Changes Ch6

When Zim arrived back to the room which previously contained Dib, he looked around and saw no-one. “Huh?” Now he WAS confused… Had he made the human so angry that he left? Zim sighed. Well, tomorrow was Tuesday, and that meant Skool, but would the human even be in Skool, maybe his ribs would have gotten worse… Or maybe Zim was just panicking slightly. He looked around the room, seemed a lot more dark and boring when Dib wasn’t here to keep him company… He turned around and put the pain killers down on the side table, he didn't need them since the human was gone. He then made his way out of the room, back down to his lab to do more research.

During his walk, Dib tried desperately to remember the right way out of here, back up to the house level. All he knew was that this was the underground part of Zim’s realm. But the boy was too dizzy -almost unconscious, when Zim brought him here. He woke up on the bed sheets… and that's it. 'Damn. I should have waited for Zim. But nooo...my brain got an overload and rushed me out of the room'. Now he regretted his boisterous act. Dib suddenly felt very lonely and cold without Zim by his side. The hand-holding and nuzzling...Dib felt safe and wanted all the time in the room, because Zim was just there. No fighting or insulting. Normally Dib was glad to not have the Irken around. That annoying loud and obnoxious green lizard! But... that wasn't the case anymore. Not in this moment. And the strange thing was that Dib got also his mood swings in the room because of Zim. He normally was a kinda introverted guy, who didn't say all too much (if it wasn't about Zim being an alien and stuff). When they both sat there on the bed Dibs mind began to work different. From embarrassment to joy and delightful pleasant feelings during touching Zim... (Dib blushed again) to shame, uncertainty, confusion and anger. Just seconds apart. It was just too much for him to overthink, it happened too fast. Hell, how was that even possible? They were enemies which hated each other. That should mean something! Well, time think was at home. Rght now, he needed to find a (secure) way outta here. Dib hadn't noticed that he walked all the time while he thought about all of this. He stopped and simply stood there, his mind blank.

Even when Zim reached his lab, he still felt confused. He looked to his right and saw the main screen monitor and on its keyboard, several plans for dooms-day machines. He walked over to them and picked one up. 'Acid Ray Gun - Turns anything, you fire it at, into acid'. Heh, kind of a dumb one. Second one 'Hypno Spray - One spray and the victim is under your control', pretty cool. He kept flicking through them, some good, and some bad. He was getting distracted. He shook his head and threw all the plans onto the floor so he could have access to the keyboard. But before he could type anything in, a little mini red light came down from the ceiling and the words "Intruder Alert" appeared on the main screen. He pressed a few buttons and a live-camera-feed came up of the intruder. But it was no intruder, it was Dib. Ugh, he'd set off the security system by walking into a secure section of the base. "So that's where you got to," Zim mumbled to himself. Dib looked lost in thought... and lost in his base too. He watched him walk around for a bit, but then he came to a stop. He looked like a zombie, blank eyes and hardly any expression. But he had one thing a zombie didn't, a blush. Was the human that embarrassed at getting lost? Or was he thinking about earlier? Zim groaned, he guessed he'd have to help the human. He pressed some more buttons and a mini microphone appeared next to him. "Dib-thing, what are you still doing in my base?" Zim questioned, voice booming around the walls of his entire base.

The human boy snapped out of his trance. He knew that voice... Zim! He quickly looked around, but there was just darkness -lightly illuminated by a purple light with an unseen source. But Zim was nowhere to be seen. That scared Dib (actually he should have known that he was using some sort of microphones). This wasn't the case. Zim sounded angry, so he should answer "Z-Zim?! I can't see you, but...but I wanted to leave your base! I just forgot how to leave the underground level. It was you after all, who brought me...here", he yelled in the void air. Right now, he felt trapped and got the bad feeling, it was Zim’s intention all along. But he didn't say anything.

Zim could only roll his eyes at this. "Ugh, human, you really are stupid. If you don't know how to get out, then why run off?" Zim sighed. Oh well, no use to argue now. He pressed a few buttons and the floor around where Dib was standing sort of gave way, like a mini elevator floor. After a few moments, it came back up in the first level's living room. "I trust you can get out from there," he teased, before shutting off the live-stream. "Computer!" Followed by another bored 'Whaaaat?' "Shut down garden gnomes until the Dib-human is out of firing range," he instructed. Lasers would surely make the boy's ribs worse. He secretly hoped that he'd be able to get back to his own house without injuring himself any more. He looked at the clock which displayed Earth time. '6pm'. Yeah, the human should be fine getting back at this time. If it was any later he'd probably go with him. But not many people were out this time of day, since they were usually with their miserable Earth families.

Dib felt the floor under his feet moving and after a single jolt and a 'whoosh' he was standing in the houses living room. 'Good question, Zim', was his only thought in this moment. Well, it didn't matter anymore. Right? Taking several careful steps, he reached the front door and opened it. One step. There he stood again. On the threshold. Sure, he wanted to finally go home. Maybe consulting a doctor or hoping he wasn't injured too badly. But...there was still this other side of Dib. The side he showed when he was alone with Zim back in the room... This desperate side, searching for any kind of comfort and safety, emotionally instable and so needy. And curious... This side rarely showed up because...well, because Dib didn't have any friends or actually loving family members, that's for sure. Sad. Today Zim unintentionally fed this side with so much...stuff. It didn't allow Dib to just go and probably forget about what happened between him and Zim. The penny dropped. It told him to go back to Zim or at least wait for him up here. Maybe the Irken would show up, if only to get sure Dib left his base completely. And... This side won and got his 'will'...for now. Dib sighed deeply, hold his chest and trotted to the sofa.

Zim went back to his computer. But he couldn't really focus on it though. Then, he heard a rattling kind of noise. He turned around and saw a large pipe shuddering ever so slightly. Then he could hear a high pitched scream. Ugh, he knew who this was. Suddenly, a little grey figure fell to the ground, head first. He had an almost insane grin and his teal eyes light up with life. GIR. He was holding a toy rubber pig. Zim was glad that it was a toy, because it that had been a real pig, its organs would have been coming out through his eye sockets by how tightly GIR was clutching it. The little grey robot starting running around in circles, yelling something about having a tea party with the cows... He was insane, granted. But he was the closest thing to a 'family' that Zim had. Heh, when Zim thought about it, GIR was almost like a, what did the humans call them? Oh yeah, 'little brother'. Without any warning, GIR ran into the elevator which led to the main level. Zim just shook his head at the robot's randomness. But then, the random noises GIR was making stopped, and was replaced with a very loud, 'HELLO MARY!' GIR was never good with remembering names, and that was what he usually called Di-- Wait... was the Dib still here? Zim stared at the elevator debating with himself if he should check or not.

That name. That random name. "MARY!" Great...Dib instantly scrambled away from the couch. He didn't why GIR always called him by that name every time he saw the boy. This robot sure was crazy. Hopelessly broken. "MARY WANTS TO PLAY WITH THE PIG!!" That voice ached more than his ribs. It boomed in his head. Poor Dib... He can't figure out how Zim was able to stand against THIS all the time. Dib now stood between the door and sofa. "No! GIR. Please. I-I don’t' wanna play with you right now. I'm hurt, so don't come near me. Go back...t-to Zim and tell him..." Tell him? Tell him what?! Stupid idea. He should just go, before he wanted to hug him or...or Zim came back and could...do stuff...to him. He gulped. This stupid decision again. And again Dib just stood there, like the goof he was. GIR stretched out his tiny arms and stepped strangely slow to Dib "Soooomebody neeeds a huuug!! IT’S YOU MARY". The robot ran towards Dib.

Yep, he should go check. With that, he made his way to the elevator. During the wait, he heard GIR say something about hugging 'Mary'... Oh Irk, if that robot hugged Dib, he'd get more broken ribs than was probably possible. Hurry up elevator! Zim tapped his foot impatiently. When he finally arrived on the main level, he saw GIR running towards the human, arms open, looking like he was going to eat him alive... Without thinking, the Irken ran towards GIR and grabbed his foot just as the robot was about to jump for Dib's torso. He lifted up the now upside-down bot so he could see his face. "GIR! No hugging the human! He's already injured and you'll only make it worse!" He yelled before throwing the robot at the nearest wall. He watched him bolt right back up, run into the kitchen, and jump into the fridge, screaming about making waffles for his pig. Zim sighed. He'd have to fix that insane piece of junk one day...

The last thing Dib saw was GIR storming towards him. Instead of running he just closed his eyes. How stupid. Trembling slightly he waited for the hurtful impact... It didn't happen. Dib heard Zim’s voice! And then a loud bang. He opened his eyes and saw Zim, lying on his belly on the metal floor. GIR had already left the room. Thank god. "Zim..." was all he could say and walked beside him stretching out a helping hand. More of a symbolic gesture. "Thanks." He felt like an idiot for not just running away from GIR or throwing a pillow at him; avoiding the insane metal child.

Zim looked up at hearing Dib speak, he saw Dib offering to help him up. He smiled slightly and took the offer. Once he was standing up again, he brushed off some of the dirt and dust that has gotten onto his uniform from the floor. "You're welcome Dib-friend," Zim replied. It was only after he had said that, that he actually realized what he'd said... 'Dib-friend?' Oh well, they were friends now, so it wasn't that much of a big deal, right? He looked towards the kitchen, yep, GIR would be busy for quite some time. Since he had already, surprisingly quickly, made 15 waffles, piled into a mini tower and was stuffing them, one at a time, down the toy pig's mouth. He was just glad that wasn't him this time. Sometimes GIR could be quite violent without even realizing it.

When Dib grabbed Zim’s still un-gloved, he felt a pang of joy, even from that swift touch. But when Zim called him 'Dib-Friend' along with that smile on the Irkens face, his heart warmed up immensely and he slightly. "Heh. That robot can really be a threat in my current condition. So, y-you saw me all the time then? It must have looked really stupid to get lost here and eventually standing around here while GIR was about to...hug me." He rubbed his arm and looked to the side. Dib was a horrible small talker. This feeling from before when he stood on the threshold came back. His 'other Dib-side' was satisfied and glad to have Zim around him again. "Wanna sit on the couch a bit? I-I think I wouldn't mind t-to stay a bit longer...with you." Wouldn't mind?! Dib, you could hug Zim so tightly right here for just being back in the same room with you. Dib walked to the far end of the couch and awkwardly tapped the free space beside him.

"No, you didn't look THAT stupid. This place is pretty big. And GIR is very annoying and has the attention span of a teaspoon." Zim admitted. Many a time had GIR been a problem to him and his mission, but, he'd learnt to put up with that. When Dib mentioned about wanting to stay a bit longer, Zim couldn't help but be relieved. The streets, even in day time, could be chaotic. And that was the last place you wanted to be if you had an injury. Zim nodded and walked over to the couch. He sat down next to Dib, who seemed to be feeling slightly awkward. "Did GIR cause any more injuries before I arrived?" He decided to ask.

"Nothing more than a slight shock, but I should have known that he wouldn’t let me go without even a short "visit" from him. I'm glad for your quick help. I was frozen. To be honest...my mind was struggling, if I should stay or leave your base and not coming back for a long while, just being home and skip Skool. But...I want to be with you for today. I-I really liked our "session" down there. WE were just so...calm and sincere to each other. No fighting or death threats like usual. And... and I'm tired of this. I got a feeling this morning that...that today would be a big change between us; how we see each other and... behave around each other. It was so true. It goes confusingly fast and...I'm babbling too much...s-sorry. I will shut up now." 'Man, Zim surely isn't interested in your emotional struggle and latest feelings'. Dib frowned a bit. This was his over-rational side. The one which told him to leave the base and forget about today. 'Shut up, brain! I wanna stay.' Arguing with his own mind...Dib truly was crazy.

Once the human had literally spilt out his entire train of thoughts, Zim couldn't help but think that Dib was right. But he could also sense that Dib was kind of in a war against himself. Deciding whether he was right to stay or not. Zim also couldn't help but find it ever so slightly funny. "Don't be sorry human. You talking to much is just a part of who you are," He tried to explain. He wasn't exactly used to reassuring people. Especially not a human. "And... I don't know, I guess I kind of like it when you talk. It makes a difference from you yelling in class about Zim being an alien and my mission and... stuff." Ugh... He also wasn't used to explaining his thoughts, if they weren't mean or insulting in some way. "Hey! Maybe you're psychic Dib-friend!" Zim exclaimed, half joking. He couldn't help but giggle at that thought. But, it could be a possibility, since the Dib was actually a LOT smarter than most humans on this spinning ball of filth. And if he had got the feeling that something would change, who's to say it wasn't a possibility?

The boy looked at Zim with wide eyes, amazed about his words. "Wow, Zim! I-I never heard such wise words from you -or anybody- before. You're right. I guess, I just have to live with that; with my weirdness and all that talking-to-myself stuff. But you're the only one I got the chance to speak to more than just a few words. But now...it doesn’t involve insults or cursing anymore." He smiled warmly and looked at his lap, playing with is fingers, which wanted to go back in Zim’s hand. Dib chuckled. "You know, as a child...I really believed I was a psychic, because it happens sometimes -not very often- that I got this predictions and notions out of nowhere. And now-" He laughed harder. It felt relieving. “-Now I think I was right. There could be a psychic part of. Rarely showing up, but it's there. Even YOU can see that, so there must be something." He joked, pointing at Zim and laughing.

"I know, Zim is genius," Zim stated smugly, but not in a mean way, more of a... joking kind of way. When he heard Dib laugh, he nearly completely froze. He thought back, and realized, that today was probably the first day he'd actually heard Dib laugh and it not being scornful or spiteful... He liked it. He liked seeing Dib happy. He smiled. "You know human... Y-you have a nice laugh..." Zim mumbled before looking to the side to avoid looking at Dib. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had to say that, thinking it'd make the human even happier. He guessed Dib didn't really hear things like that, since his sister was practically evil... Zim shuddered, and his parental-unit was hardly ever around. Plus, neither of them had really had a 'friend' before...

Dib stopped laughing,because he was genuinly surprised. Since when was Zim so open, especially around him? Dib liked that. He kept his wide smile and looked at Zim. "R-Really!? Thanks, Zim. N-Nobody said that to me before. I always thought...m-my laugh would just annopy poeple around me, so I guess I avoided it mostly." His gaze dropped "How pathetic, I know..." But his smile never faded. Zim was so...so cute, when he said that. Always when he's sincere and so calm. "A-And I really like your eyes. Ya' know not these stupid fake contacts, but...your real ones. Like now. Sometimes I can't stop looking at them. Like now." He looked ZIm in his shining red orbs and his smile widened. "Please...look at me, Zim."

Zim turned around to look at the other boy. "My eyes?" Zim repeated... Back on Irk, magenta eyes were the most common and unwanted. "And your laugh isn't annoying," Zim mumbled. He lifted up his right hand slightly and held onto Dib's left hand. Yeah... He liked this show of friendship. He looked up and saw that Dib had one of the biggest smiles he'd ever seen him with... "And you have a nice smile", he added, hoping it'd make the human happier. It was very weird to actually like seeing the human happy... Usually he'd be trying to make him feel miserable... But today was different, and he liked it that way.

When he felt Zim’s hand on his own, Dibs heart missed a beat. There was it again. The hand-holding! And this time Zim was the one who started it! He quickly cupped Zim’s hand with his slender fingers as if afraid it could vanish at any moment. While rubbing over the back of Zim’s hand he mumbled softly: "I never thought y-you would think about me that way. I don't know what to say. Your honest...and saying such nice things a-and taking my hand." He chocked. "You're not annoying either. Heh. At least when you want to be." A few tears of happiness were collecting in his eyes, but Dib didn’t mind if Zim would see that. "Yeah, y-you got beautiful eyes, so unique, unearthly and...mysterious. They’re slightly changing in colour, if I'm not mistaken." He blinked at Zim and turned around the Irkens hand to rub over his oh-so-very-soft palm. Hmm.

"Well of course I am not annoying, I AM Zim after all!" Zim proudly stated, using his free left hand to put on his own chest on sort of a victory pose. But after hearing the rest of what Dib had said, he suddenly started to feel quite awkward... He also felt the human start to rub his hand again. He slumped back down onto the couch, looked up and saw the human had tears in his eyes. Oh no... Had he said or done something to upset him... Oh Irk. Since emotions were rare on Irk, and he hadn't gotten close enough to a human to actually study emotions, he only knew of tears of sadness. Maybe Zim just wasn't cut out to be a friend to someone. "Zim is sorry... did he say something to upset you?" Zim asked, feeling like such an idiot.

"W-What? No! Zim. You didn't do anything wrong!" Dib quickly assured and shook his right hand around. "You're just so...gentle right now. It's so...unlike you. He saw Zim’s expression and added: "B-But in a good way! Really. I like that. That new Zim. It's very nice... and that are tears of joy, b-because I'm just plain happy right now. Actually, today I got more good feelings and happiness like almost never before", he admitted. He hated that it was so true. His right hand clenched into a fist. No, this time, his depressed feelings wouldn't get in the way. It would just confuse Zim even more. Dib lifted his lanky legs up to the couch and tugged them under his thighs, sitting on them.

All Zim could do was nod. 'Oh... That explains a lot,' he thought. He looked towards Dib and saw that the human had a hint of worry about him... Suddenly Zim got an idea. It wasn't a big idea, but an idea none the less. "Dib-human? Do you want to watch some human TV?" Zim asked. He just thought that it'd make the moment less awkward if they had something else to focus on, instead of just their thoughts. But seeing what it does to GIR, maybe it wasn't such a good idea. But hey, GIR was already brain-dead to start off with.

'Human TV' Dib snorted at how that sounded. He guessed there was not such a thing on Zim’s home planet. "Sure, Zim. Nice idea. But I doubt there is anything interesting broadcasting now." He grabbed the remote from the floor a handed it to Zim. "There. Let's switch some through the channels."

Once Dib had given him the remote, he tried to remember which button was the ‘on’ button... Curse humans and their fiddly devices. He pressed a few before finally finding it. How did GIR manage to do this every day?! The current channel was still on the one that GIR had been watching this morning. The Angry Monkey Show. 'Irk no!' Zim thought and quickly pressed on the button which said 'Channel Up'. This channel was showing a show on cooking cheese pizzas... 'Nope, too many bad memories,' he mentally whined. Channel Up. No. Channel Up... NO! Ugh... Humans had the worst concept of 'entertainment'... Soon Zim was flicking through more channels than he could actually see. The TV was becoming just a brief flash of different shows... Zim sighed... "Dib-worm, do you want to try and find a decent show?" Zim asked, disappointed at his first try of 'switching channels'.