be stuffed down gullets. It made the Irken positively sick to think about it. Seeing it, having to deal with it night after maddening night, had really turned Zim's stomach.

Eyes peered into the open door of the medical room.  Seemed the nurse, too, had gone to stuff her maw full of soilent green. Perfection. Zim slipped in and shut the door behind him with a satisfying chak.

Lurking closer in, it was easy to see that the skool's funding didn't pay much for medical treatment: two cots, a desk, a chair, a curtain and a shelf full of petty placebos, head and stomach pain medicines, cotton balls and some Q-tips (some already used).

With a chattering, hushed cackle, a syringe pulled out of the Irken's Pak. Everything was to have a drop. Everything.



It was moments later spindly fingers drummed themselves down on Dib's oh so casual shoulder. "Aren't you going to serve your dear departing fellow worm-spawn her last meal?" The alien's voice murmured behind the boy's ear like the devil's advocate himself.

Dib jumped almost a foot in the air, not expecting Zim to come up behind him like that. He didn't even look back at the Irken or say a word before walking forward to where his sister was already standing in line to get her food. He stood in front of her blocking her view a small smirk on his features as he took a tray off the long table and handed it to her.

"Here you go Gaz, on me."

Gaz had leveled Dib with a glare when he cut in front of her, but it slowly went away when the food was placed in her hands, and only a scowl remained. "The food is free stupid." She walked over to a nearby table to sit down by herself, not realizing Dib was going to sit down with her, but the annoyance was clear when he did.

She shoveled some of the slop in her mouth that was supposed to be food before she turned her head towards him to speak. "I thought you were supposed to be over Zim's house, sucking him off or something." She placed more of the food in her mouth, making a face after she swallowed.

"No nothing like that, although I was helping him with something..." A grin formed on his face as he watched what could only be described as a pure look of death come over Gaz. The poison had obviously started to overtake her, and as Dib looked over the cafeteria, he saw that it was happening to a lot of the other kids as well. Most of them were trying to get up and head to the nurse's office, and a lot of them were falling to their knees.

As he looked back at his sister, Dib got up from his seat and spoke only the truth to her dying body. "You know Gaz, I used to love you, but now...I’m glad this is happening...you deserve this." He walked away from the table and back over to Zim with a sad sigh, stepping over dying kids in the process.

Kids paled, their eyes bugging out as they clawed at their throats; others, at their guts at the burning sensation. Some fell twitching, shivering, while others vomited and collapsed unconscious, their skin going sallow.

There Zim stood, at the door, his eyes wide as they darted their farce pupils this way and that at the sight of so many falling like diseased flies. It was truly -- morbid aesthetics. A slow, jagged, interlocked tooth grin spread wide, wide around the disguised Irken’s face, his head lowering with grim shadows before rising high with sadistic glee. This was amazing! Amazing! He'd done it! He'd hit them; hit them hard and where it counted. Elation ran through Zim's veins and his fingers stayed tightly gnarled in the air and his gaze fell sharp and heavy on Dib as the human neared.

"Victory." He hissed letting the syllable long and curled from his slithering tongue.

A small smile formed on Dib's lips when he heard Zim's satisfied laugh. Once he was beside the alien, he turned around and looked over the masses of dying kids that had always insisted he was crazy, and a sort of satisfaction came over him at watching them get what he thought was always coming to them. He took the glove off his hand and handed it back to Zim before turning his back on the room and walking away to leave the skool. "Come on before we're caught and we're all over the news as well. Let the survivors clean it up..."

The Irken watched for a good long moment, his one hand clutching the glove tighter and tighter with each glorious second. But then his face twisted at the rank smell, and that's when he decided it was indeed time to leave. Quickly, Zim stepped back, watching a moment longer before turning and darting after Dib. With a demented sort of cackling giggle, he ran down the hall, only to skid to a horrible clumsy stop at the nurse’s office.

He latched onto the door frame, peering both eyes in to catch the coo de gra before actually leaving. He watched as the nurse with slow and uncaring movements lazily gave the teenagers pills, believing they were faking, and glasses of none too clean water. The teens would take the pills, swallow them and instantly fall over with a flailing seizure, and then they would still.

Zim's eyes grew wide, wider than his contacts. Quickly his chest rose and fell. It was happening! He was winning! Winning! Winning!

After a few moments, Dib had come up behind Zim and placed both arms around the Irken’s neck much like he had done in the lab. His eyes were glued to the small door as if it were a show he were watching on the television, "Amazing isn't it? And this was just a small step compared to what we have planned later. Think of all this, but more people, a whole community of people that need all their medicine to get well, total chaos..." His hands tightened slightly as if this information actually made him happy.

Zim clung tightly to the frame, his fingers shaking from the grip and old paint and splinters rained to the ground from under his fingers. His eyes were perfect circles, as his antennae, which lay neatly under the wig against his head, twitched under their restraint. Then suddenly, Zim relaxed against Dib, melted against him, reclining against chest in perfect comfort. The world suddenly seemed right when those who should be were damned.

"Yess.. The entire city will fall to their knees." Zim felt light, so light; the giddiness tickled his insides and antennae with prickling warm. It felt so unreal. Everything was coming together, after so long.

"In time, the entire city, but don't worry, it will happen. Just look at what we've accomplished right now. I think it's safe to say this planet will be yours if we play our cards right." He nuzzled Zim's neck before pulling his arms away, only to place his hands in his own pockets. "Children, parents, everyone, it will all be yours to rule over if we don't kill them all first." He looked around the hallway as he said this, as if remembering what they had just done.

A hand rested on Dib's chest so the Irken could push himself to stand on his own accord. "A select few will live- the strongest of your species- for slaves." Zim considered as he took a few steps along the hall, eyeing its emptiness. "Perhaps I will let you keep a slave for your very own. Just one. Just one tiny slave." The Irken turned lightly to face Dib with a thin lipped smile. "Perhaps your father? Maybe?" With a quirky smirk, Zim began walking down the hall to the exit at a leisurely pace.

Dib actually seemed to consider this for a moment before following behind one step at a time, his eyes darting back and forth between the hall’s walls and doors. "That actually seems like an amusing concept, as sad as it sounds. Although I’m wondering, if you would let me have a slave, does that mean you're saying I’m an equal to you, or, am I still your slave?" His eyes moved to look at the back of Zim's head, a curious expression on his face.

Fingers clacked on upper arms as the Irken kept his arms crossed and kept walking unturning. "You are still Zim's. No mistake about that, stink-monkey." Zim glanced a narrow eyed gaze back to Dib. "Never will you be up on the same pedestal as me. Ever... as useful as you are." He slammed both his palms against the door, practically throwing it open as he marched out with his head held high.

A few fellow students ran outside as well, trying to make their escape home, to sanctuary, to a hospital. But one tripped over the stairs, falling with a crack of limbs. He crumpled up and didn't move and Zim stepped over him without a second look. The other one gripped her throat, trying to puke. But alas,  the vile double dose of liquid ate away at her middle and oozed, the contents of her inside trickling down like melted wax.

Dib simply watched the kids in disgust, stopping for a moment to look over their hard work. A sigh escaped his lips as he stepped over them just as Zim had, making sure not to get the bottom of his pants dirty as he did so. "Morons..." He ran a bit to catch up with the Irken, walking beside him instead of behind him for once.

"So even after all the loyalty, all the help I’ve given you, and all the trust I’ve put in you, I’m still as below you as the people we're killing?" Even though he asked all this, he never once looked at Zim, instead his eyes were on the sidewalk the whole time so the alien couldn't see his expression.

"Nnnnnnnnnno~" Zim clacked his teeth back together. "You're one step above them" He raised his hand low and flat indicating Dib. "and several thousand steps below me." He raised his hand high above indicating himself. Though the Irken did glance Dib's way. It hadn't meant to come out self absorbed and narcissistic, he just answered on reflex, automation; years of built or pride and mental defenses.

His brows furrowed slightly. "I've given you privileges." The one green hand flopped the glove around in gesture, though the action made Irken flinch subtly; cold. Quickly he stuffed his hand back in, pulling it tight and taunt at the hem with a snap with his other hand. Fingers wiggled, happy to be back snug inside the glove.

"You won't be dieing. And you may have a slave... for amusement- or torture- or amusing torture." The Irken twirled a finger in gesture.

Dib said nothing to any of this; his head was still down the entire time Zim spoke as if he were just an object. After a few moments of hearing Zim speak, Dib's hand shot out and grabbed the Irken’s, holding it within his own and letting both their hands fall between them as they walked.

"I got in way over my head with this didn't I? I expected a lot, but I didn't expect the best either. When I saw what happened at Skool, when I saw what we did, I felt so alive and I actually felt happy.  It scared me to think that killing people...my own race, can make me feel that way. Then I saw how excited you got when you saw how smoothly everything was going, and that everything was finally going your way, and I didn't feel scared anymore. I just didn't care at all." His hand tightened around Zim's for a brief moment. "Things were working out for you and that's what I wanted..."

Zim's initial reaction was to flinch back at the touch, yank his hand free and yell some hurtful and nonsensical obscenity, well, it should have been, he expected it to be. The initial touch made the Irken jump, not expecting it to say the least; yet for some obscure reason, he did. He watched Dib's meat hooks curl around his own, the fleshy digits grasping and tightening, as if holding onto the alien's hand meant holding onto something real and assuring.

Zim watched their hands hang between them, swaying slightly as they walked. He could recall the many times he'd seen huumuns hold hands: caregivers and spawn, gooshy icky love beasts- there were plenty of those around. Disgusting mammals. This type of hand holding, Zim wasn't sure what this custom meant.

He raised his gaze when Dib finished, his unnaturally white and round eyes watching the other for a moment. The Irken glanced at their hands a moment and let his own tighten against Dib's, his own sharp fingers slipping between the human's, to hold it firmly, palm against palm. It felt...like it was the least he could do.

Dib himself hadn't expected Zim to keep hold of his hand, but it was nice to just have that small bit of peace and comfort between them, as short lived as it was. He finally raised his head to look at the Irken, wanting to look at him instead of at the cold ground he was stepping on. "You know it's only gonna get harder instead of easier? What we just did was a cake walk compared to what we're gonna try next. I'm willing to go through this all the way no matter what, but you have to understand Zim, that there can't be any screw ups. You have to realize that your other plans did have mistakes..."

"We haven't screwed up yet, dirt-creature." Zim looked away, at something, anything, far from Dib. "And my plans only failed because I bothered to let one mistake live." His eyes darted back but just before they fell back on the other boy. "It will go as well as today. I demand it." The Irken’s hand tightened on Dib's unconsciously with his tone.

Zim paused a moment, a smirk slowly spreading o his smooth green face. "Did you see the way they wiggled and screamed like little worms under a super-mega-atomic-laser-of-Galactic-DOOM." He cackled to himself. "Crying out for their makers like babies! Success! I claim it!..withyourhelpaswell" Zim added quietly after.

Dib picked up on the small mumbling, a smile coming to his lips and his mood lifted a bit more. He couldn't help but laugh as well. thinking about what happened back at Skool; the looks on their faces, and the thoughts that they would never have a clue as to what or who was their downfall. "Did you ever think this would happen? That things would work out for us because of each other? It seems so strange doesn't it? I can't say I don't enjoy it..." He said all of this quietly after his laughter had subsided.

"All it took was a ball of paper to smack some sense into you." Zim paused tapping his lip a moment. "Or was it my fist?" He snickered at that one, shooting the other a sly sort of grin. "See, I told you everybody loves Zim." He patted his thin chest with a self gratifying hand. He'd forgotten about his hand that was held, though he lightly swung their hands rather cheerfully between them. "You just had to wait several years to see just how great Zim is." His ego didn't seem to ever run out of energy.

A small blush formed on Dib's face at a few of Zim's words. He took a small glance at their hands and let out a small sigh before looking back up at the alien, "Yeah, I guess you're right, as always..." He didn't go on to elaborate to which part of Zim's speech he was referring to and just left it at that.

His eyes moved to the glowing green house that was coming into view, causing a thought to pop up in his mind, "Hey Zim, why haven't you fixed Gir after all this time? No offense, but is he really supposed to be, uh, special?"

Dib could literally hear the slam of happiness being crushed by the weight of annoyance. Just when the human was actually giving him the recognition he so deserved, he had to go and open that big mouth of his in that big head and say something stupid.

"Minor set backs." Zim brushed it off with a loose hand gesture. Every time he had tried to fix Gir, something always either exploded, went squick, turned to goo, went wrong or just became that much more moronic. Needless to say, why make a bad thing worse.

"Besides." Zim pulled up a regal sort of snooty voice "It amuses me." He huffed.
He suddenly squinted one eye, noting Dib. "Your face is changing color." Instantly a hand came pinching cheek curiously. "Blood rushing to the face to make camouflage?" The Irken scoffed. "Lousy camouflage if you ask me. I can still see you."

Dib wasn't at all surprised by the information on Gir; it seemed that if Zim got tired of trying to fix something he just got tired of it in general. He quickly slapped the Irken’s hand away with his free one, his face turning a darker shade of red as he did.  He began looking back at the house, anywhere but at Zim. "It's not camouflage. It's called blushing, we humans do it when we're embarrassed or acting shy around someone we like. You've never noticed some of the kids at Skool acting all stupid and getting all red in the face?"

Zim paused open mouthed seeming to consider this. "I've seen the worm-babies at skool do plenty of stoopid things. Doesn't mean I pay attention." And that was Zim to the letter. Seeing and hearing what he wanted to see; to a delusional level. He eyed Dib more, starring at the color pigmentation growing more and more red.

"I think... you're bleeding heat." The Irken raised another hand to feel the radiation of warmth. His body felt reminded of its poor quality and a shiver ran down the Irken's spine, right up to neck causing teeth to chatter in the end. Zim shook his head, blinking with a light 'heh'.

Dib blinked in slight surprise at feeling the Irken’s hand on his hot skin, it felt nice. His eyes closed slightly as he leaned more against Zim's hand, his voice coming out in a bit of a whisper as he spoke, "I suppose that's one way to put it, but not too literally. Human's cheeks get really warm when we blush, all the heat seems to go in our cheeks." His eyes opened back up to look into the alien's fake ones, a curious expression on his face. "I take it Irkens don't blush or show a sign that they are embarrassed?"

"Our blood isn't that stoopid." Zim murmured lightly. "Besides, I've never been embarrassed. That's a lame human emotion." He scoffed quietly as he relaxed as Dib's cheek warmed his hand. Turning his hand over the Irken drew the back of it along the boy's cheek. "So warm." He raised his other hand against the boy's other cheek gently cupping Dib's face without knowing it. Zim drew closer, just wanting to feel the warmth against him, if not just a little. His eyes fell half closed as he stepped a little closer. "Nice."

He petered off a moment. "Usually when I'm nervous I stammer... and say whatever comes to my mind at the moment."

Dib's breath quickened slightly when Zim stepped closer to him, and it didn't help that the Irken’s hands were on his face and being so gentle with him. "Yeah...I noticed that at times." He was trying to look anywhere but at Zim's face because he was afraid of what his own face would show if he looked into his eyes. His hands were moving around at his sides, clenching and unclenching in nervousness.

"What are you feeling right now?" Dib still refused to look at the alien as he asked this, his eyes looking past Zim at one of the other houses nearby.

Zim paused and looked skyward lazily. "Sleepy." He looked back down to Dib, slight curiosity pawing at him to why the human was looking so-- shifty. It was a strange moment to feel so calm at, the Irken did admit. But the heat radiating from the human's cheeks into his hands sent soothing warmth throughout the rest of his body. Zim couldn't explain why it eased him so much. "You?" He lightly countered, tilting his head in subtle observation.

Dib couldn't help but smile a bit at Zim's answer, but that small smile slowly went away as he realized what he was being asked. His eyes closed as a sigh moved past his lips and opened to look Zim in the face, his hands shaky as they came up to rest lightly on the alien's. "I feel something you would probably never understand, and it scares me to think I’m feeling it." He moved Zim's hands away from his face and back down, pulling his own hands away afterwards. He turned around and began to walk the rest of the way towards the green house, his hands moving in his pockets and his head down.

The Irken blinked, his eyes going wide. He straightened and clapped his own hands to his cheeks, feeling the smooth green skin there. "Why? Is my face bleeding heat too?" Zim patted his cheeks, his temple, his forehead, even the back of his head. Nope. No warmth. He followed Dib with a curious naïveté.

Dib couldn't help but laugh a bit at Zim's question, it just seemed so innocent. He finally turned back to the Irken when his feet touched the porch leading to the door of the house, his eyes moving over the alien's face and a sad sort of look overcoming his own before he spoke. "I feel complete around you Zim, like my life has meaning because of you, but I realize that I’m starting to feel something that I’m not supposed to feel." He rolled his eyes slightly. "Not that half the shit I’ve felt already is good for me."

Zim stopped just before the step up to the porch. The gnomes hummed as they turned on motion sensor, though save for that they kept deadly still. The alien looked at Dib with a critical sort of look, nothing scrutinizing, just overall curiosity; human's were so odd.

"What did you do before Zim came?" He let out a light egotistical 'heh', definite assurance grinned then on his face. "Betchya it was dull."

Dib shrugged his shoulders lightly before turning around to face the door, his hand reaching out of his pocket to open it and let himself inside. "Pretty much. I didn't do much other than try to prove some paranormal life existed on this planet and others. Chasing ghosts, Bigfoot, and other things such as that has its quirks, but after awhile it gets old if you can't prove to people it's really there."

He side-stepped all the mess once inside the living room and made his way right to the couch, flopping down on his back so he was spread out and staring at the ceiling, not caring that he was looking at wires. "When you came to Earth it was my chance to prove that everything I believed in was real, everything I had been chasing up to that point. All things paranormal was actually sitting in my classroom, but like all good things stupidness prevails in the end and dreams come crashing down."

Zim closed the door after himself, then turned to look at the cluttered graveyard of scrap metal that his floor had become. "Agreed." Speaking of stupidness, he looked around and noted Gir wasn't present. The Irken let out a slow exhale. How grating.

The Irken literally perked straight up, his entire form going rigid with a realization only to melt as he slinked over to the couch. He leaned one hand to stare down at Dib with a quirking smirk. "If your sister is dead," Zim paused for affect his smirk turning into a sneered grin, "won't your father be looking for you?" The pepper of using huumun words seemed to only punch the question closer to home.

Dib's eyes shut tight in annoyance and he rolled over on his side, facing the back of the couch as if he wanted to just shut everything out.  But after a few moments of silence his voice could be heard once again. "If he won't come looking for me I’ll go after him. The only way he'll even notice Gaz is dead is if he pays any attention to the television, and even then I don't think he'll remember we go to that Skool."

His hand could be seen clenching on the arm of the couch, his knuckles turning paler than usual. "I'd like to see him suffer more than Gaz did. He deserves it for all the hell I went through, all the claims of insanity he put on me."

Spindly fingers slipped themselves under the human’s jaw to firmly grip and turn Dib's head, just partial, just enough to bare cheek so Zim could lower his head, fingers tightly gripping the arm of couch he was leaning against as well. Lips pursed and pressed themselves against the softness of cheek, lingering a moment to enjoy the warmth. He didn't raise his head much after. "It means Zim is half loyal...” His voice was unnaturally quiet.

Dib's eyes had opened a small amount when Zim had moved his head, but they snapped open all the way when the Irken kissed his cheek, not expecting that at all. The blush returned to his cheeks but he didn't seem as nervous this time, the sadness and anger he had felt over thinking about his father leaving him completely, only to be replaced by a sort of peace at hearing Zim say those words. He turned slightly back around so he was on his back once again and lifted his hands to pull the wig off Zim's head, the contacts the next to fall, a satisfied smile forming on his face once they were off.

He stared the Irken in the eyes for a few moments before finally speaking almost as quiet. "Why now?"

Zim blinked his large, rich colored eyes a moment, unused to anyone taking his contacts but himself. Antennae couldn't help but raise, happy to be free, though they stopped mid way and lowered unsurely. He wanted to look away a moment but, he continued to stare down on Dib. Even shoulders didn't give him the benefit of movement to offer an unsure shrug.

"Um...returning a human custom." Zim found himself speaking just that much quieter. It wasn't really an answer, but it was all he had at the moment.

Dib couldn't help but laugh a bit at this, considering he had never really explained that he was telling a little white lie to Zim the entire time. Of course, then that would just make the Irken angry and he really didn't need that.  Especially when they seemed to be getting along so well, which was all he really wanted, well...that's what he was trying to tell himself. "Will I ever have all your loyalty, or will I always have to settle for this?" It was a genuine question and he seemed a bit hopeful as he asked it.

Zim couldn't understand the laugh, so he took to considering the question instead. Truly considered it. Which would have been something completely abominable and twistedly nightmare-ish had it been back in their childhood.

"We shall see." Was all he could sum it to. The future was already so demented as it was; Zim wouldn't be surprised if he sprouted ears, grew a tail, painted chicken fetus' and called himself 'Mr. Buns' tomorrow let alone fall to equals with a sworn arch nemesis sometime later.

Dib seemed to accept the answer that was given, smiling only slightly and reaching a hand up to lightly touch Zim's cheek much like the Irken had done to him earlier. He was in deep thought for a few moments, his fingers moving up and down Zim's cheek until he spoke once again, his voice shaky. "Remember when we were talking earlier about emotions and how we feel? You said sometimes you feel nervous, but I’ve noticed you also feel sad, like when we were in your lab, but are there any other emotions you feel? Do you want to feel them?"

Zim swallowed, his throat moving visibly with the unsure action. "I'm not a potato. I do feel too." He lightly protested with annoyance, a masked emotion to cover another. The slow soft hand movements were both troublesome and nice, which made it all the more that detrimental. Carefully, the Irken lowered himself to rest more comfortably on his knees on the floor near the couch, careful to not disturb Dib's alluring gestures.

"We're born and trained to cut away weak emotions inside. We're soldiers. Strong. Proud. Mighty." Zim's hands suddenly felt useless, so he drummed them lightly on the couch cushion. "Why waste time worrying and living with fear." He quietly concluded.

Dib took a small glance back at the hand that was drumming near his head then back to Zim's face, a scowl coming over his own at the information he was told. "It doesn't seem like such a great life. Although I’m sure you're proud of yourself, and don't get me wrong, I’m proud of you too; it just seems like such a shallow kind of life to lead. You're really smart in your own right, why would you have to cut away such things as emotions, they don't make you weak, and if anything they make you stronger. That's how I’ve always felt." His hand moved away only slightly so that only his fingertips were tracing Zim's face, down his cheek to the bottom of his neck.

"Emotions are clutter. No wonder your head is so big. How can you figure out the best course of action when you are sitting and feeling ten zillion things at once? Ha. No." Zim wryly smirked, though he was poking fun his voice remained quiet. His round bug eyes slipped closed, leaving only shining slits of color that disappeared for brief moments as the Irken lazily blinked.

"You may be smart, black... hair... guy." Zim paused a moment, tilting his head to the tingle tickle that prickled his skin to the touch, or perhaps to reveal more area, he didn't bother deciding. "You touch... good." Proper grammar not included, spelling optional and sold separately.

Dib couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at this side of Zim, so out of it that he couldn't even form a simple sentence or snide remark. He let his hand continue its small touches on Zim's neck, able to touch a bit more of his skin now that he moved. "Emotions make us humans who we are. Some of us stupid, some of us caring, and some of us hateful killing machines. Then there are those that fall in between, those that could be one then the other at any moment. Emotions are never considered a bunch of clutter; you only feel what you need to feel. If you felt every emotion at once then you would probably be insane..."

Zim let out a half listening 'mmm'. He finally gave up keeping his eyes open and let them shut, much like a cat would when it's quite happy with the attention it's given. A soft sort of cooing noise purred from somewhere deep inside the Irken, a warm sound that grew subtly at each gentle touch. Shoulders relaxed and arms hung from the loose grip of hands on the couch cushion. Zim would have leaned against the couch to not bother with the energies of sitting up, but that would mean losing the position for touch to roam.

" 'm not... 'uum-'n." Talking required too much effort.

Dib noticed how out of it Zim was getting and without even hesitating, he pulled his hand away for a moment only to grab hold of the Irken and pull him up on the couch so he was halfway laying on top of his own body. Once he was sure Zim was situated, his hand went back to lightly tickling his neck, the other moving up to stroke an antenna. "You know, I’m starting to like you better this way, it's easier to talk to you."

Zim did anything but argue as he was tugged near. All it took was a comfortable place to nuzzle cheek resting on the warmed fabric of t-shirt, arms draped on either side of his head over Dib's chest and the Irken was back to purring the warm noise, growing to a more throaty sound in his comfortable state.

When Dib began to stroke his antennae, Zim opened his mouth and made a small sound, a pleased sort of moan. Otherwise he didn't say much else, leaving the talking to the human; he always seemed to have plenty enough to say for the both of them. It didn't matter to him at the moment just how easily subdued he was, though in his opinion, it was worth giving in and waving the white flag.

Dib quite enjoyed the noises coming from Zim, they were somewhat relaxing. It surprised him how the Irken put up little to no fight when pulled on top of his body, but at the same time left him pleased. His hands continued their small ministrations on Zim's body while his eyes moved back up to look at the ceiling, a soft sigh coming out of his mouth.

"Any minute now our actions are going to be headlined all over the news and yet all I do is lay here, not feeling any remorse for that massacre I had a hand in helping create. It seems so wrong, but I just don't care. If anything I wish it would have happened sooner."

Some form of a 'mmhm' managed to sound, barely audible over the rhythmic coo that would subtly rise and fall in volume with each slow and steady rise and fall of the Irken’s chest. The one antenna that wasn't pet half cocked from head in idle listen. But that was as far an insight as Zim was going to give in the jelly-like state of his usually brash mind.

Dib looked down and realized he was mostly talking to himself, and his tongue stuck out as he contemplated his next thoughts and whether to voice them. His hand that was stroking Zim's antenna switched sides to begin petting its counterpart. "You asked me what I feel earlier. I don't think I’ll ever be able to tell you." His own eyes began to close.

"Heh, you would kill me on the spot, no questions asked. It doesn't matter if I was helping you destroy the world. So you'll just have to trust me either way." His hands soon grew lax, falling beside Zim as sleep began to overtake him and he was soon snoring softly.

Once again the Irken in complete bliss, cozy against Dib's chest despite the awkwardness of falling asleep draped over and sitting up (though in all his years he'd fallen asleep hunched over computers, a chest was far more comfortable and soft).  The cooing noise continued a good moment after petering away when he was in deep and complete rest.

After both were sound asleep Gir walked in the door in his green doggy costume, and cheerfully he smiled at the scene he came home to. With an 'awww', he quickly pranced over with squeaky plush feet to grab the same pink fluffy heart and monkey blanket he used before, hoping onto the couch to drape it over them.

"Aaaand the milk man and taco princess lived 'appily ever after~" The plush dog clapped his hands quietly. "The end." He jumped off and scurried away.