brb suicide - Ch 04

brb suicide
By Kitteh and NeoFox
Rating: PG
Warnings: It’s gay ya’know. It’s gay.
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. AU. A bass backwards universe in which Dib is just your regular tom-emo in middle skool, his father isn't the renowned Professor and Zim is actually smart and oh so fabulous.
Beta: Lint

Chapter 04

Another day, another middle skool morning, the same people at the same lockers but with new words passing from their lips. Today the gossip was whipping quickly from mouth to ear, from student to student, at clocked speed. The incident in the library had wide spread, thanks to the three girls who had witnessed everything first hand. It seemed that the rumors about the new kid were solidified into fact, and all the more fed fuel doused paper into the spreading fire of gossip.

All the same, it didn't sway the small lithe teen leaning impatiently against a specific locker. Everyone knew exactly whose locker that was, and that had eyes glued even more onto Zim. Impatiently, Zim tapped the toe of his boot against the floor, crossing striped arms as he looked left and right. He felt like some kind of freak in a glass jar as students gawked by; though better for the reasons at hand, and not others that he feared.

Zim nearly fell over, startled out of his spooch by the horrendously loud bell for the start of first class rang.

It wasn't long after the bell that Zim would finally be disturbed again by another sound, when a long arm clothed in mesh moved out to slam its hand on the locker next to his head. Fingertips, the only thing free of the cloth, tapped themselves impatiently on the metal for a few seconds until the owner gave out a heavy sigh. "Can you move....please?" Dib pulled his attention on the shorter teen as soon as he stood in front of him, and tried his hardest not to look annoyed, but considering how late he was, it was hard.

Zim glared at the other for being startled a second time. "How dare you keep Zim waiting! Why are you so late?" He rose on tip toes to try to raise his hard narrowed gaze up to Dib's height. "I can't afford to waste time like you. I have a schedule to keep." He poked Dib's bare stomach. "And still freezing your organs." Zim tsked.

Dib quickly moved his arm away from the locker, just so he could move it over his stomach like he had the other times Zim poked him. "Would you quit that?" He moved his hand up to pull at the ties on his shirt, as if that would help protect it from the teen in front of him. "If you can't afford to waste time, then just go to class. Certainly, you don't need me to hold your hand through everything." He scowled. "Now move. I need to get in my locker."

The expression on the green boy's face was anything but innocent. "Where you're going, you won't need what is inside of here." Zim leaned back heavily on Dib's locker, grinning at the other as he watchfully narrowed one eye as the other was covered by dark hair. "All Zim needs, is right in front of him." The halls had gone empty, so Zim's voice fell quieter.

Dib's expression grew worse at those words. It seemed as if he may actually try to just throw Zim aside so he could get to his locker, but the hard look to his eyes soon fell away. His shoulders slumped and he moved forward, leaning with his bag against the locker beside his own. "I just get to skool and you can't even give me a moment’s peace." He let out a long sigh. "I'm really starting to regret this 'relationship'." He had moved his fingers up in quotes at the last word before he went on while turning his eyes to Zim. "What do you want anyway?"

"You said it yourself, Dib-thing. Skool time is my time." Zim pushed himself from the locker to sidle over and drape his arms from Dib's shoulders. "You are going to escort Zim to the biggest library this shiny morning. No stinky learning for you today. Just you, Zim, and that information you promised yesterday."

Dib looked down at the other body that was suddenly so close to him, then took a glance around the halls. He deemed it safe, and moved his arms up to remove Zim's own from his body so that he could walk forward without Zim attached to him. "I didn't know you were going to drag me away from skool just so you could go to the library." He turned back around to face the shorter teen and gave barely any hint of a smile. "You're really dedicated to this assignment. That's pretty pathetic." The smile turned into a grin. "Besides, I didn't promise at all. I just said I would. That doesn't count as a promise."

Zim wagged a finger and tsked. "It isn't nice to play word games with a foreigner. But!" He rocked from heel to toe on his boots, tilting his head with that usual grin on his face. "I'm sure you're familiar with the word 'blackmail'. An English word, yes? I really didn't want to resort to it. But, since the situation has come to it." Zim slunk closer, drawing a gloved finger down Dib's front much like before, giving the piercing a gentle tug. "Besides, I wasn't the one that kissed Zim. You did that on your own." He raised his head up to look at Dib with a mused narrow of eyes. "That was never a part of the agreement."

Dib flinched one eye closed at the tug. Even though it didn't hurt, it still annoyed him considering it was a bit sensitive. Zim's last few words caused Dib to blush and he quickly averted his eyes, not even bothering to try and push the other's hand away like the other times. "You wanted people to believe it, right? I just made it more official, considering it was still more of a rumor. Now you don't have to worry about people questioning it. There are still rumors, yes, but soon they'll be put to rest once the girls we saw in the library yesterday get around to everyone." He moved a hand up and fiddled with his ear. "That's all it was."

"Those gibbering girls in the library also told me you don't always go to your classes." Zim toyed with the belly piercing still; a shiny object out in the open just begged to be. "So, what's one day outside of this prison? A vacation. Zim isn't completely bad company." His hand finally fell away from the piercing. "You said so yourself, Dibness. When you did this." Zim slipped his arms around the other's bare middle.

Dib tensed even more at the sudden closeness. "I didn't mean to do that, and I'm sure I was out of my mind when I said that." He dropped his hand back down, but the only place it had to go was on top of Zim's arm, which caused him to let out a small groan. His eyes fell back on Zim and he stared at the shorter boy with an expression of complete hatred until finally, he cracked. A small pout came to his face and his voice fell low. "Fine, I'll skip skool and take you today."

Zim let out a happy squeam and gave Dib's middle a squeeze before he let go, bouncing happily for a moment. "It's a date then." He happily spun on the balls of his feet a moment, though almost fell over. With a few steadying blinks and a grin, he offered his hand. "Lead the way."

Instead of taking Zim's hand, Dib turned around and started down the hall he had come from earlier, towards the front doors. "It's not a date." He moved his eyes around, glancing at each door he passed in some form of paranoia, as if at any moment another student or teacher would pop out. It wasn't the fear of getting caught skipping that he was worried about. It was the fact he was with Zim and it still bugged him. "How long were you waiting for me anyway?"

Zim frowned and crossed his arms since he was scorned, following down the hall with no real care who saw him. "Half hour." He huffed. "Why were you so late? You weren't off writing cry-sob-wah poetry about yesterday, were you?" Zim shot Dib a glare with his words.

Dib stopped for a moment, just so he could look back and narrow his eyes on Zim. "You are a complete jerk and I despise you. I can never say that enough." With those words, he turned his eyes ahead once more and kept walking. The doors soon came into view after a few moments. "And for your information, I was late because I slept in. I didn't get to sleep until late last night."

Zim rolled his eyes, completely unimpressed. "One can only imagine because of what filthy reason why." he retorted back.

"One can only imagine what filthy reason is going through your filthy mind." Dib shot back before pulling the doors open and letting himself out. He didn't even keep them open for Zim, and instead started down the stairs. He kept walking until he got to the end of the sidewalk where he turned and looked back, knowing the shorter teen would be more than annoyed with him. "You know, you never did tell me where you're from. Obviously I figure it's not walking distance. I don't see many green people around here." He waved his hand around. "Unless there's some underground city that I don't know about." He gave a snort at that.

Zim marched down the stairs. "'What do you care'." He pushed past Dib, arms crossed, definitely not pleased with how things were going so far on his day out. "Far enough. It doesn't matter anyway. Zim is here, that's what counts. So. Tell me about the city. Text books are so boring. And I'm sure you've lived here your entire boring Dib life. Make this interesting." He looked around; otherwise he might as well just finish the job overnight. How dull.

Dib couldn't help but let a small smirk cross over his face. It was fun getting under the new kid's skin sometimes. "It's not that special. Well, I mean, it is and it isn't." He was making things confusing and he knew it. "It's the same as any other city." He started walking away from the skool, taking a right down the sidewalk. "It has all the normal things a city has. The only difference is that people act like the Professor is their god and seem to answer to him instead of the actual people that run the place." He shoved a hand in his pocket and gave an annoyed sigh. "Makes me sick how much my dad brown noses the guy."

Zim's attention was sparked. "The Professor. Yes. I read about him." He followed next to Dib. "He must be an important piece if the people here regard him so highly." the boy thought aloud. "The Professor has made many advances for this city, as apposed to others on this planet. Heh." Zim laughed to himself, entertained by something unspoken. "He's the one that implemented most of the automated services and securities that run and defend this city." Zim glanced to the other. "But that is news; your 'dad' works for this man? Convenient." Dib's sister was the most popular in skool, his father worked for the most powerful man, but still Dib was the bottom feeder of the food chain. But still, talk about having connections fall right in your lap.

Dib waved a dismissive hand at Zim's sudden interest in his life. "He doesn't help with anything important. He mostly just checks over prototypes to make sure they aren't completely bugged." He shrugged his shoulders while letting his hand fall back down. "There are tons of other people that do that though. Saying my dad helps with that is like saying he works as a janitor at that huge lab. Like I said, not important." Dib blinked his eyes and looked towards Zim. "Why is any of this convenient?"

Zim narrowed his eyes and chuckled quietly to himself. "I have a bit of experience in lab work. Part time jobs back home. Maybe I'll get a summer job there." he spoke coolly. "But go on." He loosely gestured about, meaning the city.

Dib kept his gaze on Zim for a bit longer, until he gave in and finally looked back at the sidewalk. "Well, I'll start by telling you this, the city has a problem with arsonists. Every month another building is set on fire. Last month it was the fire department." He gave a small dry laugh. "Some idiot thought it would be some kind of strange irony to do it." He raised his hand up and moved his other out of his pocket so that he could count off his fingers. "One time it was the mall, which I thought was pretty funny. Another time it was a car dealership. I think a time after that it was an actual car." He dropped his hands and looked back at Zim. "The people here like fire a lot."

Zim blinked at Dib a few times before he chuckled at the other's words. His chuckle turned into a laugh which ended up going into a full cackle. He hugged his middle as he shook with hilarious laughter. "The people here are idiots!" He shook his head as he continued to laugh. He tried to stifle it with a hand but it only continued out as giggles. "Fire!"

Dib stopped for a second just so he could watch Zim, and soon he couldn't help but let out a small quiet laugh of his own. He started walking again, but sped up just so he could walk in front of the shorter teen, turning around so he was moving backwards. "No, no, that's not the best part." He moved his hands up in front of Zim and waved them back and forth, trying to quiet the other down so he could go on. "One of them actually tried to catch the Professor's lab on fire. Part of the place ended up exploding, and it could almost be felt through half the city when it happened." A grin came over his face. "They caught the guy that did it and he was never heard from again. Spooky, right?"

Zim erupted into laughter again, letting his hand fall back to holding his middle. His shoulders still shook as he tried to settle his laughter down. "Wow. Self sufficient and destructive." He rubbed the tears from one eye from laughing so hard, still, he chuckled. "What a city. Esplode!" He flared a hand and the sound affect only had him going into a giggle fit again. "I wish I could have seen that."

Dib's steps slowed until he finally stopped just a few feet from Zim. He had been laughing along with the other teen, but his laughter died down at the other's last words. He blinked his eyes a few times and couldn't help the slow small smirk that came to his face. "I could take you there." Dib spoke as he walked forward to stand in front of Zim. He moved both his arms up just so he could place them on the other's shoulders, linking his hands around the shorter boy's neck. The act was something he knew he wouldn't have done ever in his right mind, but he was in too much of a good mood to care. So, he would play along for now. "The lab is still being worked on because the explosion was pretty big. I could take you after we're done at the library, so that you can see what they haven't cleaned up yet."

Zim practically lit up and his laughter subsided. Clawed thumbs slipped themselves in the pockets of Dib's tight pants, and the boy was tugged closer to Zim; though Zim slunk the closest. "Yes! I want to see the destruction." His grin was wide and his chest heaved slightly, almost out of breath. "I want to see the mythical place of explosion that shook the town." He pressed his chest to Dib's, his voice falling quiet and huskier. "Did you feel it? The fiery explosion?"

Dib jumped a bit, startled at Zim's actions. Having the shorter teen so close to him caused him to stay silent for a long time before he realized Zim had actually asked him a question. "Feel it?" Dib averted his eyes after he echoed the question, suddenly wanting to look at anything but Zim. "Y-Yeah, I felt it. My dad had us move closer to the lab not too long after he got the job, so when the explosion happened, it pretty much rocked the house." His hands wrung themselves behind the other's neck for a few seconds before he went on, suddenly nervous. "It caused a huge commotion on our block."

Dib could feel the thoughtful sound purr in Zim's chest before the green boy spoke "It must have been quite a disturbance." Zim chuckled low in his throat. "I bet you loved it though. Stuff falling every which way, things falling over, fragiles breaking..." He neared his head to the other's, and had he had a nose, it would have touched Dib's. "Bet the Dib even ran out to see the flaming chaos too."

Dib quickly stared back right into Zim's eyes when the other boy invaded his personal space too much for his liking. He didn't try to pull away though, and instead he continued to stand just as close to the shorter teen. "I might have." He quickly shook his head at what he said, but still kept his eyes on Zim's. "I mean, ran outside to look." Without even thinking about it, one of his fingers that was free of the mesh moved to stroke the back of Zim's neck as he kept talking. "That's not to say it wasn't interesting I wouldn't have looked if it wasn't." A guilty look came over his face. "It wasn't boring."

Zim's gaze shifted shut some, needless to say he was quite placated. "I'm betting." He didn't bother to fight his shutting eyes and relaxed quite easily. "All flamey with fire. Quite exciting, yes? Bet you'd want to see such excitement again, wouldn't you?" He cracked an eye open to glance at Dib.

Dib shrugged his shoulders at Zim's words. "I don't know. It was a change from the normal and it was pretty entertaining just to watch most of the people panicking over it." His eyes dropped down to his arms. He realized in that moment just what he was doing, but instead of moving his hands away, he only narrowed his eyes. "I was able to come up with some pretty good drawings after it happened." Despite his expression, a small smirk came to his lips as he moved his eyes back to Zim's own. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't mind seeing it happen again."

Zim chuckled lazily, bowing his head a moment; half debating if he should rest his head against Dib's shoulder. "Well, if you're a good Dib, you might not have to wait long." That said, he slipped his hands from Dib's pockets, resting them on the other's hips as he pulled away, then completely, a few steps. He shook his head to get his hair from both eyes; with obviously no success. "Let the journey continue." He offered his hand once more, like before, still with a lazy grin.

Dib let his own arms drop back down to his sides once Zim stepped back. The words the other said had him tilting his head as a curious expression came over his face, but once Zim offered his hand he forgot all about it. He looked down and debated if he should just turn around and start walking again. Looking up, though, he realized that as they had been talking, people had been walking around them, which meant he had no dignity left even out of skool. So, with a heavy sigh, he raised a hand back up just to grab hold of the other teen's and clasped their fingers. "You're such a pain." He didn't even wait for the other to answer before he started dragging him along.

Zim gave a happy cackle, a few quick marching steps and he was up to speed beside the other. "Admit it, you like it." He clasped the other's hand back, his pointed fingers barely digging into skin.

Dib gave a short glance back before just as quickly looking at the sidewalk ahead. "No, I don't like it." He took a sharp turn as soon as he neared the corner. "I will be so glad when this agreement is over. Having you hang all over me all day is not going to be pleasant." He gave a shudder that ran through his whole body. "I still can't believe I kissed you. I really was out of my mind yesterday." He looked back just to glance at their hands. "I'm out of my mind today, as well it seems."

"No, I think you are well inside it. More inside it than you've ever been." Zim looked over the passing scenery, paying no mind to Dib's display of facial disgust. So many naive idiots in one place, going nowhere fast. It was kind of hypnotic to watch. But the air smelled terrible! Zim waved a hand in front of his face; vehicle exhaust, how vile. "Dib." Zim's attention fell back on the other. "I am going to ask you one question. If you do not answer it seriously, Zim will be greatly offended." He playfully swung their hands between them. "Understood?"

Dib raised his eyes up from their hands to meet Zim's eyes. He kept his gaze on the other's face for a few moments until he finally looked away. His attention more on where he was taking them than anything else at the moment. "Yeah sure, I guess."

Zim smiled, pleased with the cooperation. "If you knew you had one day, only one, before the entire planet was destroyed;" He hopped from one foot to the other idly. "what would you do?"

Dib's steps slowed, and when Zim was done talking, they were finally standing in front of the steps that led to the doors of the library. He didn't move to start up the stairs and instead turned to face Zim once more with their hands still clasped. "That's a stupid question." Even though those words left his mouth, he still answered. "If I only had one day left, then I would just deal with the fact I had one day left." A small scowl formed on his face. "Why suddenly decide I want to do something different on that day as apposed to any other day? It doesn't matter what last thing I was to do. It would all be over anyway."

Zim's brows rose some. "Hm. How very realistic." But just as quickly as the compliment left him, he gave a disappointed look Dib's way. "But so very, very boring." He tugged his hand free of the other's and started up the steps to the library. "You'd probably write stupid poetry about it anyway." he added without looking back.

Dib glared at Zim's back as the other teen walked up the stairs. After a few moments he let out an annoyed sigh and followed after the green teen, catching up to him after a bit. "Quit making fun of my poetry. I don't make fun of how ridiculous you look." He ran his eyes over Zim before letting out an amused sound. "And you really do look ridiculous."

That had Zim's gaze snapping behind him to Dib in a sharp glare. "At least I didn't skin a screen door and wear its hide on my arms. What's next; the couch? Or the poor helpless curtains?" He slammed his hands into the door and marched into the library.

Dib looked down at his arms for a quick moment, before a small pout came over his face that he sent Zim's way. The other teen was already inside the brick building though, so the look was wasted on the glass doors. With a defeated noise, Dib hurried up the rest of the stairs and opened the doors himself, letting them slam closed behind him. It was easy to catch sight of Zim, so he tried his best to catch up to the green boy without causing too much of a commotion. "Is there anything about me that you can talk about without putting it down?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe then I could do the same."

Zim walked down a random isle, not giving Dib another look as the other followed. "You first." he returned curtly. He looked along the titles as he walked, definitely the wrong section; 'how to fit this entire book down your throat in six easy steps! Impress your friends!' Oh yes, this planet needed exploding; or at least set on fire for a very long time. "I have yet to hear compliments leave your deadly stinger mouth on Zim." He ran a claw along the spines of books as he walked.

Dib clacked the piercing in his tongue against his teeth rather loudly at the last thing Zim said. His eyes moved over to watch Zim's hand as it moved along the books, becoming curious with the other's fingers. "Alright then. I like your hair." It seemed as if that was all Dib was going to say, but after a small noise, he spoke up again. "And you look better in a skirt than half the girls in our skool." He raised a hand up to scratch at his cheek after the words left him. "Happy?"

The green boy stopped and paused. Slowly, he turned to look up at Dib, skeptical at first. "You like Zim's hair?" He pointed at his dark hair before running a hand through the thick bangs that always over hung his face. "And my..-skirt?" Zim tugged at the bottom hem of his black skirt, racked with buckles, the colour matching his pants and boots. He scoffed some before he crossed his arms, one hand tapping his teeth in thought. "Fine. Your..-you're very. Hm." He narrowed his eyes, straining to pluck something from his brain. "You." He knocked at his head. "I like it when..-no. Uh." He pointed at Dib's belly piercing. "I like that. Yes."

Dib raised a brow. "Gee, thanks." He turned his attention away just so he could look around the aisle they were in. Nothing of real interest was around. At least nothing he thought Zim would be looking for. "Hmm, come on." He reached his hand out to grab hold of the other's much like before. He then started to drag Zim around, out of the aisle and down the library until he got to a small stand that kept what looked like a book much too large to be held up. "You wanted a dictionary, right?" He let go of Zim's hand just so the other teen could stand next to him. "This is the only one they have here. Well, the biggest one at least. It's the most up to date and as far as I know, the most accurate. You can't take it with you though."

The hand Zim had raised to rub his arm stopped in the air and fell back at his side. His eyes grew wide and his entire body went straight and stiff, while his arms were as lax and limp as noodles. "T-that-?" he squeaked. It was huge! Scanning it would take- years; how many useless words were in this pathetic language he had to pretend to be fluent in to speak.

Dib blinked his eyes at Zim's sudden change in mood. "Yeah, that." He shrugged his shoulders while moving a hand out to flip through random pages in the book. His eyes never really settled on one word the entire time. "So what? You don't need the entire thing, right? Just start working on your assignment here and while you're doing that, you can keep checking this back and forth between your work if it's really that important." He turned his attention back on Zim. "That's what you need it for, right?"

The green boy went entirely limp, it was a miracle he stayed standing. He turned his head to look at Dib, his hair unkind to his sight. "A-anything in that See-Dee format instead?" He smiled weak and hopefully.

Dib shook his head while he stopped playing with the pages. "There is no dictionary on CD. There's no point in it." He moved to lean against the stand, letting his bag drop from one shoulder in the process. "It would be pretty stupid for one person to sit there for hours listening to a CD that has every word in the human language and their meanings. If there was such a person, and I was that person, I'd shoot myself."

"I wouldn't be listening to it." Zim promptly thudded his forehead against Dib's chest. "Just, using it for reference. I can't run ALL the way back here each time I don't know a word. That would be a waste of Zim's precious, precious time!" He tinkered with Dib's belly ring, which he noticed was just below his line of sight. "Stupid human language. You can't need every word in there to be spoken. I bet you've only spoken two percent-- no- point zero two percent of that book."

Dib raised a hand, about to slap Zim's own away, but at the last second, decided against it. It was useless trying to get the other teen to leave the piece of metal alone, so he decided to just give up. "More than likely." He let his hand move out to flick what he could see of Zim's hair aside, before dropping it back down. "Just don't worry about it. You've gotten this far with the weird way you use words. I'm sure the way you write can't be any worse, right?" He tapped his foot on the floor for a second before stuttering out his next words. "I-If you want...I could help you? You want me to stick around you anyway."

Zim slowly raised his head up to look at Dib, one eye narrowed. "You?"

Dib tensed up at the sudden look Zim gave him, but slowly a scowl formed on his face. "Geez, you act like I'm diseased or something." He looked away to the side as the scowl fell and he began to pout. "You're the one that's suddenly having problems with the assignment because you don't have a dictionary. I just figure that if you have trouble with a word or something, I could help you out."

Zim stood back up straight, using Dib as ground to do so. "Zim never has trouble with his assignments; ever." He looked back at the big, mean dictionary and gave a whine. Rubbing between his eyes, he sighed. "Find Zim what you did before. But get as much information as you can on See-Dee instead of book format." Zim pulled the scanner from before from his back-pak and handed it to Dib. "Anything on current cities on this planet, their military; just the same as you did for this one. That should be good."

Dib took the scanner from Zim's hands and gave a small sigh. "Fine, whatever you say." He moved away from the stand and shrugged his bag back on his other shoulder. "This is such a stupid essay. I'm so glad I've never had to transfer." With those last few words he made his way over to where he knew a much larger selection of CDs were located, compared to the one at skool.

"And you won't ever." Zim quietly chuckled to himself. That kept the Earth-monkey busy, doing his dirty work, while it left himself to something a little more fun; messing with human technology.
Zim walked over to a free computer in a long row of computers set up for research. There weren't many people on the computers, but it didn't matter, no one would notice, had noticed, or cared so far for the earless, noseless, green skinned teen anyway.

With a readying inhale, Zim crackled his knuckles and wiggled his fingers over the keyboard. "Computer. I command you to turn on."

Nothing happened.

"Turn on." Zim repeated. Still nothing. "On. Now." Still nothing. He poked a random key on the keyboard. Nothing. He poked more keys. Not a thing. "Zim demands you turn on." He tapped the screen. Its screen obviously wasn't touch activated. He shook the box shaped screen and pressed the side of his head to it; something rattled inside. "Maybe... it's empty." He made a thoughtful noise. "Guess it's the old fashion way for Zim." he narrated, pulling out cord from his back-pak. He leaned over the computer tower, looking over the back. With a squeal he plugged it in the appropriate port. "Good to see all places of insertion are universal."

There were a few giggles and whistles behind Zim and quickly he stood back up and pulled the back of his skirt down. "Perverts!" he hissed back, shaking a fist.

In his search through the CDs, Dib hadn't really been all that surprised to find most of what Zim had wanted. The normal library was much more up to date and efficient than the one at Skool. By the time he was done, he had ten cases that he was trying to carry, but thankfully they were pretty thin. Otherwise, he was sure he would have dropped them all. It made his trip a bit harder though. In the end, he gave in and put a few of the cases inside his bag and settled for carrying some under his arm. The final books he was able to find tucked under the other arm. The scanner was clutched between his teeth as he tried to carry everything else.

Not seeing Zim near where Dib had left him, the teen gave in and just picked a table at random to sit down at. He didn't really care either way, as it let him drop everything he had been carrying. He didn't even opened his bag to take out the rest, and instead just set it aside in favor of taking the scanner out of his mouth and switching it on. His hand picked up the first book it touched and he quickly got to work.

Zim, on the other hand, sat perfectly at ease in his chair at the computer. With arms crossed and one leg draped over the other, he hummed a random tune to himself, tapping the beats with his toe. On the screen, images, videos, and information in different windows popped on and off. This was far easier than manually scouring for information; and far quicker for that matter.

Zim turned his gaze to finally have a proper look at the library, since he had the time in his accomplishments. It was big, but Zim had seen bigger and far more impressive on other planets. There was nothing of any particular worth, nothing to be bothered saving. It would all be quite better conquered. The alien race here would probably end up serving soft drinks and fast food to him and other cosmic races; and isn't that what really mattered in the long run?

As his eyes wandered, Zim spotted Dib busy at his work at a table, not too far off. It was amazing how easy this all was; far too brilliant. It was a shame to think that the Dib would end up just another slave like the rest of his useless species. Not that there were many qualities about the Dib worth keeping. Zim ho-hummed. Just another planet under his many tallies of conquered. He rested his cheek on a hand; how boring. At least there was some little amusement on this planet. Zim glanced back to Dib.

The whole task of scanning page after page was soon becoming tedious and boring to Dib. One of his arms had moved up so that an elbow could rest on the table, and his chin could rest on his hand during the process. The position only caused him to become more tired and bored of the situation. He had told Zim that he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and it was true. His sister had invited all of the other cheerleaders over for some kind of meeting, which turned into a party, which turned into him staying in his room the entire time and getting no sleep until they left.
Realizing in that moment that he was alone with no Zim around to pester him, Dib gave out a low groan before he dropped the scanner on the table. Right after that, his head was soon to follow right on the book he was scanning as he tried to get some semblance of sleep while the terror that had been unleashed on him was gone.

Zim jerked upright in his chair as he saw what Dib did. Asleep! How dare he! On his mission!? No hired help falls asleep on him!

The green boy made motion to move but felt the tie back of the cord still in the computer, searching and downloading. Zim grunted then groaned and sat back down. There was no leaving, not while he was still plugged in. But still, Dib was wasting Zim's precious time!

Then again… Zim tugged the cord at his pak, more cord came out for slack. He grinned. He had enough extension to walk over and give the Dib an awakening smack.

Up Zim rose, leaving a corded trail behind as he walked over to Dib's table; in the process tripping over two students and tangling up some poor kindergartener. But he made it and scowled down at the other boy. "Pierced-monkey." he hissed, tugging on the pierced lock. "No sleeping on the job!"

The tug on his hair had Dib jerking back with the action and letting out an annoyed groan. "Zim..." The name came out as more of a whine than an actual name. "I wasn't sleeping I was resting my eyes. I swear." He let his eyes fall back down on the book that looked so inviting, even though it was as hard as a rock. "Just a few more minutes."

Zim crossed his arms and bore his gaze straight through Dib's big head; mmm swiss cheese brain matter, just like mom used to make. "You don't need sleep. Sleep is unnecessary. What do you need to sleep for? Your eyes look rested enough as they are." He jutted out his lower jaw stubbornly. Another random student tripped over the wire with a yelp; books went flying.

Dib looked back at the sudden disturbance and blinked his eyes. "Um..." He moved a hand up to scratch at his head, causing the piercing in his hair to jingle. "Well, I need it to function." He looked back at Zim and raised a brow. "What do you run on, coffee twenty-four seven?" He shook his head and looked back down at the book while letting his hand fall down to pick the scanner back up. "Although, I guess that would explain why you never want to sit still."

"Cough. Heat?" Zim blinked curiously. He tapped his teeth with a claw and then suddenly pointed it. "Coffee! A beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans." He made quote fingers as he spoke. "'He ordered a cup of coffee'. A seed of the coffee tree; ground to make coffee. Also," he pointed "a medium to dark brown color." Zim jabbed a finger Dib's way. "I knew there was a digital thing with the words and the stuff that is definitions!"

"You're so strange." Dib started to run the scanner over each page, much like he had been before he had tried to sleep. "You have to be the first person I've met that didn't know what coffee was. You talk in third person so much I sometimes get confused." He flipped the page and started scanning the next one immediately. "Not to mention you are the only person that has been so fascinated with my navel piercing that it scares me." He gave a small yawn before he was able to go on. "I should start poking at you in sensitive places and see how you like it.”

"Oh!" Zim rested his hands on the table and leaned forward, invading that personal space of Dib's. "Is that a promise?" Unfortunately, it pulled the cord behind him more taut and four more students in crossing (one of them a college student) went tripping over.

Dib looked behind himself, at the poor souls that were sprawled out on the floor. He only gave a small shrug at the situation before turning his eyes back to Zim. "Isn't it a little too early in our relationship for foreplay?" With that, he turned his eyes back to the book and tapped the scanner against the page a few times before he continued his work. "Go ask someone else to grope you."

That last comment had the back of Zim's hand slapping across Dib's cheek. The green boy then turned around, quite insulted, and stormed from the table, dragging the many people he'd caught in his tangled mess of cord he'd weaved, back with him to the computer he'd originally been on.

The slap had Dib's eyes widening and his glasses tilting if not almost falling from his face. What people that weren't being dragged along behind Zim were suddenly staring at him, and it had him trying to hide his face behind his hand as he righted his glasses. Once he did that, he shot a nasty look Zim's way, but the other teen wasn't even looking at him. The slap that had been given to him was much too painful, and he still didn't understand how that could be possible.

Dib let his eyes fall back to the work laid out in front of him, giving up on Zim and with a scowl he threw the scanner aside without even turning it off. He stood up from the chair and picked up his bag, dumping out the rest of the CDs in the process before he closed it up. "Screw this. It was a stupid idea." With those words he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed back towards the glass doors.

Zim stalked all the way to his chair, but he didn't sit down, no. He wouldn't let Dib have the last word. That aggravating and uncooperative human. Zim sharply turned around and jabbed a finger in Dib's direction. "YOU'RE A HORRIBLE BOYFRIEND! Walking out on me!" his voice cracked, but it was more out of anger.

"Lawl." One student giggled to another. "Lovers spat."

"I think she's pregnant." The other whispered loudly. Many gasps followed that one; all eyes on Dib.

Dib stopped in his tracks at that. His fists clenched at his sides tightly, and without much thought to what he was doing, he quickly turned around and pointed towards Zim. "She can't be pregnant you morons, because she is a he!" Of course maybe it would have been better if he had just kept his mouth shut, because suddenly it was like he was back in skool all over again. Why was he always surrounded by the most giggly and annoying people?

Dib bowed his head with a groan and dropped his hand. He should have just walked away. Why he didn't ignore the green teen was beyond him. Usually nothing could get under his skin so badly. What was wrong with him?

Zim clapped his hands on his cheeks and shook his head fretfully. "How can you be so insensitive, Dib-stain! To our unborn child!" His hands fluttered down to his chest. "Oh wait, humans carry their worm babies in their…" he murmured quickly to himself as he lowered his hands to his stomach. "Zim is just a young girl, just moved to the big shiny, scary city from the, uh, dirt farm back home." He quickly clicked his back-pak and the cord unlatched from the computer and zipped from around the people, back to its source. "All Zim ever wanted was a place to belong. And to be loved. Yes. Loveless is Zim!" He casually walked over to the mess of table Dib had left, cracking open the CD cases and dumping the CDs in his pak; people were far too interested in the drama to care what he was doing. "Now our twin smee--babies, Bleech and Klein, will be fatherless, as Zim goes to live on the streets. They'll be addicted to baking soda and liquid soup because I can't afford anything else to feed them!"

People shook their wide eyed heads, whispering and clicking their tongues at Dib; what was the world coming to these days! Illegitimate children- for shame!

Dib's body seemed to shake more and more with each word Zim said. Every whispered word that he could hear from people he didn't know wasn't helping the situation much either. Finally, with quick steps, Dib nearly stomped over to Zim and grabbed his arm. "We're leaving. Now!" He left no real room for argument considering he was already dragging the other teen towards the glass doors, ready to slam the fragile material aside once he got to them.

"Careful-! You'll hurt the smeets- Baby!-- I said baby- er- babies!"

Then the library alarm went off; the CDs were still in Zim's back-pak.

Zim blinked, more startled by the alarm than Dib's dark furious anger. "Oh. RUN FAST!" He latched onto the mesh on Dib's arm, his turn to yank the boy, out through the doors, pulling him to leap over the stairs, not bothering to take the time to go down them.

Dib almost flew through the air considering Zim was still pulling him when the shorter boy decided to jump over each stair. "Zim!" He knew calling the other's name would do no good, but he felt the need to scream something in that moment. As soon as his feet touched the ground and they started running, he tried to yank his arm free, but it felt like Zim had a death grip on him, so he was forced to run with the shorter teen as best he could. "You moron! Why didn't you put the books back? I hate you!"

Zim cackled, pulling Dib along as he took down a street, jerking the other left and right to dodge people who just didn't bother to move for the rampaging teenagers. "There-! I gave you new inspiration to write! You owe Zim now!" He lashed out a hand to grab a street lamp and whip them around to run across a careless street. He gave a hard grunt when he yanked Dib with him, it panged his shoulder joint, but he still didn't let go. "Or, maybe it makes us even. Something." Zim glanced back. "No one is chasing us. Victory! Our grand escape is successful!"

Dib finally yanked his arm free of Zim's grip and glared hard at the other as he slowed to a stop. "You are so unbelievable." He walked up to the shorter teen and kept walking until he backed the other into a wall. "You stole from a library, Zim. You know how completely stupid that is? It's a library!" He moved his arms up and placed his hands on either side of the wall by Zim's head, nearly bending forward and invading the other's space. "I should just turn around right now and forget all about you and this agreement we made because so far it's been nothing but trouble. Screw everyone at skool. They can think what they want."

Zim's pak clacked against the paint chipped wall and he tried to press as close to it as possible, hands spreading over the surface, the back of his head clunked against the wall and he gave a small nervous giggle as it did. His Adams appleless throat dance with a swallow, but still his eyes shifted part way closed. "Don't." he spoke, a begging tone that would never be admitted to hidden under the husky voice. Zim leaned forward, barely an inch, to touch his lips in the briefest of kisses before moving back, head clunking against the wall again. "Please." His voice whispered just that much more as he arched back on the wall.

The tiny kiss had Dib's eyes opening as wide as they could and his hands on the wall clenching. The only reason he didn't completely space out in that moment was because of the one word Zim had spoken after the kiss. He gave one slow blink, trying to snap himself out of it before he finally bowed his head. A heavy sigh came from him that could be seen as his body shifted. Not once did he drop his arms, but they did go slack just a bit. "I hate you..." The words didn't hold their usual bite, but still sounded just as annoyed. "I hate you so much."

A single claw wrapped the pierced lock around itself, letting it pull away with a bounce. "No you don't." Zim's winning grin could definitely be heard, even if it wasn't seen.

"You don't know anything." Dib finally pulled his arms away from the wall and moved away from Zim completely. "Come on. I said I would take you to the lab after we were done at the library." He started walking down the sidewalk without looking back at the other teen. "I might as well do it, or else you won't let me hear the end of it. Maybe afterwards I'll get some sort of peace from you."

Zim pushed from the wall and hurried after Dib with a pleased sound. He walked beside the other, looking around the area in brief curiosity. "You know, I think it's become habit forming, Dibness." He pulled something from his back-pak and offered it Dib's way; the two CDs from the skool library that he'd given Zim. "The security for the library at skool sucks moose."

Dib glanced to the side and let out a groan. "Zim..." Much like he had done in the library, he let out the other's name as a whine. "Now I can see why you had to transfer." His reached a hand out to take the CDs and held them up to look them over. "You're a thief. Did everyone get sick of you stealing from them all the time?" Another noise came from him and he shook his head. "I'm going to be in so much trouble. People knew I was with you yesterday."

Zim pointed at the other and spoke rather matter-o-factly. "Zim haven't stolen from you."

"Yes you have." Dib shifted around so that his bag was in front of him and proceeded to open it up so he could throw the CDs inside. "You stole what little bit of normalcy I had left at Skool." Once he was done, he didn't even bother to move his bag back in place, and just swung it at his side. "Which I will admit wasn't a lot, but what matters is that you stole it."

Zim blinked sharply at that. He gave the other a quick look up and down before he broke out in loud cackling laughter. He glanced back at Dib and saw that the boy was completely serious, which only had Zim laughing harder. He clapped his hands over his mouth to muffle it, but it did little good. Tightly, he shut his eyes and giggled through his fingers. "Hilarious!" Zim fanned his face with a hand. "Well, take it back, pierced-monkey, shorty shirt, screen door skinner, dark of doom, boy of black book. Though be warned:" Zim narrowed his eyes at Dib, still chuckling through his grin "it's kept in a naughty spot."

The laughter didn't really help Dib's mood much, and he shot Zim a dirty look because of it, which only turned disgusted because of the green boy's last words. "That's okay, you can keep it." He turned his eyes back on the sidewalk and swung his bag just a bit harder. "What's your odd fascination with wanting me to touch you? I don't see what's so great about all this physical contact you want."

"Zim is touchable." The green boy nodded. "Lickable. Taste-able. Hug-able. Snug-able. Kiss-able; even you, Dib-lips, couldn't resist that one!" Zim pointed in the other's direction triumphantly. "I don't see what your screamy, red faced annoyance is with not touching. If you don't like touch, you should be naked and floating." He stared at Dib. "And you aren't. So, any touch you get is your own fault."

Dib turned his eyes back on Zim and opened his mouth, but closed it just as quickly, not really sure how to answer that last one. So, instead, he forgot about that and tried to defend himself for what else Zim said. "I told you why I did that. You really need to listen better." He gave a small shrug and turned narrowed eyes ahead once more. "I don't really see what's so great about you. You're not so hug-able or whatever else you said. I could easily go without you, and I will when this is all over."

Zim stared at Dib. He raised a hand to scratch through his hair; itchy itchy. "You weren't hugged enough as a child, were you? Oh!" He chuckled quiet and lewdly. "Let me guess: you were hugged too much."

That earned Zim a hard glare that could have very well melted his face off if at all possible. Dib lifted his bag with one hand and moved it in front of the shorter teen's face as he spoke in a low voice. "I am two seconds away from slamming this thing in your face and walking away, just to let someone else pick up the remains."

Zim pushed the bag from his face with a huff. "Such a charmer. Do you say that to all your boyfriends?"

Dib dropped his bag back down and gave a small whine that his anger had been brushed off so easily. "I've never even been in a relationship before, you moron!" His whine turned into an aggravated noise as he turned his attention away from the other. "I don't want to be in a relationship and I was happy not being in one the entire time!" He bowed his head, but still seemed to know where he was going. "Why does nothing get through to you?"

Zim flitted his fingers, wiggling them in gesture. "Then what was that smelly poem about? 'My soul is trapped in your eye balls. One more kiss. And I'll miss.. something.. that probably rhymes with balls.' You know, that one. Seems pretty relationshippy-ness to me."

Dib kept his attention away from Zim, and while the other teen spoke, his own body tensed up. His hand moved up so he could put his bag back on while he walked in silence. After he was settled, he finally spoke up, his voice just as low as before. "Hurry up, we're almost there." With that, his own steps quickened, not really caring if Zim kept up or not.

"HEY!" Zim's arms shot up and he waved them about, making a spectacle of himself. "Zim asked you a question! You heard!" He picked up his own pace to catch up. "Ugh. Don't tell me it involves a tragic past. An organ scorned and broken." He placed a hand on his chest. "Unless it involves severed limbs and weapons of mass destruction flattening and disintegrating cities and towns, it can't be THAT sad." He eyed Dib.

"It's none of your business either way." Dib still refused to look at Zim even as he spoke and kept his eyes on his boots, watching each step he took. "Nothing about my life is any of your business besides that small little bit I told you about my dad, and I still can't believe I told you that." He gave a small shrug. "Small bit of insanity. I won't let it happen again."

Zim rolled his eyes at the drama, sweeping back his thick bangs, but having no ears to tuck the hair behind, it made the motion useless. "As your boyfriend, I am required to know past qualifiers. Especially if they've made enough of an impact for you to 'write' about them." He dropped his hair and it fell back, blinding one eye and he sighed with a shrug. "At least this means you're not used merchandise. Used in the head, yes, but physically you are pristine." He glanced and poked one of the earrings on Dib's ear. "To a point… or pierce, in this case."

Dib quickly moved his head away from Zim's fingers and shot another glare at the other. "It's all pretend. Pretend means you don't have to know anything about me." He gave a small huff before looking back down. "We act all lovey dovey..." He gave a shudder at that." ...around each other and that's it. You don't have to be nosy about my personal business. Get over it."

"Hmf. It was probably just some day you were emotionally constipated anyway." Zim shrugged off Dib's refusal to answer. "It's probably not worth wringing it out of you anyway. I much rather see the place of explodey. Give me flaming random chaos any day over drama, and emotional attachment." He spread out his arms, painting the picture in his minds eye.

Dib only gave a small noise that he even acknowledged anything Zim had said. He was perfectly fine with walking in complete silence while the other boy tried his best to imagine the explosion that was talked about earlier.

Much like Dib had said, they hadn't been far from the lab. Rounding another corner, the gigantic building came in sight and took up almost a whole block. Neon signs were everywhere, around each part of the building signaling what was what just to make it plainly obvious. Just in case the workers didn't know where to go. Only one part of the lab seemed as if it was completely shut down and that was the part that looked as if a bomb had gone off in it. Most of the building was torn off, and construction workers were still trying to piece together what they could to make it whole again.

Dib stopped across the street from the wrecked half and titled his head. An amused sort of sound came from him before he actually spoke up while looking towards Zim. "I told you it was bad."

Zim spared no moment to go running up to the yellow tape and warning signs put to keep pedestrians out of the area. The green boy was all grins as he turned his head this way and that to look at the damage done. He tilted his head and tapped his chin with a thoughtful poise. "I've done worse. Um- I mean, I've seen worse. But, not bad, not bad for someone of our own kind blowing up our own. Really, if this flaming man wanted to do more damage, he should have attacked the places of pillar-age. Ya'know, kick em where it counts. If he just bombed there, there, and there." Zim pointed in specific places of building support. "The WHOLE lab could have come tumbling down in a grand display of exploding BOOM!" He threw out his arms.

Dib had followed slowly behind Zim, taking his time. He wasn't nearly as excited about seeing the damage as the green teen was. A few words the other said had him raising a brow before he shrugged his shoulders, chalking it up to the strange way Zim spoke. "You're weird. I can't believe you're actually standing here, telling me how the person could have gone about actually blowing up the whole building." He moved up behind Zim and took the teen's hands, which were still raised, and brought them down, crossing them both in front of the other's chest along with his own. "You scare me."

Zim chuckled lightly. "Yeaa, I know I'm amazing." He ran his gaze over the charred mortar, metal, tile and glass that littered the area; it was like an impossible shamble that could never be glued together. It was a vast sight, the lab was several stories high, so the ruin and cave ins made curious looking catacombs; strangely inviting to a mind looking for trouble. Zim seemed to relax, despite his arms being loosely pinned to his own chest. "Ever went in? The wreckage? Isn't that what loners and juvenile delinquents do?" Zim glanced back curiously at Dib; of all things he was actually honest in his questions. "That's what the interweb said. Or... maybe I saw it on Tee-Vee." He blinked thoughtfully.

Even when Zim looked at him, Dib still kept his eyes ahead on the work being done to the lab. The questions didn't bother him like they normally would, and instead he answered them calmly. "A few times. It's hard to go in when it's so blocked off. There's a lot of security around this place, especially now. It's tough to come at night, because that's when the guards really look out for trespassers. They've started to slack off, though. The job gets boring." He shrugged his shoulders while still keeping hold of Zim's hands. "At least that's what Dad told me. I've taken advantage of it sometimes to just have a place to go for my own reasons."

Zim leaned back against Dib so he could lean his head back to look at the other better. He blinked a few times, equally curious. "What reasons?"

Dib finally turned his attention down on Zim. The other teen's question had him staying silent for a few moments and it seemed as if he wouldn't answer. His grip loosened on Zim's hands and he turned his eyes away before he finally did speak. "I told you that nothing about me was any of your business."

Zim leaned back more, sticking out a foot to keep his balance as he leaned the back of his head on Dib's shoulder. With a small sound, he landed a quick kiss against Dib's cheek, clicking his heels back together, but he leaned against the other still. "How about now?" He grinned, widely baring rigid teeth.

Dib glanced at Zim out the corner of his eyes at the sudden kiss. Without a word, he finally pulled his hands back away from the other's, just so he could raise one up and wipe his cheek. Once that was done he dropped them back down, only to rest them on Zim's shoulders while looking back at the wreckage. When he spoke again, his voice was low and almost couldn't be heard over the workers. "I don't enjoy having anything to do with my family. I hate talking to my dad and I just hate..." He looked away at nothing in particular with narrowed eyes. "...her." He gave a heavy sigh and took one quick look back down at Zim before he let his eyes move back to the lab. "I'd rather be secluded in this mess than hang around either of them. I'm nothing like them."

Zim pointed at the lab in an 'in there?' gesture. He gave a thoughtful noise. "So." he drew out that one word before closing one eye. "What do you do in there?" He leaned his head back again to glance his one open eye at Dib.

Dib dropped his hands completely just so he could shove them in his pockets. "It's just somewhere to hang out. You can't really do much in a blown up lab." He gave a small smirk. "I tried to leave a drawing on the wall, but I think they keep trying to clean it off because every time I go back, part of it is smudged away." He moved one hand back up just to scratch at the back of his head. "I fell asleep in there one time and almost got caught. I just had to pretend I was homeless and they let me go."

Zim couldn't help but cackle into his hand. "Dib-hobo." He stepped from Dib and up to the yellow tap, clasping it a moment to look over the sight again. "Too bad it's being worked on right now. I would have made you invite me in." He glanced back at Dib as a cool wind blew by, rustling anything loose as it went by. "Cold breathable atmosphere." Zim clacked his teeth together and huddled to himself, patting warmth into his arms. He tugged his skirt down, but it was too short to give any warmth, even if he was wearing pants on underneath.

"I wouldn't have let you in either way." Dib kept his eyes on Zim the entire time the shorter teen walked away. The way the other boy shivered had him looking away, trying to ignore the act as best he could. He couldn't help but look back and give out a frustrated noise when he finally gave in. He shifted his arms around so he could take off his bag, just so his jacket could follow. Much like before, he didn't bother to put his bag back on, and swung it by his side as he walked up to Zim, handing the piece of clothing over. His eyes averted as he spoke up. "Here, take it, even though it's not the warmest thing. It will still help."

Zim looked over the jacket, but eventually took it. He gave a slight smirk as he slipped the offered coat on; short sleeves, but another layer of clothing helped a little. "Do you always make angry noises when you do things?" He pulled the jacket tighter and closer, huddling into it. "Always grunting like some kind of piggy-buffalo." He turned back around to look at the wreckage. Soon it would all look like that. It was inspiring, really.

"Only when stupid people annoy me." Dib turned his eyes back on Zim. He found it strange how someone else other than himself was wearing his jacket, but quickly shrugged it off and stood next to the other teen. "I don't really see what's so interesting about all of this. Sure, it would have been much more exciting when it first happened, but right now it's just a burned down part of a lab. What do you find so amazing about it?"

"Going to tell about the eye ball kissing poem?" Zim returned Dib's questioning.

Dib shrugged his bag back on before turning around to head down the street. "If we're done, I'm going back home. You can keep the jacket. I'll get it back tomorrow." He kicked at a piece of trash that was in his way. "I'm sure you know your way home. Date over."

"Hmf! Don't even walk a girl home. No wonder you've never had a 'relationship'; you're a horrible boyfriend." Zim blew the hair from his face; aggravating and artificial- no wonder the Dib liked it. "If there even is a skool to go back to... tomorrow." He narrowed his eyes at the wreckage.