It Came From Outer Space (Mira-Charma13 and Dip)

[Mira-Charma13]

Zim, still trembling from head to foot, licked his lips anxiously. His owlish magenta gaze darted warily about the room, as if he was making absolutely sure that there were no threatening presences. He caught sight of GIR, who was now hiding behind his bed. Seconds later Minimoose's antlers popped up from the same spot. The Irken monarch was silent for several long minutes while he scanned the room, his expression rife with paranoia. It was only when he was certain that he, Dib, and his robotic servants were all alone that he finally let out that breath he'd been holding and spoke.

"What are you doing in here?" He sounded unsteady, though he made a valiant effort not to appear as terrified as he was. GIR raised his head a bit more from his little hidey-hole. "I brought him, master."

"Why?" Now embarrassment crept into Zim's voice. He was weak and vulnerable right now. He wasn't at his best, and he felt downright mortified that Dib was seeing him in such a state. But, at the same time...he didn't appear to be angry with GIR for dragging the human into this mess. The Earth creature's presence was...mildly soothing, but puzzling all the same. Zim was used to being alone or with GIR and Minimoose when he had an outburst like this. Ordinarily the two of them would rouse him from his uncomfortable slumber and the three of them would cuddle until the panic attack ebbed away.

Now, though...what would happen? Zim's insides twisted and itched as his traitorous Defective feelings asked the real question. Would the Dib cuddle with him, too?

"'Cause you got all scary," GIR replied as simply as he could. "And, and...I thought maybe Mary could fix you better than I could. 'Cause you guys really like each other." Zim grunted irritably, rubbing his thin arms and averting his gaze. There went those treasonous feelings again, whipping and twisting about within his body. Sometimes he wondered if his own PAK had something against him.

A spell of silence dragged on for a couple of minutes while Zim gulped in air and tried to stop shaking. But without the cherished physical contact from his two lovable minions his condition only worsened. The shaking settled down, but now his antennae were twitching wildly. A glossy sheen appeared on the Tallest's brilliant magenta eyes and it became apparent that he was struggling not to burst out in tears. The rapid crescendo of Defective feelings assaulting him weren't helping either--in this case, Dib's very presence was sending his damaged PAK into overdrive.

Finally, when the mortification became so intense that he couldn't handle it anymore, Zim sank down on the floor with a choked wine and wrapped his arms around himself as tightly as he could, trying to mimic the sensation of being held.

"...I apologize." His voice was soft and barely audible. It didn't even sound like him. "Zim had...Zim had a very, very, very bad nightmare. It shook him to his very core, and it will take some time for him to recover." He faintly remembered Dib asking him not to leave when he had his own little night terror and made his decision right there and then. "You can leave if you want, Dib-human...but...you can stay. I-if you want." He sniffed loudly, reaching up to rub at one of his eyes. He was still battling with himself not to weep. Crying was for the weak, and Zim was not weak! He would cry in front of his servants...but he wouldn't cry in front of his old nemesis!

GIR finally shuffled out from his hiding place, striding right past Dib and making a beeline for his master. Minimoose was hot on his tail. The two of them settled into their usual spots, with Minimoose on his lap and GIR on one of his sides. GIR sweetly muttered something in the direction of Zim's antennae.

And that was all it took.

Just like that his body began to shake again and he whimpered, bowing his head until his face wasn't visible. His shoulders rose and his hands clenched. It was almost as if he was having a flashback of the nightmare, if the blank look in his eyes was any indication. After about thirty seconds passed with no change, GIR made a quick motion for the Earth creature to join them. Zim was a prideful being. He wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with Dib. His Defective feelings demanded it. But Zim was fighting those feelings. He still wasn't sure how he felt about those feelings.

GIR knew for a fact that those feelings were positive ones. Love was never a bad thing. It was true and pure. But it was something that the Irkens were taught to revile, especially if such feelings cropped up for a non-Irken creature. Those feelings were shameful beyond belief. Being so vulnerable in front of a former enemy was shameful, too. His master was ashamed of himself right. His fragile ego was cracking.

But...GIR had a sneaking suspicion that all Zim needed was a little love and care to help him through it all. He and Minimoose could only do so much, and the fact that it look longer and longer to calm Zim down each time this happened meant that he was growing desensitized to their efforts. A change was definitely in order!

Zim desperately wanted the comfort. He was unwilling to ask for it, but he craved the attention. And GIR was certain that once he did receive that comfort he craved, he would open like a book to the human. That was a good thing. Right? It would make both his master and Mary happy if they were able to open up to each other! Zim tended to bottle up his feelings until they were fit to bust. He talked about some of them with GIR. The depression. The unresolved anger issues with the former Tallest. His fears of being outed and attacked by the Control Brains.

But he wouldn't talk about his suppressed feelings for the Dib. And he wouldn't talk specifically about being Defective. So maybe...he would be more willing to delve into those things with the human right here in front of him!

 

[Dip]

No words in any language, human or alien, could express the utter humanity that seemed to escape from Zim's every pore.

If the two had been in a better position, Dib would go as far as to say that seeing Zim in such a state of panic and anxiety was almost comforting. But the situation that the human had been placed in was uncomfortable, to say the least, and whilst it was relieving to know that even Zim felt intense emotions on such a human level, the true human within the room never wanted to see that happen again.

Was that what it was like to be Defective?

Dib opened his mouth to speak, but the robotic servant spoke for him. Dib swallowed back his words, and nodded in agreement. It was hard to find something to say in this situation, and if there was a right thing to say, Dib didn't know what it was whatsoever. 'sorry you had a shitty dream'. Surely nothing could help with the current situation, but there had to be something to alleviate the humility. Dib knew Zim for years as his nemesis, but he had never seen the creature in such a state of distress.

It was kind of distressing for himself! It was uncomfortable. The fact that he felt those feelings was a different story, but truly being among a former enemy, and to see him in such a state of disarray and confusion... it was almost traumatic! Dib never wanted to see Zim like that ever again.

Dib wanted to reach out and grab GIR the moment his sweet words left his little mouth. All hthe human wanted to do at that moment was reach out and get the little android by his head, and wrap his fingers around GIR's mouth to shut him up. Dib really liked Zim, but the human at that point wasn't entirely sure if the Irken reciprocated. The butterflies were back again, and all Dib could do was turn away from both the Irken and his servant as truer words have never been spoken.

Whoever said they had butterflies in their stomach was lying. Fuck butterflies! It felt like there was a hornet's nest stinging every nerve in Dib's body when the topic of feelings was brought up!

Dib tried not to stare as the other tried desperately to calm himself down. It looked like he had practiced this before, and Dib didn't know if that was impressive or downright sad. The silence was deafening, but Dib made no motion to speak. What should he say? He had a few ideas of what to do, but Dib wasn't one for words. Crying people made him uncomfortable, and if he wanted to help people with their problems, he would have became a School Counselor.

Dib watched as the other slid down the wall and onto the floor, and it broke his heart to see the other wrap himself so tightly. The human shook his head lightly-- he had already made his decision that he was going to stay in Zim's room for the night. Why else would he subconsciously bring his blankets? Well, he never planned on it, but now he had an excuse to stay with Zim a while longer. His bed was unmade, and he wanted to sleep on Zim's floor.

Dib watched almost bashfully as the three kept to themselves on one corner of the room, and Dib to another. He felt almost... out of the loop. Like maybe the three would be better off without the human in their company. It sure looked like it to Dib, atleast. Zim seemed uncomfortable, and that feeling was translated between beings. Dib almost made the move to leave the room, before GIR motioned for the human to join them.

Dumbly, the human pointed to himself to ensure that he was what GIR was beckoning. No, it was the person behind Dib-- yes, you! Slowly and hesitantly, the human rose from his sitting position. He only turned back once, and that was to grab the blanket he had brought along. He draped it over his shoulders, and shuffled towards the Irken at a relatively slow pace. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten the shaken former Invader.

Dib took the side opposite to GIR, and sat down with his legs crossed on the other side of Zim. Dib was about as good with feelings as he was with children, and that was not at all. Awkwardly, he moved without request or question. The human slowly draped the blanket around Zim, wrapping it behind him and placing near GIR, who knew what to do with it. Dib brought his arm back to himself, and turned to his former nemesis.

"Do you... need anything?" He asked, after a short spell. "Anything? Water, or food, or... another blanket, or a hug, or Anything? Something?" Food and drink made everything better, and so did warmth. But that was about everything that Dib could give him within reason. He would listen to him as much as he wanted to talk, and he would just sit with him for as long as he wanted to be quiet.

Dib never quite knew what Zim's policy on physical contact was. He wasn't your run-of-the-mill Irken, but then again, after having a panic attack, the last thing Dib really wanted was a hug-- or any contact whatsoever. But it never really hurt to ask.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

"A hug would be nice."

The words escaped Zim before he could stop himself, and at this point he was too distressed to be embarrassed about it. GIR giggled and patted his master on the shoulder as he draped the other end of the blanket the human brought with him around the suffering Irken. He wasn't sure if the Earth creature realized it or not, but his master was a particularly cuddly creature when he was in the right mood. If he was in emotional distress, he craved a comforting cuddle or two. When he was feeling relaxed he desired cuddles as well. GIR and Minimoose were always there to satiate that craving.

If Dib was lucky enough, Zim would want to cuddle with him more often. He would never ask, though. With GIR and Minimoose he just did as he pleased, cuddling with them whenever he wished. Both of them loved to snuggle, so this wasn't much of an issue. With Dib, on the other hand...the fickle Irken was more likely to drop hints and physical cues rather than initiate the touch himself. Those lovey-dovey feelings were still raw and partially unwanted...and until Zim could properly come to terms with them he would be one difficult Irken to deal with.

Zim sniffed and pulled the blanket around him a little tighter, closing his eyes and counting to ten over and over again in a futile attempt to calm himself down. GIR watched him with concern gleaming in his luminous turquoise eyes before he turned those bright eyes on Dib. He was still for a moment...

...before he reached out, slowly yet deliberately, and his little hand made contact with one of Zim's antennae. Zim jumped just a bit, but calmed down quickly once he realized it was GIR. GIR smiled sweetly at him and pet the antenna, like one would pet a dog or a cat. Zim's demeanor instantly changed. His tense muscles relaxed just a bit and a shaky sigh of relief escaped him. He leaned into the touch, the faintest hints of a smile on his face. A strange sound rumbled forth from the deepest confines of his chest.

Purring. Zim was purring. Like a content kitten with a fresh bowl of milk.

He must have forgotten that Dib was even in the room, because this was a vulnerability he took careful pains to hide from him. It was common knowledge that Irken antennae were used to hear and sense vibrations in the air. They were also extremely sensitive. Irken prisoners who were captured by the enemy were often subject to horrific rounds of torture that involved their antennae.

But what wasn't common knowledge was that those millions of little nerves within those antennae also made them pleasure centers on the Irken body. A few simple strokes could calm even the angriest or most distraught of Irkens and turn them into a purring mess of jelly-like limbs. Anything more than that could have...adverse consequences, to say the least.

When GIR pulled his hand away Zim scowled at him. He seemed much calmer now despite his annoyance, with the shaking at a minimum. But his eyes still glistened with unshed tears and his breathing still seemed heavy, so he wasn't completely out of the woods yet.

"Don't do that, GIR." There was no conviction in Zim's voice. GIR just smiled this incredibly impish smile that clearly stated that yes, he would definitely do that again. Zim scowled at him and angled his antennae away from his tiny SIR unit, hoping to deter him just in case he made another attempt. "...Did I wake you with my nightmare-thing?" he asked the human instead, eager to change the subject before Dib could ask about his antennae--or even worse...try to touch them. "Zim knows that he can get...unreasonably loud when a bad night terror strikes him."

He was mildly surprised that his Computer didn't react. Then again...the Computer was in charge of all the goings-on in the Massive at the moment. It was no surprise, really, that the AI was too distracted to notice his distress.

"...Did talking about your nightmare-thing actually help you feel better?" Zim sounded terribly hesitant. For the first time in a long time the desire to open up rather than bottle everything up was strong. Though...he wasn't sure that the Dib would understand why the dream frightened him so. He wouldn't...unless he were to explain the stigma behind the Defective term. And what being Defective meant. Zim wasn't entirely sure that he was ready to delve into that...but if the human insisted...perhaps he would explain.

He just hoped that Dib wouldn't shun him once he uncovered the truth. He doubted it...but it would crush him if that was the case. His self-esteem was already low. It was higher than it used to be, before his human hitchhiker joined him on his journey, but it was still much, much lower than it used to be back on planet Earth. He was damaged now. Weak. Vulnerable. And he hated it. He nearly self-destructed due to his plummeting self-esteem. But he didn't want to leave GIR and Minimoose all alone. And he didn't want to leave the Dib all alone, either.

Zim had more than one reason to live. He had to keep that in mind whenever his thoughts traveled to that dark place in the bowels of his mind.

 

[Dip]

Well, shit.

It seemed that every ounce of heat traveled from Dib's body up to his cheeks.In truth, never ever expected the Irken to respond, much less agree to a hug! Dib was at a loss before, and now, he certainly didn't know how to approach the situation. He was, by far, the worst hugger in the world. The human was far too thin and boney, and he was just awkward as all git. He didn't know where to place his arms, or if he was sweaty or not, or if he was hugging someone for too short of a time period or for too long.

Maybe if he had some more practice, he may learn to master this feat.

"Oh." Was all he managed to stay. "...Ohhhhkay." He added soon after, as he tried with all his might to regulate his bblood flow. Hugging was natural. Hugging was normal. It wasn't something to get red in the face about, now, was it? No way! GIR hugged everyone, and it wasn't something to be embarrassed about.

But hugging Zim was a different topic.

Dib started slowly, and scooted closer to the Irken. Part one was done: mission accomplished. He could feel the alien tremor gently next to him, and he hoped that in time he would be able to calm himself. The human drew in a breath, and tried to subdue the hornets that strummed his heart strings, and he hoped to some God or another that Zim wouldn't be able to hear the rapid beating of his heart. He slowly snaked his left arm around the thin shoulders of the Irken Emperor, and wrapped his right arm loosely over his front.

In a futile attempt to make the situation as un-awkward as possible, Dib hesitantly lowered his head onto Zim's shoulders. His mind was racing as his brain racked itself with speeding thoughts: Was this too awkward? Was this not what the other wanted? Dib was pretty comfy... was Zim? Did he stink? Was this too awkward? Should Dib just quit while he was ahead? Should he let go?

Dib reminded himself to breathe, and he did so.

Dib was thankful that the Irken SIR unit was able to distract Zim, as well as the human, with his gentle petting. It was an interesting thing to find out that Irkens... purred. Dib always had hunches-- he had taken to looking at the anatomy of the Irken race to better understand the new beings he was surrounded by, and he had noticed that the throat and larynx closely resembled one belonging to an Earthling feline.

But Dib knew for a fact that Irkens and cats were fundamentally different. Irkens purring meant... well, he wasn't entirely sure, but it must be good, because this was the first time he ever heard any Irken purr. But when you hear a cat purr, it may sound like the cat is happy. That's impossible since the only emotion a cat feels in contempt. Purring is the sound of the cat's heartbeat: it speeds up when you pet it, because it senses you're close enough to be attacked.

That, or it was bees.

Dib was not a cat person.

"Not really... Kinda, but not really." Dib spoke slowly. He had been awoken, but it was mostly GIR's doings that woke him up, but Zim's 'nightmare-thing' was just as guilty. "I was kinda still awake reading and stuff when GIR got me." That was a lie, sure, but it never hurt to lie every now and then, did it?

The longer Dib held his position, the more comfortable it felt to him. Zim was... actually pretty comfy. As thin as he was, he was more soft than he had initially thought. The human was slightly taken aback when the thin frame asked about talking through his strange dream. Dib shrugged as best as he could from his position, and spoke once more.

"I mean... it kinda does for me, I guess. It helps me realize how ridiculous the dream usually is." As a child, he dreamt of the cryptids that he feared and adored in equal measure tearing him apart from limb to limb. The rare moments when his father was around, he would talk on and on about the dream. As insensitive as he was to Dib's hobbies and interests, he did help the child at that time rationalize what was truly scaring him.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm listening." He added. He was intensely curious to hear what the Monarch had to fear-- the way he acted as he dreamed was, as petrifying as he was, interesting as hell.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

Despite wanting the physical comfort, tension rippled in Zim's muscles as the human scooted closer to him. Most Irkens hated to be touched. Zim was no exception, for the most part...but he did secretly love to cuddle. It was distinctly un-Irken, and thus Zim believed it was something to be privately ashamed of. GIR and Minimoose were his servants and would do whatever it took to make him happy. That included cuddling him when he needed the comfort.

But Dib...that was different. Dib was an old rival. An old enemy. He couldn't control the Earth creature's actions--if he became uncomfortable, all he could do was demand that the human back off and hope he listened. Zim was still stronger than the average human being, but his thin figure was disturbingly fragile. He was easily breakable, now. He was vulnerable. And he was allowing Dib into his personal bubble of space. Allowing him to draw closer and closer...and then touch him.

He was acutely aware of just how close Dib was as those oddly-colored human arms snaked around his shoulders and around the front of his body. There were so many ways the other creature could harm him in this position. He could go straight for the jugular, for instance, with his peculiar human teeth. His spine could be snapped with little effort...but luckily enough, he fell asleep with his royal regale still in place and his impenetrable corset still wound around his delicate spine. Zim took several deep breaths, refusing to make eye contact with the Earth creature. His eyes dilated when he felt a slight pressure on his shoulder and a slight tickling sensation against his neck, but he relaxed again when he realized it was just the human reclining his head on his shoulder, the black human fur brushing against his neck.

Surprisingly, after Zim managed to steady his breathing he relaxed into the embrace. He made no attempt to reciprocate it, but he tilted his head slightly to rest it against the human's furry head and his eyelids drifted closed. His antennae drooped contently behind his head. His body seemed to be vibrating, and it was barely audible...but he was purring again. Softer than before, when GIR deigned to touch his sensitive antennae, but it was still there.

It was a shame that Dib wasn't a cat person. Irkens were rather catlike creatures in nature. Zim was especially catlike! A wide smile split across GIR's face as his master finally allowed himself to relax and breathe easy. He was right! Fetching the Earth creature was the right call after all!

Irkens were famous for having incredibly soft skin. It looked scaly and rough from a distance, but it was actually smooth as silk. Up close Zim's antennae were smooth in appearance. The bases of each antennae, which were small and circular, resembled tiny black buttons. They were slightly lighter in color than the antennae themselves. The antennae seemed to be covered with almost microscopic little hairs, which were probably used for detecting vibrations. They probably weren't traditional hairs, either, given that Irkens were a species that did not grow hair.

"This is different from your night terror, Dib-thing." Zim's voice was barely audible, but firm. "This nightmare Zim had...it could very easily happen to him. It..." He swallowed, his antennae pressing down further against the top of his head. "...It almost did."

His voice nearly cracked on that last word, but the Irken monarch managed to compose himself before his previous anxiety returned. He was silent for quite some time. When the silence dragged on for just a bit too long GIR craned his neck to get a better look at Zim's face. "Aren't you gonna talk about it, Master?"

"...I don't know." Hesitation saturated Zim's voice.

"But it'll make you feel a lot better!"

"I...I don't know how to explain it."

"That's easy! Start with the feelings and stuff that you have that you're not supposed to have."

Zim instantly tensed up again. "Stop talking, GIR."

"But how are ya supposed to talk about it if Mary doesn't know?"

A low and feral-sounding growl escaped Zim and GIR slowly retreated until just his antenna was visible from around his master's body. Zim stared him down for a few seconds before an exasperated sigh escaped him. He twiddled his fingers together, scowling at the ground.

"You still sore about it?"

"Sore about what?"

"That that Tak lady called you out on it earlier."

Zim grumbled under his breath, fixing a dark and sour stare on the floor. GIR made a popping sound with his mechanical lips.

"I guess sooooo. But if that Tak lady knows about it, why don't you just tell Mary?"

All the SIR got in response to that question was a shrug of the shoulders. The expression on Zim's face...he looked like he was embarrassed. Ashamed, even. Now he wasn't sure if he really did want to talk about it or not.

GIR huffed, placing his hands on his lips like an irate schoolgirl. "You gotta talk about it sometime, master! You keep bottlin' stuff up and you're gonna blow up! Like Moosey!" Minimoose squeaked his approval. The encouragement seemed to have no effect on Zim, however, because he just kept on glowering at the floor.

 

[Dip]

Dib was almost relieved when the Irken rested his head atop of the human's bed-head (or, in Dib's case, infront-of-a-laptop,on-a-work-bench-head). It made the entire hugging experience a little less awkward, and a little more... well, normal. Hugging was a normal human thing, and hugging others shouldn't really be that big of a deal, right? While he wasn't sure what was going through Zim's mind at the moment, the human personally felt a little less strange about the whole situation.

Infact, he felt like he could possibly get used to this.

While it was entirely possible for Dib to kill Zim, he never let the thought distract him from his work. That's not to say he didn't think about it sometimes in passing-- he had been conditioned to perceive Zim as an enemy for years now, but he never daydreamed about Zim's doom and demise as he once did before. Now, he was most likely to stop, and think "It would be really easy to break Zim in half. Like a twig. Or a pretzel stick." Or, "What would happen if someone replaced Zim's corset with a spring? Would he bounce around like a bobble head?" Needless to say, his daydreams have become less violent, and more good willed.

Even if they were former enemies, they were now friends... right? That's what they had said before. If they weren't friends, they wouldn't be in quite a sensitive position as they were right at that moment. Dib knew how fragile Zim was, and he knew how vulnerable he was at that time, but he would never think about misusing his trust... atleast, not then, he didn't. With no Earth to protect, and no humanity depending on him, Dib really had no reason to spark up a demented and twisted nemesisity with the Irken. He just... genuinely wanted a friend.

Dib, with his arms wrapped around the Monarch, his head resting on the other's shoulder, looked down at the closeness of the two under the blanket, and wondered for a split second if friendship was all he really wanted. As a child, he wanted friends-- a kindly acquaintance-- just someone to take him seriously, and Zim was the only Earthling to see him as an opposing threat. Zim was the only person to take him seriously, for all that he was worth. That was what he wanted, and he did get what he wanted in the end, but somehow... he felt as if that wasn't enough.

Dib focused in on his socks, trying to clear his mind of any thoughts. What was he thinking? Something more than what they had could never work. Not even if he wanted it, he knew it wouldn't work. While Zim took him seriously, he didn't take him that seriously, did he? Dib was an outsider-- a hitchhiker. He was getting a free ride, and nothing more. He was a friend-- an acquaintance to the Irken. He was no equal. You will never be my equal. Those very words that Zim spoke to him the first day he collected him from that blue-green planet still racked his brain.

Day in and day out. Dib knew he would never be his equal, and he had for a lot time, but these hornets within him only made the lasting impression of that phrase worse for him.

The human refocused on the situation at hand when the Irken spoke once more of his dream. Dib nodded gently. He didn't doubt that their dreams were different in nearly every respect! All Dib had to worry about was if he was going to be killed by an alien race or not-- which, in it's own respect, is a very scary subject, but Zim had more at stake. While Dib doubted the impossibility of the Irkens killing Dib in a fit of panic or a frenzy of rage, he didn't doubt that Zim's dream-- whatever it was-- wasn't impossible either.

His last phrase was ripe for concern, and Dib moved his eyes upwards to try and catch a glimpse of the former Invader's facial expression.

GIR began the arduous task of coaxing the Monarch to spill the space-beans about his dream, and curiosity took hold of Dib. He wasn't sure if this was a conversation that he wasn't allowed to hear, but every word sprung up a new question. What was the dream? What could Zim be so afraid of? Well, a lot of things, really, but what in particular? Will Zim ever open up to Dib, or would he have to bug the Irken like GIR does on a daily basis? What, when, where, why, how, and what color?

Dib decided that it was best if he didn't ask any question for the time being. Much of this decision had to do with the fact that the Emperor was now growling at his servant, and Dib didn't want to be second on his shit-list... But what feelings was Zim having that he shouldn't be having?

That phrase alone seemed to stop the ticking clock that was the human's heart. Dib didn't know why he was getting his hopes up at all, but...

Dib, once again, changed the channel within his mind, and focused at the conversation at hand, that now spun towards the direction of Tak. Dib couldn't help himself at that moment, and just needed to know what this conversation was about. "Yeah?" Dib started softly, not wanting to startle the still fragile Irken. "Why don't you just tell Mary?" He asked with a small chuckle.

While the human would have picked a better analogy for bottling one's feelings, he supposed using Moosy was a good start.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

Minimoose squeaked firmly in agreement after Dib spoke. With three different beings now ganging up on him Zim pouted like a petulant child and scowled irritably at the floor. He maintained his silence doggedly for a couple of minutes and simply enjoyed the human's embrace while his thoughts ran wild through his jumbled mind. Eventually GIR relaxed, dropping his hands from his hips, and happily cuddled up to his master's side again. He must have sensed a subtle change in body language that suggested Zim was warming to the idea of telling Dib the truth.

And sure enough, a few seconds later a heavy sigh escaped the Irken leader and he began absently playing with his own fingers. "...Fine. Fine. Whatever. I'll talk." Both GIR and Minimoose nodded sagely, watching their master and the Earth creature with wide and rather vacant-looking eyes. Zim tried and failed several times to start talking, each time ending with a shaky exhale or a loud clearing of his throat. When he finally managed to get a hold of himself, he slowly pulled his head back up and locked his glum eyes with the human's.

"Zim told you before that he is different, yes?" he inquired, one antenna quirking in Dib's direction. "Well, that's true. Zim is different from the other Irkens. But it's not so simple." He briefly broke eye contact with the other male to glance at the innocent-looking PAK attached to his back. When he met Dib's eyes again that same shameful aura surrounded him like a thick cloud of smoke.

"Zim is...what is known as...as..." He averted his gaze again. "...Defective." Disgust and humiliation tainted his voice. For a few long seconds he was silent as he regained his bearings. After taking a long, deep breath he finally met the human's eyes once more. "Specifically, Zim's PAK is Defective," he elaborated in a distinctly sour tone. "It is riddled with a multitude of errors. It does not function as it should."

He straightened up ever so slightly, readjusting his position against Dib in an effort to make himself more comfortable. Zim was settling in for a long and rather uncomfortable speech. "Proper Irken PAKs provide their hosts with advice when guidance is needed. They condition the hosts to obey the Control Brains and the Almighty Tallest, as well as any Irken superior to them, at all times. They react accordingly to signs of stress and distress in the host body and provide medication or unveil weaponry or force fields as needed. They ensure that their hosts follow the law at all times. And, perhaps most importantly...they work hard to suppress certain emotions, as these emotions are a threat to the end mission of Universal Conquest."

Zim bowed his head ever so slightly. "But Zim's PAK is different. It has always been different. It never speaks to me. Never provides me with advice on what to do and what not to do. I always obeyed the Almighty Tallest in the past...but I did so purely out of respect, and on my own terms. I have never been comfortable around the Control Brains, nor have I ever felt compelled to obey their every command. My PAK only shocks, or Reactivates, me when I am in medical distress. It has never shocked me for being stressed, or upset, or...emotional."

The Irken leader grunted and broke eye contact. "The feelings are the worst," he admitted in a low and miserable voice. "We Irkens are a proud warrior race. We are made for conquering. For combat. For slaughtering any foe who would dare to stand in our way. We are not meant to feel sadness. Or mercy, pity, compassion, sympathy, fear, kindness, anxiety, grief...or even love. Those sorts of feelings are considered to be detrimental and a threat to the end mission. But Zim..." The uneasy Tallest began pulling nervously at his own fingers. "Zim feels all of these things. For a very long time I did not understand what these things were that I was feeling. But when I came to your planet...that changed."

Zim's antennae bounced. "I studied your race extensively. With the exception of some variations of the mentally ill, Humans experience these emotions on a regular basis. So...Zim was able to classify many of the previously unknown things he was feeling during the time he spent on planet Earth. I had a name for each and every one of the things I was feeling."

With no explanation ever given to him about what he was feeling and why, life must have been a bamboozling and very confusing whirlwind for Zim before he touched down on planet Earth.

"But...a Defective Irken is a mistake." Zim's voice almost broke on that last word. "An anomaly the Control Brains failed to catch early and rectify. Defective Irkens should not exist. Zim should not exist. Defective Irkens, with their flaws and petty unnecessary emotions, pose a threat to the end mission. So..."

His shoulders rose slowly and his muscles tensed. "They are unwanted in the Irken Empire. If an Irken is suspected of being Defective and is reported to the Control Brains a certain number of times...that Irken is detained and dragged off to Planet Judgementia."

Judgementia was a planet Zim had only mentioned once. It was the same planet he outright refused to set foot on a few weeks ago--the very same planet that sparked that huge fight between the Tallest and Skoodge.

"The suspected Defective undergoes an Existence Evaluation," Zim continued in a deliberately blank voice. He didn't want to let on just how much this conversation was disturbing him...but the disturbed sheen in his eyes gave it away. "Liken it to a trial in your Earthen terms, where the Control Brains act as judge and jury. If that Irken is found guilty..." He shrugged his shoulders, bowing his head and severing the eye contact for good. "He or she is Deactivated. Executed. The Control Brains drain the Defective PAK of data and delete that data. This kills the host. It is a slow and excruciatingly painful death. It can take hours for the host to die, and as the host dies he or she steadily loses memories and forgets how to do the simplest of things, including walking and talking. It is not pleasant."

Zim shuffled his feet against the ground. "Zim had a nightmare about undergoing such a thing. He has nightmares about this thing often. So...that's it. That's the gist of it."

 

[Dip]

The human wished he felt bad for the group prying that took place, but he really didn't. This felt more like an intervention that a sit-down-and-talk-about-your-feelings session, but interventions were common place when it came to someone as complex as Zim. Being complex wasn't a bad thing, really, because Dib would have lost interest in the Irken if he was as commonplace as someone like Skoodge, for example. Dib had nothing against Skoodge, but he certainly wouldn't be caught dead embracing the decorated war veteran.

As much as Dib wanted to hear what the other had to say, he didn't push or press the Irken to hurry up, or spit it out. Zim never did that to him when he had his own night terror, so why would he rush the other? While the anticipation was gnawing at him like a dog gnaws at a dry bone, he didn't outwardly express this feeling. Dib wanted to help alleviate Zim's anxiety as best as he could, and while he was at a loss on what to do, talking would be a good place to start, right?

When the human felt the soft pressure of Zim's head leave his own, he slowly lifted his head to introduce his light brown eyes to dull and glossy magenta eyes. To be quite honest, Dib had to focus very hard to not analyze the Irken's retinas as the other spoke, and he was damn-near thankful when he turned away willingly.

Dib knew a pretty standard amount of Irken culture after nearly three months aboard the Massive. He knew how to behave, how to greet others, how to avoid getting into fights, and he knew about these Irken outcasts called 'Defects'. He had heard the whispers of those who may be afflicted by defectiveness, and some of them he knew on a basic level! Some people within his PIT crew were rumored to be Defective, and Dib had even used his knowledge to question a few Irkens he knew well, too.

Bohemian was at the top of his list. If you asked the human the question of Bohemian's Defective nature, the human would have put Bohemian on the very bottom of his list. He was as Irken as any Irken could be. He was rude, he was boastful, he fought, he preferred Irkens over any other life form, and he was too prideful for his own good. But within the months that he had known him, he saw a change in him. He sought out information to better himself around his patients-- often, the human would see the Head Surgeon go into the Planetarium to ask for information on a certain life-form, or if there were any medical texts from their native home. Dib seriously doubted that the late Head Surgeon Serloz would do that for anyone.

Another thing that seemed to confirm his thoughts was Bohemian's insistence for Rhapsody to be with him while he worked. Dib had his ideas on why that might be... but he would never speak them allowed. Needless to say, the two went together like a song written by Queen.

While Dib listened, he tried to understand the severity of the situation. He closely compared the disengaged PAK to a mental illness, and found that it was easier to understand and grasp. Dib moved with Zim as he readjusted, thankful that he did. He didn't want to say so soon, but their previous position had caused some slight numbness in his arm. As he felt the blood flow back to his fingers, he listened quietly.

The human listened to what the troubled Monarch had to say, and was enlightened to hear that emotions were a very un-Irken thing. For as long as Dib knew the former Invader, he was always emotional. Dib could never imagine going to a new planet, only to realize that his own abnormalities were entirely common and welcomed. It must have been a relief for the Irken to find out what each and every emotion meant... or it must have been a very heavy cross to bare.

Dib, however, was bothered by one small aspect of the whole 'emotions' situation. Scientifically speaking, every single one of his emotions could be explained chemically and mathematically. In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter—a chemical released by neurons to send signals to other nerve cells. The brain includes several distinct dopamine pathways, one of which plays a major role in reward-motivated behavior. Norepinephrine is a type of hormone that functions like adrenaline which surge at times of panic and emergency. When a person is at jeopardy, this hormone works to provoke the stress hormone and cause the blood pressure to rise while leaving the body with high temperature, speedy metabolism, and faster heart rate which makes the person more alert and focused.

And... love? Well, love was a full body, all senses emotion. Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing all played key roles within feeling of love, and shouldn't that mean that someone who is Defective have... an advantage over their peers? Without a proper PAK to monitor them, they have the ability to move around that obstacle or die. Defective Irkens are able to understand abstract ideas, such as emotions, and they had the ability to self-monitor.

But, those emotions did get in the way of their fascist ideals when it came to galactic and inter-galactic conquest. And without a proper mechanism, there was really no way for the being to understand if the idea they had was the 'right idea' or the 'wrong idea'. With no true problem-solving tips and tricks ever being to Irken Smeets, they had to adapt or die. They had to learn quick, or suffer the consequences.

Dib listened silently to the Irken as he rambled and spoke, and he couldn't image that feeling. Dib wished he could tell Zim that he understood, and he wished that he could tell him that everything was going to be fine, and that he had nothing to worry about, but... Zim had a lot to worry about. Dib shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to properly help the alien in his arms.

The human tightened his grip for only a moment, but in the most innocent way possible. It was a reaffirmation, if anything. "...I'm sorry." Sorry for what? Sorry that he couldn't help? Sorry that he didn't know what to say? Sorry he had to deal with that? He was silent for a beat, before he spoke again.

"...You're not a mistake." Dib said, and meant it genuinely. If he told his past self that within six years, he would be holding Zim in his arms and telling him that, the 12-year old would never believe it in a million trillion years. "And even if you are, you're... you're the best mistake in my life." Dib paused, and groaned under his breath. "Wait, no, that sounds bad-- I didn't mean it-- well, I did, but I didn't mean that you were a mistake-- or the best mistake. You are not a mistake-- the best not mistake, and you're the best... not mistake... in my..." He felt himself grow red in the face as he danced around his words.

Was he making the situation worse, or better? He honestly couldn't tell. It felt like worse. Dib cleared his throat, and hoped that Zim had a two-second memory. "...Anyway..." He paused a moment, and looked over the other being in his arms. "I just... I wish I could help. Somehow. Or make it all better, or do something, but I can't. I wish I could say, 'I know what you mean'," He lifted his arms gently above the Irken's body, using two fingers on each hand to act as air-quotations. "but I can't. And I'm not even gonna try, because I know and you know that you're smart enough to not believe me." He lowered his arms back down onto the Irken, as before.

Dib was quiet once more as he looked in his bag of words. He didn't know how to properly respond to the Irken, and he hoped that his failed attempts were working. "But... if you need anything, or if you just want someone to listen, or... or if you need another hug, or something-- or anything... I'm right next door, and my room is always open." Dib shrugged. "The walls are pretty thin, too, so you... could probably scream and I'll just... y'know, come over and stuff."

That was Dib's attempt at lightening the mood, and he was unsure if it worked or not. He wished that he could say more, or do more, or help the Irken in some way, but he was limited. He was almost useless to the monarch. He was nothing but a heat-blanket, full of bad jokes, even worse words of encouragement, and squishy organs.

And let's not forget the hornets.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

"Zim appreciates that you're making an attempt to...comfort him." That single word tasted terribly foreign on his superior Irken tongue. "But in this instance, it will not work." The Tallest's antennae drooped pitifully. "I am a mistake. A glitch in the system. An imperfect specimen that the Control Brains should have spotted early on and disposed of. But..." One antennae rose slowly, the cricked tip twitching incessantly. "Somehow, some way, Zim survived. He survived then and has continued to beat the odds. So...I am still a mistake." His eyes narrowed into thin slits. "But I am also a survivor."

He shifted uncomfortably where he sat. Now that he wasn't in the turbulent throes of a panic attack he was hyper-aware of the human's close proximity to him. The warmth that radiated from Dib was comforting and unnerving at the same time. His situation was only made worse by the words that escaped his old nemesis. He turned his head away after a while in a hopeless attempt to hide his face from the other creature, but the dark emerald color tainting his cheeks had already managed to spread to his neck.

Zim was blushing.

The Irken leader was more than happy to hop on board with the change of subject, and gradually, bit by bit, the dark flushing that spread across his cheeks and neck dissipated. It returned briefly, but only for a split second, when he was offered another comforting hug in the event that something like this happened again...and it almost certainly would. Zim liked to sleep. He didn't always appreciate a nice rest, however. Before his prior incident with Red and Purple he actually hated to sleep. Sleeping was unnecessary, and like most Irkens Zim deemed it a complete and utter waste of his time back then.

Now, though...he could definitely understand why both Red and Purple loved to sleep when they could. It felt so good to just curl up and forget about the rest of the world and the stressful situations lurking out there for a while. Zim just wished that he didn't have horrific nightmares a third of the time he opted to sleep rather than recharge.

A heavy sigh escaped the thin Irken and he allowed his tension-riddled muscles to go lax. "I suppose if this sort of thing happens again I could have the Computer fetch you. Under any normal circumstances that is what would have happened now..." His thick antennae twitched with irritation. "But because all Irkens have the day off today Zim's Computer is in charge of the entire fleet. The whole Armada. He cannot possibly watch everything that occurs within the Massive. He must have checked on me at some point, realized I was sleeping, and deemed it safe enough to just leave me be."

Zim spoke of his Personal Computer as if it had a gender. That wasn't too surprising. He spoke of GIR and Minimoose the same way, of course.

Silence fell over the pair after Zim spoke. It was an uncomfortable silence at first, mostly because Zim was still uncomfortable. He was in such a vulnerable position right now, and even though he was almost certain that Dib would do nothing to harm him in this situation that dark part of his mind kept him paranoid. It was only after a couple of minutes passed that the last remaining bits of tension ebbed away--Zim closed his eyes, which meant that he was placing his full trust in Dib not to strike while he was susceptible, and propped his head up on the human's shoulder.

"...Want to watch some Earth things or something?" His voice sounded unusually soft and gentle. It was so...un-Zim-like. But that must have been a positive thing, because equally impish smirks stretched across the faces of his two robotic friends. "Zim doesn't feel like sleeping anymore," he admitted with a hint of annoyance in his voice. That stupid night terror ruined his relaxing nap! "So perhaps watching some Earth things would be the most enjoyable thing to do."

GIR jumped up in an instant, his face lighting up. "I wanna watch The Emperor's New Groove!" he declared in a loud and screechy shriek. "I wanna see the llama!"

Zim's lips curled with disgust. "I hate llamas," he grumbled in a sour tone.

"You're just mad because that lady llama chased you once."

"Zim was attempting to study the bovine Earth beasts! Nothing more! The llama-beast had no right to chase him off!"

"You was encroachin' on her territory."

Zim blinked, his antennae perking somewhat. "I'm surprised that you even know what encroaching means."

GIR blinked in a similar fashion, tilting his head slightly to the right. "Me, too."

It seemed that the Irken leader's mood had picked up considerably as he chattered and bickered with his loyal little minion...and yet he didn't make an attempt to end the impromptu snuggling session with the human. Zim would probably never admit it out loud, but he definitely liked to cuddle if this was any indication. He even shuffled closer to Dib at one point, perhaps seeking out more warmth. He did turn back to the Earth creature after he finished his conversation with GIR and glanced downward first before his vibrant magenta orbs darted in the direction of his bed.

"We can move to Zim's bed if you want. It's probably more comfortable than the floor." He paused before clearing his throat, apparently recalling that on planet Earth inviting someone else to bed had more than one connotation. "Also, his blanket is much warmer." He squinted at the wall across from his bed, which was a false wall covering the same kind of window the human had in his quarters. "It seems colder than usual. Perhaps we are passing through a particularly frigid area." Zim shuddered, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm them up. "Zim isn't fond of the cold. Most Irkens aren't. I don't think I've ever told you this, but..." He squinted one large eye in Dib's direction. "We Irkens are much like reptiles on your planet Earth. Not the exact same, mind you, but there are a lot of similarities. We are sensitive to cold weather and can easily freeze to death if we are not prepared."

Even though they had aspirations of conquering the entire Universe, Irkens tended to avoid planets with particularly frigid climates. Or...they just blew them up right away. Either or.

 

[Dip]

Dib was silent as the Irken finished off. Well, in reality, Zim was a mistake. But him being a mistake didn't diminish Dib's feelings for him-- whatever feelings he had, or chose to ignore. The human tried everything he could to comfort the Irken, but an outsider could only do so much for someone suffering internally. Zim was the first Irken that Dib had ever interacted with, and in a way, Zim was something of a model Irken.

Dib knew for a fact that if Zim was functioning as he should, things would be so much more different than they were now. If Zim's PAK was working to it's full potential, Dib would go as far as saying that he would be dead right now. Outcast or not, Zim would have killed Dib and their rivalry would have never blossomed into something as beautiful as their hug. Awkward, tense, and slightly uncomfortable, but beautiful all the same.

Dib felt the Irken shift, and he did the same. Dib didn't want to say so soon, but it had been so long since he touched someone like this. He couldn't remember the last time he hugged someone as long as he hugged Zim-- in fact, he was unsure that he ever hugged someone the way he was hugging Zim right then and there! Dib was probably the worst hugger that the Earth had ever seen, but... he wasn't on Earth. He was on his own little planet, with Zim.

Zim soon spoke again after a spell of silence, and Dib nodded in agreement. For some reason, the human felt that something terrible must have happened... Not to him personally, but to something of his. He just had a weird feeling that something of his was damaged... But, then again, dark forces always seemed to oppose him, no matter where he went. He knew that this feeling would pass, and that there would be nothing to worry about, but the momentary weird-y feeling felt very... weird-y to him.

Little did Dib know, his Spittle runner was in a position known only in laymen's terms as: Cunted, to the nth degree.

If this sort of thing did happen again, Dib would rush over in a hurry. Dib was lucky that he had awoken at that moment. Dib was one hell of a sleeper, and it took quite a lot more than it should to rouse him. Dib valued his sleep as much as Zim seemed to now, and that wasn't too surprising. Sleep was relaxing, and it was good to sleep around every so often, and someone as busy as Zim (assumedly busy... perhaps Skoodge could use a nice nap or two).

Zim soon shuffled himself about once more, before settling completely against Dib. Somehow, this felt natural. Like... maybe Dib could get used to the feeling. The human and the Irken sat in silence for quite a while, and Dib wasn't entirely bothered by it. It was a good silence-- not entirely awkward, but not pleasant exactly. It wasn't angry silence, that hung in the air the same way bricks don't, but it was the kind of silence that two former enemies could enjoy together as friends.

Dib turned his eyes towards the Irken, before he pushed them forward once more. He shrugged gently, as to not disturb the Irken on his side. "Sure, okay." Dib said. He had been frying his brain all day, reading and writing, and listening and yelling, and writing some more. He could use an all-nighter, and maybe it would help him recollect himself. Dib had the nasty habit of always staying up past the crack of dawn studying, or doing some important research for either himself, Truthshrieker, The Swollen Eyeball Network, or just... hanging out by himself, watching a film or two or playing something on his phone.

GIR soon piped up about wanting to watch The Emperor's New Groove, and Dib had to admit that he never watched that before. Or most any Disney films. He preferred documentaries and first-hand accounts to animated classics, but he had to admit, there were some pretty good episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle out there. He listened to the chatter, and was happily surprised at the change of mode, and the easy shift in conversation.

And that GIR knew how to properly use the word 'encroaching'.

It wasn't long after that until Zim mentioned a shift in position entirely-- onto his bed. To Dib, hugging on the floor of the Irken's room was nothing. It was just a nice thing to do, right? Friends did that all the time! But the bed was a whole other story. Dib paused for only a moment, before the shrugger shrugged once more. It was only as weird as he made it out to be. Albeit, Dib was a weird person, but he had at least a shred of faith that he would be able to survive. He investigated spooky, abandoned houses, he had scoured the dankest and darkest of caves, surely he would be able to cuddle on a bed with his former enemy, right?

... First rule of business, they were not cuddling. They were just... embracing friendly-ly. It was a friendly thing to do.

"..Yeah, that sounds fine." Dib started, a little more nervously than he had planned. "...And my blankets are far more superior than your disgusting Irken cloth, thank you very much." Dib said, matter-of-factly. If this was his attempt at lightening the mood, it was pretty shitty.

Dib never used his false wall, he always appreciated staring out into the vast nothingness. It was amazing to see what kind of things passed by his window. Usually it was nothing, but a few times, he could swear he could see some strange things. Maybe it was because he had exhausted himself from lack of sleep, lack of food, and over exercise that day, or maybe it was something else all together, but he swears on his life that he saw a whale and a bowl of petunias falling near the side of the ship at quite an exponential rate.

Space was a beautiful place.

He didn't understand why anyone would use a false wall if they could just enjoy space!

Dib soon released his grip on the Irken, and slowly de-clung himself from the alien. He felt slightly colder as he let go, but he would never admit that out loud. Slowly, he made his way towards the bed, and sat near the middle. He slowly pushed himself so his back was near the wall, and again, he sat criss-cross apple-sause.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

Zim's posture changed dramatically the second the Earth creature left his side. He watched Dib as the human slowly unfurled himself and separated their bodies. As soon as that contact was lost Zim wrapped his arms around himself, tugging the abandoned Earthen blanket tighter around himself. He waited until Dib made himself comfortable on his bed before shooing Minimoose from his lap. The tiny moose and his SIR best friend observed curiously as their master rose to his feet, using the nearby wall for support.

The Tallest nearly pricked one of his fingers on the sharp metal edges of one of the jagged holes his PAK legs left in the wall and was reminded of his night terror. He hoped that he hadn't actually frightened the human in his wild and uncontrollable fit of rage and terror. The last thing he wanted to do was scare the Dib, especially right now.

Zim yawned and rubbed at his eyes as he hovered his way toward the bed with GIR and Minimoose hot on his tail. Minimoose was quick to settle himself at the foot of the bed, flopping over with a cheerful chirping sound. GIR plopped down next to him, his face as close to the mainscreen on the other side of the room as was possible. Zim idly flipped through different things using the remote on his nightstand. The Irken news network was quickly changed to something else. News broadcasts were so unbelievably boring. The next thing to be passed over was the live feed from the Coliseum on Irk, where prisoners fought horrible beasts and each other to earn respect...and maybe even their freedom.

It took Zim a while to find the Earth program he needed to start the movie. He made no attempt to resume the cuddling session during all of this time. It wasn't until the movie was about fifteen minutes in that he finally shuffled closer to the human, tilting his head in his direction without looking at him. He was silently asking for cuddles. It was the only way he would ask. Zim was far too prideful to beg for that kind of attention. He was the sort that would subtly ask for the contact with small physical cues.

Dib was in for a rough time in the near future. Zim was notoriously difficult to read even though he was a particularly emotional Irken. He had years of experience masking his true emotions with more acceptable negative emotions...in particular, anger. His temper was wild and irrational and he was fond of yelling and hollering when he lost it. When he didn't get his way, he raged like an infuriated Earth bull. He was also prone to having toddler-esque fits of rage and could hold a grudge for several weeks if he had to.

GIR would be pivotal in that department. He could read his master like a book!

The movie was amusing. Minimoose fell asleep halfway through. GIR giggled and chortled throughout the entire thing. Zim relaxed after about twenty minutes and also began to cackle at some of the funnier bits. When that movie ended he picked another at random to watch, which just so happened to be Dumbo. About halfway through the movie, however, the Irken monarch was fast asleep.

This time there were no night terrors.

Dib's very presence seemed to be soothing for Zim. He had a comfortable sleep--the best sleep he'd had in a long time.

He was the first one to wake up the following morning. And it was to an unpleasant sound--his work tablet squealing on his nightstand. He reached over, still groggy and unbalanced, and promptly turned the volume all the way down. His arm collapsed back onto the bed and he grumbled irritably, rubbing at his eyes with his other hand. For a while he tried his best to get back to sleep, not wanting this blissful moment to end.

But it was to no avail. With a grumpy huff he sat straight up, stretching his arms and yawning widely. GIR woke up a moment later, and of course he woke Minimoose up as well. The two of them immediately began to whine and complain (and squeak, in the diminutive moose's case) about being hungry. Zim drowsily offered to join Dib for a meal before he had to run off to the PIT for the day. He was eating in the communal Cafeteria more and more. He instantly agreed to join Dib whenever the human asked him to, and now he was steadily frequenting the place whenever Skoodge requested it as well.

"I wanna eat ten pizzas!" GIR screeched as he ran out into the hallway.

Zim blinked, watching as he bolted out of sight and practically dove into the elevator. "That would be quite a feat," he admitted genially as he rose to his feet, brushing off his royal regale and attempting to smooth out any wrinkles.

 

[Dip]

Dib didn't want to say so soon, but he was quite terrified. But, as would anyone in that situation. If the sound wasn't enough to jive someone from restful sleeps, it was the fury that followed it. The rage was unwelcoming to the human, and it was almost nostalgic in a way. While Dib never saw the alien get as angry as he did just a few minutes ago, he had seen similar fits in the past, let it be at school or during their routine fightings.

But that? That was no routine at all.

Dib had dabbled a bit into Irken television, but he never really quite got into it. For one, who would want to watch television when they could see all of space unveiling itself before their own eyes? And it seemed that Irken television lacked any real emotion, besides raw and unfiltered terror and horror. It bugged Dib only slightly, but he had grown accustomed to fake human gore, he was now desensitized to real horror-- well, as real as it could get. Filmed executions? Sure, why not? Could the human stomach the real deal? No way in hell.

The human, as the movie slowly played out, grew anxious. He wasn't sure if it was okay to hug Zim again-- he didn't want to do anything wrong-- but what if he was supposed to? Dib wasn't the best at reading signals, and he wasn't the best at picking up social queues. It was only amongst the Irkens that he really learned more about holding tconversation. They were so good at telling him when he was talking too much, and in turn, he was good at ignoring them. It wasn't long before Dib felt a light pressure on his side, and his anxieties ebbed away.

The human slowly wormed his arm around the Irken, and resumed the side-ways-this-is-what-friends-do hug.

Dib still didn't know what happened in The Emperor's New Groove, because he fell asleep almost thirty minutes after it started. He didn't know what happened in Dumbo either, but all he knew was that he truly didn't hate Zim. In fact, within the six years that he was gone, he never hated him. He hated that he left, he hated that he was alone, and he hated that he didn't have anyone to hate anymore, but he never hated Zim.

As the human laid in his loose embrace, at that moment, he could say that he damn near loved that green motherfucker.

---

"PLEASE DO NOT BE ALARMED," The golden cruiser said, in a voice both surprised and monotone. "BY ANYTHING YOU SEE OR HEAR AROUND YOU… WE ARE NOW PREPARING LAUNCH. WE WILL CRUISE AT A LEVEL OF TWO TO THE POWER OF NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX TRILLIAN TO ONE AGAINST AND FALLING, AND WE WILL BE RESTORING NORMALITY JUST AS SOON AS THE HEART OF GOLD IS SURE WHAT IS NORMAL ANYWAY. THANK YOU..."

The human and the two Plookesians wanted to take the golden ship for a joyride around the Restaraunt, but little did they know that they stumbled upon the very ship that was stolen by the then-President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox. It was the ex-President that had dropped the keys in the male's bathroom, and it was the kleptomania-riddled human that had picked them up, and it was the easy-going Plookesians that decided to see where it belonged to.

When they say the golden ship, they just had to test it out.

The Heart of Gold is 150 meters long. It is shaped like a running shoe (as the ship is powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive, it would be statistically impossible for the ship not to change appearance at least as frequently as the whim of an online Role-Player changes), and it is generally gold. The cabin is, as well, gold, and oblong and about the size of a smallish restaurant. It is not, however, perfectly oblong. Two long walls have been raked round in a slight parallel curve. All of the angles and corners of the cabin are contoured in excitingly chunky shapes. The truth of the matter is that it would have been a great deal simpler and more practical to build the cabin as an ordinary three-dimensional oblong room, but then the Damogran designers would have gotten miserable. The cabin looks excitingly purposeful. There are large video screens ranging over control and guidance system panels on the concave wall, and long banks of computers set into the convex wall.

The entire ship is outfitted with the latest GPP (Genuine People Personalities) utilising technology. All the doors in the spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition. It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close with the knowledge of a job well done. The entire ship is outfitted with a tannoy system, which allows for announcements to be made across the entire ship at once-- which, thanks to the good work of Dwicky-- projected the speed that the rag-tag trio would be going at.

This was met with oohs and awws, and not much concern. The had no idea what power they held in their hands, and they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. What they were getting themselves into, however, was Improbability. Sure and simple Improbability.

And as fate would have it, the human was drawn towards the other human across the galaxy. It took position changes, being changes, a lot of confusion, and some spilled tea.

---

Bohemian, while he wasn't the first one to be called, was the first one to show up. There had been a report of an unidentified abandoned ship. This wasn't at all surprising, but what was surprising was the fact that there happened to be quite a few things wrong with the ship.

1) It was entirely stolen. It was unlicensed, and unauthorized to be in such an area!
2) It wasn't there when the Armada last checked. The ship does not look suited for a cloaking devise, but yet... it just popped into existence!
3) The abandoned ship wasn't abandoned at all.

Bohemian walked briskly down the halls of the Massive, his clipboard under his arm, and his tablet in his hands. He had gotten good at multi-tasking when it came to walking and typing, as well as avoiding crowds and clusters of folk. Bohemian had taken it upon himself to rearrange the schedule just a bit, to make room for this new development. The three beings found on the abandoned craft have been intercepted, and seemed to be out cold.

The on-board Patrol Team took precautions nonetheless, and transported the three into holding cells based on their race. It was easy to know that the two Plookesians were just that: Plookesian. But the third... well, that was a whole other story; which is why they called down the Head Surgeon. He knew a vast number of creautres, and could make out whoever they could not identify within an instant.

The Head Surgeon walked into the onboard prison, and checked in with the warden. There, he was escorted down rows upon rows of holding cells. He paid no mind to the heckling ruffians and badgering scoundrels, and instead, kept his head up high and his eyes forward. He had a job to do, and there was nothing that could stop him from his duty.

The warden motioned towards the two occupied cells, and observed them closely. The first sight he saw was a rather plain sight to see. Two Plookesians, observedly passed out and exhausted due to some outside force, but other than that, they were nothing special. The Head Surgeon took the clipboard under his arm and jotted the notes down from what he observed. They were both of average stature, nothing special to them. Bohemian wrote quickly, scratching the page with his writing tool as thoroughly as he possibly could.

He was only pulled from his focus when he heard the sound of someone groaning. Bohemian didn't turn because it sounded pained, or because it sounded wrong, he turned to the other cell because the groan sounded oddly... familiar.

Bohemian strode a short distance away from the previous holding cell, and saw the unidentified creature. Instantly, his eyes widened and his antennae rose to full attention as he took in every detail of this... human!

Dwicky, the human in question, rubbed his eyes as he slowly regained consciousness. The last thing he could remember was feeling... vaguely like a penguin. Whatever that feeling was, he felt much like one before he passed out, and he was calming down from his black-and-white high. The human slowly brought his fists from his eyes, and used them to cover his face from the light within the cell.

Soon, the human rolled into a sitting position, and rubbed his eyes some more. Bohemian slowly pulled the clipboard from under his arm, and wrote down what he could observe. For some reason, the... things eyes pained it. It made sounds, as if it was in pain, though there was no outward physical distress. It seemed groggy.

Dwicky slowly pulled his hands from his face, and blinked the brightness away. Soon, he squinted against the light, and tried to make out where he was-- or just who he was. He looked over himself quickly, and made sure he had all of his limbs, his hands, his head, and everything inbetween. Soon after, he looked straight forward, and saw the Irken before him.

They looked over each other for a moment, Bohemian trying to decipher the strange creature, and Dwicky trying to figure out just why this alien looked so familiar. It wasn't long before the human pointed to the Irken, and smiled gently. "Wait! You-You're an Irken, aren't you?"

"... Yes." Bohemian said. "I am an Irken."

"I knew it! I haven't seen an Irken since-- eh he... since..." Dwicky slowly stopped himself, as he looked about the small cell he was in. "Since... when did I get here?" He asked, and this was not an uncommon thing to ask. The shenanigans the three pulled often led to strange situations, but they always managed to get themselves out.

Bohemian made the executive decision to not answer the... thing's question. "What are you?" Bohemian asked, his antennae bouncing gently.

"Me?" Dwicky seemed to not even realize that his question went unanswered. "Dwicky."

"Dwicky? What's a Dwicky? I've never seen a Dwicky--"

"No, no, no. I'm Dwicky. My name. I'm a human! From... Earth?"

Bohemian's eyes grew wide, and slowly narrowed. "...Prove it." He had a hard time believing that a human would be capable of traveling to such great lengths without the assistance of Irken technology. Surly this must be some kind of doppelganger race.

Dwicky went silent, and thought about how he could prove he was human. No one had really ever asked him to prove his Earthling-ness, so he was caught off guard. The human soon acted in the most human was possible.

As if the human was going to catch his right thumb with his left hand, he put his two hands side-by-side. Slowly, he pulled his left thumb between his middle finger and his third finger. While doing so, he had hide his right thumb behind his right hand. As he did, he let his left hand and thumb "walk away" up his right arm, and slowly "walked" it back down the length of his arm. He did this a few more times, and looked between his hands and the alien, who seemed to be taking an unreasonable amount of time to decipher what he was doing.

Well, this thing was human. Only a human would be dumb enough to pretend to take his thumb off and put it back on again. But... Bohemian had to admit, however he was doing that, it was cool. Bohemian wrote one final thing on his clipboard, and turned to the human once more. The Head Surgeon pulled out his tablet, and sent an urgent message to someone who would answer his message as swiftly as possible: Skoodge.

Bohemian requested the service of the Tallest, and mentioned that it was 'in his and the human's interest to come to the holding unit as swiftly as possible'. While Bohemian didn't formally invite the human, he knew that the other could possibly be tagging along.

Little did Bohemian know, the two had already had their breakfast, and parted ways. Even if the human wanted to meet the other human, he would have to be told by an outside force. At that precise moment in time, Dib and the short Irken Ceedid were in a heated discussion about the liklihood of growing rice on the planet Damogran.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

The first few messages that were sent the way of the Almighty Tallest went unanswered. Skoodge, who was still being punished for allowing the human to fly into combat in an Irken Spittle Runner, tried to call him between sessions of scrubbing floors and cleansing rooms, but it was to no avail--as usual, Zim wasn't bothering to check his messages. The Tallest tended to get easily distracted and sidetracked, especially when his glorified secretary wasn't around to watch his every move.

It wasn't until he finished the fifth cleansing room of the day that he finally afforded himself a break to call Zim directly. Or, at the very least, start a long chain of attempts to call him. Zim doggedly ignored the calls for quite some time. He was still rather heated with Skoodge and, like a scorned teenager, was giving him the cold shoulder. It wasn't until the tenth call came through that Zim's infuriated jade green face materialized as a hologram projected from the Head Adviser's PAK.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ZIM?" he bellowed furiously, grinding his teeth together in his anger. "Quit calling him! He is very, very busy!"

"Uh-huh." Skoodge idly scratched the side of his neck, peering curiously at what little he could make out of the background behind the Tallest's head in the hologram. "I'm not blind, you know. I can tell you're in your private Cafeteria."

"YOU'RE LYING!"

An even-tempered chuckle escaped the lesser Irken. "I can see that ridiculous poster you put in there when you first became Tallest."

"Oh." Zim's head swiveled around to that familiar poster, which once graced the walls of his kitchen back in his Earth base. "So you can."

"You done shouting and screaming then?"

Zim huffed like a petulant child and slumped back in his chair, folding his arms moodily across his chest. "No." He sounded awfully surly. "You interrupted Zim's lunch."

"I sent you a dozen messages. And called you many, many times." Skoodge frowned disapprovingly at his sulking leader, and the frown deepened into a scowl when all Zim did in response was open his mouth in a rather rude yawn. "Didn't it cross your mind, even once, that it might be something important?"

"Nope! Zim was thinking about his lunch." The nastiest of smirks curled the Irken monarch's lips. "Also, you're still being punished, so technically you're a Service Drone for the next week or two or...whenever the novelty wears off for me. Service Drones aren't allowed to speak to the Almighty Tallest without being spoken to first."

"Right." Skoodge's eyes narrowed dangerously. "The Head Surgeon wants you. Says it's important."

Zim defiantly shoved the remaining half of his burrito into his mouth, eyes half-lidded and expression forcibly bored. "Tell him Zim is not finished with his lunch."

Skoodge ran a hand over his face, taking a deep breath and counting to ten to avoid losing his temper. Yelling and screaming wouldn't work with Zim. It never did. That was what he wanted. That was the exact reaction he was hoping for from Skoodge simply so he had an excuse to yell and scream himself. Rather than losing his cool Skoodge decided to go the direct route. Short, sweet, to-the-point, and simple were always best when it came to Zim.

"The Armada intercepted a ship not too long ago."

"Mm-hm." Zim made a concerted effort to appear uninterested, but the curiosity glinting in his magenta gaze as he wolfed down his food betrayed him. "Blew it up, I assume? That's what they always do."

"No. It appeared to be abandoned. So we confiscated it." Skoodge's antennae bounced. "But it wasn't abandoned. There were three beings inside. Seems like they stole it. Two of the beings are Plookesians. But the third one is apparently...suspect. The Head Surgeon is requesting your presence in the Medical Wing, where he plans on examining the suspect being. But he also requested the Earth creature's presence."

"The Dib?" Skoodge had finally succeeded in properly snagging Zim's attention. He lost interest in the leftover scraps from his lunch and now the entirety of his focus was honed in on the rotund Irken. He squinted suspiciously at Skoodge, the tip of his tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth. "Why?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." This response was almost always guaranteed to spark his old friend's wild curiosity and, just like he suspected, it worked like a charm. Zim sat up straighter in his chair, obviously mystified about why the human's presence was necessary. For a long time there was silence, with Zim silently rolling his thoughts around in his mind and Skoodge waiting patiently for his leader to say something. When it became apparent that Zim was so engrossed in his thoughts that he might have forgotten he was still on the call, Skoodge cleared his throat. Zim jumped slightly in his chair and blinked owlishly wide eyes at Skoodge. "So..." Skoodge rubbed his hands together. "You should grab the human and get going, then. The Head Surgeon indicated that this might be some kind of emergency."

"Right now?" It was GIR who spoke this time, the upper half of his tiny head rising up into view. "But I haven't finished my Vort dogs!"

"You can eat them on the way, GIR." Zim slowly rose from his seat and hovered in the direction of the nearest trash can--in turn, the hologram followed his every movement. "Zim will be going now. So don't call him again, Service Drone, and get back to work."

The Tallest promptly cut the call and left his private Cafeteria with GIR in tow. Minimoose wasn't tagging along. After devouring his breakfast this morning the floating moose headed straight back to Zim's quarters to take a nice, long nap. GIR babbled on like he typically did during their trek but Zim was oddly quiet this time around, answering his robotic servant's questions with simple hums and nods of his head. At the pace he was going he managed to reach the Planetarium in no time flat. The Medical Wing wasn't too far off, so he figured he'd just stop by and fetch Dib himself.

A visit with the PIT wouldn't hurt, either. Zim didn't stop by as much as he should. Mostly because the PIT was filled with non-Irkens who were uncomfortable with his presence. Some of them were even hostile and wouldn't speak a word to him. But he was always nosy about what they were working on and if they managed to find anything interesting lately.

He decided to send a warning to Jazz about his impending arrival before setting foot into the elevator, just so that he wouldn't startle the human or any of the non-Irkens. Jazz, who was simply watching as Salsa (who was sharply intelligent) refereed the shouting match between the human and the fiery little Irken, reacted instantly, antennae standing straight up and his posture straightening as well.

"Back to your workstations, everyone." He spoke firmly, but not in an intimidating manner. "The Tallest is stopping by." Several non-Irkens, including Loskora, immediately did as they were asked, abandoning their conversations and other projects, and deliberately buried their heads in their work at their desks. They wanted nothing to do with the Irken Tallest, and frankly Jazz didn't blame them. He nodded idly in Dib's direction. "He is here for you, by the way. Apparently, it's important. Something about a strange creature of some sort."

"An unknown being?" Salsa was instantly intrigued. "One we have never seen before? Here, on the Massive?"

"Could be." Jazz shrugged his shoulders only slightly. "Perhaps that is why he needs a member of the PIT that he can trust."

 

[Dip]

Bohemian slipped his tablet into his pocket, and turned towards the... 'human' once more. He looked him over, and turned away from him. He headed out the same way he came, and Dwicky did nothing but watch. To be honest, within the six (or so) years that Dwicky had been running around the universe, getting locked up wasn't an uncommon feat. Behind a stranger in a strange new place, it was easy to greatly offend a being to the point of imprisonment, but he was always able to get off of the hook. He was a foreigner, anyway!

The Head Surgeon turned a corner quickly, and met with the Massive's Warden. "I request the transportation of the... the being, in cell 24601, to the Massive's Medical Wing as soon as possible for inspection from myself and the Tallest." Bohemian pulled his tablet out, and began typing away to clear his schedule once again. Rhapsody will have to take his next three patients. "This is a matter that I feel needs to be addressed within his presents. If there are any questions, you can contact the Tallest personally."

The Warden nodded, and looked past Bohemian. "What is it? It's... really pink." The young Wardener asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say, but the Tallest will know better than I will. You may transport him in Cuffs, or in a Vice-Lock, or even have him dragged. I do not much care, just as long as I can find him within my office before the Tallest makes it to the Medical Wing. Oh, and another thing..." Bohemian paused, slipping his device into the pocket of his coat. "Did the hu-- the being have any weapons, any items on itself?"

The Warden walked away for a moment, and presented a small assortment of items that were taken from Dwicky, and the two Plookesians. The items were contained within a confined satchel, and Bohemian took it carefully. He would have it Decontaminated as soon as possible, but... he wondered what the human could have procured. The Head Surgeon thanked the Warden, and went his own way.

Dwicky was sent his own way, too, but this way was the way that Bohemian had previously described it: Cuffed.

Bohemian walked quite briskly to his office, partly because he wanted to get there before anyone else did. It was a last-minute decision, and Bohemian hated those, but he had to be double sure that what he was dealing with was entirely human. While Bohemian didn't doubt himself and his current knowledge, Zim had been amongst the presents of humans for far much longer than he has, and he would be able to decipher exactly what that thing is.

And even the human could, aswell. Humans could tell other humans apart, right? They must be able to.

Bohemian took the contents of the satchel and placed them within a smaller, more compact Decontamination chamber that was used for medical equipment more so than beings. Bohemian pulled gloves over his hands and began placing the contents on a small tray that would be inserted into the chamber. As he did, he looked over them quietly.

The first thing that caught his attention was the Golden set of keys, which he placed gently on the tray. He then pulled out something that seemed to be made of the hide of an animal-- that animal, Bohemian could not name. The Head Surgeon took it upon himself to open it further, to see if he could decipher what it was he had in his hand.

It open quite easily, as it seemed to be something that simply folded over itself. Bohemian unfolded it, and was presented with some strange forms of identification. The Head Surgeon slipped his gloved fingers between one of the slots on the strange carrying device, and saw a photograph of the being that was captured. The picture matched that of the collected being, and it even stated his height, weight, eyecolor, and sex.

6'3", 160 pounds, blue eyes, male. That all seemed to line up without a hitch, and it even stated his name! Dwicky, Garth J. Bohemian didn't know what a 'Garth J. was, but he assumed it must have been an extension of his name. Bohemian flipped the plastic card around, to view the back.

The back was nothing more than simple codes, scannable images, and the like. There was a small line at the bottom of the card, that had the being's signature on it, with a few boxes curiously checked. 'Anatomical Gift Statement- Upon my death, I wish to donate:' and under that, were two boxes-- one of which was checked off with an X. 'Eyes, blood, all organs, or tissue'.

Bohemian looked it over once more, and placed it down on the tray, along with the carrying mechanism that it came in. He didn't waste time looking over the other items, and he began the Decontamination process swiftly. Just in time, too, as it seemed that the human suspect was just arriving. Bohemian slipped his gloves off of his hands, and threw them away as he went to meet with the other being.

Dwicky, while he was mostly pushed the entire way to the Medical Wing, that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the view! He looked about the sterile magenta environment with reckless abandon, and wondered faintly if he was able to make it out of here before the owners of the golden shuttle noticed that their ship was gone.

And to be quite frank, they didn't notice!

The on-board Soldiers handed off the 'human', and didn't bother to un-cuff him. They handed Bohemian the keys, and Bohemian took charge from there. He introduced himself, spoke about the ship, told him why he was detained, and what they were going to do with him. Odds are, the Head Surgeon said, they would let him off without a hitch, but his vehicle would be repossessed in the name of the Irken empire. That wasn't much of a big deal to Dwicky, and to all of this, he shrugged.

They spoke about vaccinations, and Dwicky mentioned that he had 'gotten one or two done in his spare time'. Space-Syphillis was no laughing matter. While Bohemian wouldn't administer anything without his Tallest's orders, he personally felt that he didn't need to worry about anything that the Tallest's companion had to. This being was calm, and seemed to have been through this a couple times before. This Dwicky seemed to pose no threat.

---

"What do you know about farming rice?" Dib asked loudly, unaware that he was no longer using his 'inside voice'.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?" Ceedid asked, most certainly not using his 'inside voice'.

"What do I know? I'll have YOU know that I know that I--"

This conversation was thankfully stopped at the mention of the Tallest paying them a visit. Ceedid was the first to break away from Dib's conversation, and he took that as a score for man kind. 1-0. Dib made his way back to his station, and didn't bother with his work. He turned to Jazz and met his gaze, and raised his eyebrow gently. He didn't know what this was about, but he was just glad that he wasn't getting in trouble again.

Dib's mind raced gently with what could be on board the Massive, and awaited the arrival of Zim.

 

[Mira-Charma13]

When the elevator finally reached the Planetarium and the doors opened, GIR came rocketing out of it like a shooting star. In his haste to get into the room he tripped on the small set of stairs that led up to the Universal Map and flung himself face first into the floor ahead. Several PIT members chuckled. Zim watched the entire thing unfold from within the elevator and spared only a simple glance to ensure that his SIR was unharmed. Luckily enough for GIR, SIR units were practically indestructible unless they were torn apart piece by piece...and even then the separate pieces could still function and pull themselves together again!

"Greetings, my Tallest." Jazz stood high in the center of the room, the very picture of professionalism. Zim flicked an antenna in his direction in response as he strode into the room. "Come to fetch the Earth creature?" Jazz pressed, hoping to get an actual professional response to his words this time.

"Mm-hm." Zim's arms crossed themselves over his thin chest and his magenta eyes bounced about the room until they landed on the human. "Come along, Dib-human. Zim is giving you the day off. He requires your presence for a while."

"What is this about, exactly?" Salsa sounded more than intrigued. "Is it a new creature the likes of which we have never seen before?"

"Ehh? Oh, I dunno." Zim shrugged his shoulders. How very...Zim-like.

Salsa squinted suspiciously in the Tallest's direction, and as he did GIR picked himself up from the floor, giggling like a maniac, and bolted over to Dib's workstation to silently ask for a hug. "What do you mean you don't know?" The fiery-eyed Irken seemed surprised. "They didn't tell you anything? Anything at all? You're the Tallest."

A dull murmur broke out among PIT members. These members were insanely curious by nature--that was why they were part of the Planetary Investigation Team in the first place! Zim huffed like an irritable human toddler. He wasn't going to be able to leave until he satiated at least a small bit of their curiosity. "The Massive intercepted some kind of ship while Zim was...otherwise occupied," he began in a forcibly bored tone. "They thought it was abandoned, but when they grabbed it and brought it into the Hangar there were three beings inside."

"Three of them? All foreign?" Now intrigue danced in the azure eyes of the PIT leader, as well.

"Nah. Two Plookesians and one weird unidentified thing." Curiosity shone through in the Irken monarch's vibrant gaze as well. "Zim is not here to speculate. He is here to fetch the Earth creature to see if he can identify the weird unidentified thing in question."

"Well, then..." Jazz shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "If it's an undiscovered being, Dib..." Jazz was one of the few Irkens who actually addressed Dib by his name and without any of those malicious suffixes. "You should study it carefully while you have the chance and keep us posted."

"Yes. Do that." Salsa's badly-twisted antennae twitched. "I'm terribly curious."

As Zim turned to leave, Jazz tilted his head slightly in his superior's direction. "You should stop by again when you have a free moment, my Tallest," he suggested as calmly as he could. "There are a few things we need to talk about."

"Yeah, sure," he muttered in a tone that clearly stated he wouldn't be dropping in for another visit anytime soon. "Whatever." Zim was obviously eager to get out of the Planetarium as quickly as he possibly could. The expansive domed room made him extremely uncomfortable, not because of the room itself but because of its occupants. It wasn't only the non-Irkens that stared the Almighty Tallest down in a hollow and hostile manner. Some of the Irkens bore the exact same expression.

Zim truly was an outcast among his own people. He felt uncomfortable around members of his own race.

GIR barreled his way back into the elevator, and once the human joined them the doors closed and the elevator descended. The tension in the Irken leader's body slowly melted away as the elevator spirited him further and further away from the Planetarium. The silent hostility he encountered from the members of the Planetary Investigation Team explained why Zim very rarely deigned to visit Dib while he was working and instead sent GIR to meet him once working hours came to a close.

Rather than addressing the hostility Zim pretended that it didn't affect him at all. He straightened up and avoided eye contact, wringing his hands together. "I apologize for pulling you away from your work. You will still be compensated for the day, of course. Which reminds Zim..." He finally met the other creature's gaze. "You do receive payment for your work. But there is no need for Irken monies aboard the Massive. Everything is provided free of charge. So Zim has been keeping the monies you have earned safe for you. It would be best for Zim to handle those monies for now. Once you receive a PAK of your own you can access and use them whenever you like."

The elevator doors opened and GIR took a flying leap out of them, rolling around happily on the ground. Zim watched him do so from a distance, one antenna perked. "Don't mind him. He drank the remaining half of Zim's lunchtime slush today and now he can't seem to settle." He took a few slow steps out of the elevator. "Remember the way to the Medical Bay? You can lead, if you wish."

The Massive was, as its name suggested, a rather large ship. Zim was happy to test Dib on his knowledge of the Massive's layout whenever he could. The last thing he wanted was for the human to get lost and ambushed by some spiteful Irkens in a dark corner, or something equally sinister.

"Oh, yes..." Those thick antennae twitched. "The Head Surgeon requested your presence in particular, and not just the presence of a PIT member, to help identify the weird unidentified thing. Zim has no idea why." He shrugged his shoulders halfheartedly. "Maybe he thinks you are the most qualified member of the PIT for the job or something."

 

[Dip]

Dib wasn't surprised that the first thing to bust through the Planetarium doors was GIR. That was usually the case, but today, it seemed that the android had a certain flame under his ass. Dib could understand flames being lit under his ass, as he seemed to have one right now. While he knew he had some work to do with the PIT, he couldn't help himself to reread the note he had taken the night before.

Dib watched as Zim gradually hovered into the room, and he couldn't help but notice how regal he seemed. He took a quick glance around to see most of the non-Irkens-- Trillian and Nuul, mostly-- not even stirring from their work to look up at the other, while it seemed that Ceedid did a mixture of idle fascination at the Tallest and rapt attention at his work. Dib wondered faintly if Ceedid would ever grow from his short stature, and if Irken's often experienced strange and odd growth spurts.

Could he be any shorter?

Dib felt warm eyes upon him, and turned to see the Irken monarch. Dib couldn't help but smile when he was informed of his day off, and he was more than thankful. The human closed his laptop, and collected his things into his backpack. As he did so, he wondered what it could be that he was investigating, and if he should be prepared for anything. Assuming that the creature was inside the Medical Wing, it must be injured. But what could two Plookesians be doing with an injured, unidentified creature?

Dib zipped up his bag, and readied himself to place it over his shoulders. He was stopped only by the overly-excited android that bolted around the room like a flash of lightening, and he gave him the hug that he craved. As he did, he nearly squirmed from his grasp, and ran from him once more. Dib raised an eyebrow, but hoisted his bag over his shoulders without a second thought.

The point Salsa brought up did right a few bells. While Zim was secretive by nature, he was the Tallest, and he should know what it was they were dealing with. But Bohemian knew what he was about, and Bohemian knew far more than Dib did. If Bohemian didn't know, surely Zim wouldn't know... but how would Dib know? The curiosity was contagious, and Dib began questioning with the best of them.

Dib turned to the commander, and nodded. If Jazz wasn't the first person he would talk to, it would be Trillian, and then somehow the point would get across to the taller Irken. If Dib was good at one thing, it was studying things carefully and without end. Just as Salsa was, Dib was terribly curious.

Dib followed Zim as he strode briskly out of the Planetarium, and he made his way to the elevator. They were silent for a few moments, which did nothing for Dib's nerves. While he was occupied with the thought of a new and strange creature, his mind kept coming back to the way the others acted towards the Tallest. The conversation he had with Zim the night before was eye-opening, but Zim didn't spend enough time around his people for them to truly suspect something, could they?

Well, Zim did take the long way across the galaxy just for the human. If that wasn't proof enough, nothing was.

Dib turned to Zim, as if this was new information to him. He always assumed that he got paid-- the others talked about paychecks and how many monies they made, and so on and so forth, but he really didn't know where it went. He didn't much mind, either. On Earth, Investigating was something that he would do with or without payment-- most times, without, but he still did it. It was a hobby, a love of his, and he didn't much care for compensation.

If there was an Irken form of Amazon Prime, though, that would change Dib's views entirely.

Dib couldn't foresee Zim dipping into his account whatsoever. If things were different, and the two were still sworn enemies, Dib wouldn't trust a single penny with the Irken. But things were different, and Zim clearly got anything he wanted and more. What would he need with the human's monies?

Dib watched as the SIR unit lept from the elevator and down the hall in a style similar to a barrel-roll. Dib took a few steps with the Irken, before Dib was asked to lead. He shrugged, and moved forward. He had gotten pretty good at finding where everything was-- mostly the Medical Wing, because he visited there so often. While he had been about the Massive for a while, he still hadn't seen half of it. He spent most of his time in his own room, in the Planetarium, in the Cafeteria, and in the Medical Wing.

As Dib listened to the rest of what Zim had to say, he physically changed. He stood taller, held himself straighter, and even smirked a bit. He was the best, wasn't he? He was the most qualified! If Bohemian thought so, it had to be true. That comment alone made his whole... whatever time it was. Afternoon? It must be. That comment made his whole afternoon!

"Does he really think so? Well, he isn't wrong. I am pretty amazing at my job. Just last week, I..." And just like that, Zim started up a storm. Dib, as the two walked, prattled on and on about how last week, he was able to quarantine a strange and unknown insect-creature from The Octillian System, who managed to escape his cage. He chased the insect for a solid three hours, before he finally managed to catch it with his bare hands.

Of course, that was a bad idea, because he was bitten pretty badly (thankfully, it wasn't poisonous. Just really, really, really, really, really sharp). But other than that, he was the only one to capture it and he was the only one to put it back into it's cage. Single handedly! Well, it was single handedly, because he had to wrap up the bite on his other hand. But it was still single handedly!

Dib continued to talk on and on as he made the way towards the Medical Wing. They turned a corner, and soon made it near the Irken offices. Dib knew that Bohemian's was furthest from the rest, and that was because his was the biggest. He was the Head Surgeon, so of course he had the most items within his office. Dib made his way down the hall way, with the duo nearest to him (well, he assumed GIR was near to him... He must have rolled somewhere during Dib's blabbering).

Dib strolled, until he was stopped dead in his tracks. He went totally silent as he watched, with eyes as large as dinner plates.

Dwicky, at that time, was asked if he was injured at all. Dwicky mentioned that he was, at one point within the week, intoxicated, and he had recently come down from his high. It was that damned Sundew spice! They sold it everywhere, and the affects lasted for days. Bohemian pulled out his clipboard and, at the time, asked the 'human' if he could walk a straight line. If the creature was still intoxicated, he would have to be sent back to the holding chambers, and this was the best way to test it.

Sundew affected nearly every single motor skill, and while the creature could talk and converse, that didn't mean he was entirely sober. While there were medical ways to sober this strange creature, Bohemian didn't want to waste any resources without consent of the Tallest. Dwicky walked simply into the hall way, and turned to walk back. Just in that time-- that moment, Dib saw a human for the first time in nearly three months.

Even with Dib's deteriorating eye-site, he could see black hair, pale skin, one head, two arms, and two legs. Dib started again, quickening his pace drastically. The human was stopped again, and that was when the creature turned to the sound of footsteps.

Blue eyes. Black hair. Strangely familiar features. He knew him, didn't he...?

"D...Dwicky?" Dib called out, hesitant, unsure but excited all the same.

The creature squinted, and slowly neared the creatures down the hall. It was only after two steps that Dib broke his position, and sprinted down the hall, a smile spread wide across his face. In his excitement, he dropped his backpack from his back, and took leaping strides towards the other human.

It was a human!

IT WAS A HUMAN!!

IT WAS A HUMAN!!!

Dib tackled the poor human into a hug, and they both fell onto the floor. Dib pulled away for a moment, and looked the human in the face. Dib, in his excitement, grabbed the other by the cheeks, and nearly screamed in his face.

"DWICKY!! It's you! You-- You're on here! On the Massive! IN SPACE! You're in space! With me! On the Massive!" Dib was nearly shaking with excitement. This was the best surprise yet. "Howdya' get here?!" Dib paused a moment, as he recalled quietly his last memories with Dwicky. Dwicky, during that time, was trying to figure out who it was that seemed to be pinning him down and grabbing his face.

Dib gasp loudly, and turned back to the human. "YOU WERE TAKEN TO SPACE!!" Dib recalled. "Like, SIX YEARS AGO!! Remember? I was there with you when they took you! The-the-the.. THE PLOOKESIANS! " Dib looked over Dwicky, and stood up as fast as possible. He pulled up the former School Counselor by the arm, and stood him up. Dib grabbed him by the arms, and shook him. "I THOUGHT THEY KILLED YOU!" He smiled like a mad man. "I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN! But here! You're here! You're on the Massive! And alive, and breathing, and stuff!"

Dib was a mess. He was an overstimulated puppy that was given an entire chocolate birthday cake, and he was loving it. Dwicky, after being thoroughly tackled and pushed around, felt mildly dizzy. He had a few clues to who this kind was, but he had completely forgotten his name. Dib turned to Zim, and then to Bohemian. "I KNOW HIM!!!" He stated, pointing and gesticulating to the human wildly. "I KNOW HIM!! AND HE KNOWS ME! HE KNOWS DIB!"

Dib turned to Dwicky, and grabbed him by his face again. "You're real, right?! You have to be real! You're really real, right?"

"...I think." Dwicky said, almost unsure if he was real at that moment in time.

"SEE?!" Dib could hardly contain his excitement, and so, he was taking it out on everyone else.

Dwicky was lucky that the human managed to scream his own name at him, or else he would have a hard time asking the other human who he was. Slowly, the old memories drifted back to him. The day he was taken away, the day he spent hanging out with the twelve-year-old. Dib had grown so much, he hardly even recognized him!

Dib let go of his old Counselor's face, and turned to Zim. "THIS IS A HUMAN!" Dib couldn't contain himself. "I'M A HUMAN!" He said dumbly. Dib turned back to Dwicky. "We're BOTH HUMANS!!"

That was enough for Bohemian. He wrote on his clipboard, 'human' while he circled and underlined it three times. That was enough for him. The Head Surgeon made his way around from the frantic and excitable human, and stood near the Tallest. "...Is he always like that?" Surely that wasn't a sign of good health.

"I was unsure the species of this... thing. You spent more time amongst humans, and I would think that the human could tell its own kind apart from others, say a Betelgeusian or a Vulcan." Bohemian shrugged. He spoke quieter this time, just for Zim to hear. "...They are both humans. With your permission, I can run a test..." Bohemian talked slowly, wanting to keep his attention. "It is in your best interest to agree with me. In the event something happens to the Dib-Human... say, another ride in a Spittle-Runner, or perhaps a pretty nasty fight, and he needs inside liquids or a new organ..." Bohemian left it at that. He turned to both of the humans, and sized them up.

Roughly same hight, roughly same weight and musle-mass composure, their bone-structure was almost the same... If they had the same blood type, Dwicky could be a perfect doner. He turned to the Tallest once more, and looked away. "We already have his permission to harvest his organs in the event of death, but..." Bohemian shrugged. "That must guarantee we have his living testimony, correct?"

 

[Mira-Charma13]

When it came to the non-Irken members of the Planetary Investigation Team and their apparent hostility toward the Irken Tallest, most of them would remain silent on the matter if the human were to question them. A few of them openly disliked Dib simply because he was so unusually close with Zim, but they put their differences aside to work with him--their work, which for some of them was the only fulfilling activity they were permitted to participated in, was more important than their personal feelings.

The only way some of them would open up to the human...was if he were to join forces and work together with the Irken Resistance. In that instance, his close relationship with the Almighty Tallest could prove to be useful. Jazz had high hopes for a partnership between the Resistance and the human, especially after what happened with Damogran recently. The next time he left for a meeting with the Resisty, he would have to sit down and discuss his ideas with their Captain.

A deliberately over-the-top sigh escaped Zim when Dib began ranting and raving about his accomplishments over the past week. He pretended to be annoyed, but the amusement dancing in his brilliant magenta orbs gave away his mild interest in the matter. It bothered him deep down when he was reminded of the injury the other sustained capturing the slippery escapee, but he managed not to keep the concern from crawling into his expression. The Dib could handle himself. A little insect bite wasn't enough to truly harm him in the long run.

Zim couldn't help but worry, though. Even he had to admit that he was growing strangely overprotective of the human. Worse yet...he had no idea why it was happening! He didn't want to smother Dib with his overbearing ways, but he simply couldn't help himself.

A traitorous little voice within his mind reminded him that deep down, he did actually know what the catalyst for this behavior was. Zim wished that he could beat that treasonous thought down with a blunt weapon. The Irken leader quickly distracted himself with thoughts of showing Dib precisely what his monies could buy in the Irken world later on. Indeed, there was an Irken equivalent to Amazon Prime. With less drones, mind you, but more mechanical meteors with GPS traveling through the Universe faster than the speed of light.

Zim was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice that something strange was happening. It wasn't until he realized that Dib was no longer talking his antennae off that he ground to an abrupt halt, peering over his shoulder at the Earth creature. He followed the other male's thunderstruck gaze, turning his head back forward...

...and he finally laid eyes on the suspect creature Skoodge was talking about.

It was a human. Zim recognized the species instantly. His antennae slowly rose until they stood up straight in the air and his eyes widened considerably. GIR even stopped babbling and stared as well, his little mouth set in a firm and confused line. What on Irk was a human doing here? Out in space? On the Massive, of all places? It made no sense!

Well...it was pretty bamboozling until Dib spoke up in that reluctant tone.

Dwicky. That name...it sounded slightly familiar. One of Zim's antennae twitched and angled in the direction of the strange human. Come to think of it...he sort of looked familiar, too. But only vaguely so. The Dib must have known him somehow, from the past. That was...bizarre, to say the least. Out of all of the humans on Planet Earth, one of the very few that managed to escape to space was apparently a human that was familiar with the Dib. How intriguing.

At least, it was intriguing...until Dib shot forward and tackled the other Earth creature in what could only be described as an affectionate embrace.

The change in Zim's body language was instant. His muscles tightened and tensed up. His eyes narrowed and his antennae pressed themselves flat against his head. Both hands curled into tiny fists. His shoulders rose and he lowered his head ever so slightly, fixing a downright venomous glower on the other human beast.

He was jealous. Even the most emotionally oblivious of creatures would be able to see that!

For the longest time the wrathful Irken stood there like a sentinel, completely silent and seething with fury. It wasn't until he sensed Bohemian's presence, almost too close for comfort, that he made an attempt to mask his true feelings. He stood up straighter and lifted his head and antennae, taking slow and deep breaths. The furious quivering of his antennae wouldn't halt, however, and immediately gave it all away.

"Sometimes," was his simple and gruff response. He reached down to activate his hover belt and instantly lifted a minuscule distance off of the ground. That was telling. Zim hated using his hover belt and would only do so if he was in pain or in a particularly sour mood. "It's a human, all right," he continued in that same dark tone. "Look at its stupid head fur. And its stupid three-toned eyes. And its stupid five-fingered meat paws. It couldn't possibly be anything else."

GIR didn't giggle this time around. He was wholly focused on his master's discomfort and wondered faintly if he would finally step up and spit it out. If he didn't do it soon, well...maybe this other Earth thing would.

Zim perked up only slightly when the Head Surgeon mentioned a test, but paid more attention as the other Irken continued. He rubbed his chin, looking oddly thoughtful but conflicted as well. It was a good idea...after all, the likelihood of there being other humans out there to salvage parts and fluids from were minimal to none. But at the same time he wasn't entirely comfortable with the prospect of having another human hanging around.

He didn't want this human anywhere near Dib. He had a bad feeling about this.

"...I suppose we could keep him around." Zim seemed awfully grudging. "For spare parts and such. But he would either have to remain a prisoner or become a slave."

Almost every Non-Irken on the Massive was considered to be a slave. The vast majority of them were not allowed to leave the Armada. Some didn't want to leave, but others were being held against their will. Some were promoted to higher positions and allowed to join teams of Scientists, or something like the PIT. But others, those who fought and rebelled, were akin to Service Drones. Just with much less respect. They were openly abused and kicked around by Irkens. Red and Purple were infamous for this behavior during their reign and many Irkens still treated them with just as much disrespect.

Zim just ignored them. Like he ignored everything else.

 

[Dip]

Dib knew that he was hated amongst the masses of people within the PIT. If he hadn't hardened his experiences with the Swollen Eyeball Network, he would have certainly given up on even working for them anymore. The Irkens were far more open with their opinion (as open as they could be. Ceedid was probably the most boastful out of all of them, and often professed his unwavering hatred for the human on a daily basis) than any human, and even the humans within the Network were so backwards and out of touch with humanity they couldn't engage with 'normal ' people correctly.

That wasn't to say that Dib was perfect at picking up social cues. It was quite obvious that he was much like the freaks and geeks he so often surrounded himself with on Earth. He couldn't even tell that the alien creature was mildly annoyed! That inability sabotaged any possible friendships (alliances, really) that the human would ever want to make. While he did often talk with Trillian, it was mostly Dib talking for him. Trillian was known to smirk and smile, and ask questions on the topics that Dib often brought up, but he rarely spoke about himself personally.

Dib knew only a few things about the strange purple Vortian:

1) He had three younger sisters, all of whom were Technicians specializing in different fields on Vort. Their names were Millian, Quintillian, and Septillian. Dib thought it was strange how they were all named after American units of measurement, but he never brought it up.

2) It seemed that Trillian rather fancied a certain 6-foot Irken, but Dib didn't want to say so soon. He had used the scientific method to try and debunk his hypothesis, but he was stuck at the 'experiment' stage.

3) If you got him talking about electricity, it was hard for him to stop. Not to mention if you gave him wire and spare cord-- you're just in for an ear-load after that. Dib mentioned that his phone charger had been broken for three weeks at one point, and all Trillian had to do was cut it open and fix it right up! It took him thirty seconds. It was amazing.

Dib had to admit, that the bug bite was entirely his fault. He had, as GIR would so lovingly call it, 'encroached on her territory'. He did grab her rather hard, and hadn't been gentle in the slightest when it came to investigating her mandibles. But really, a warning could have been delivered somehow!

Dib was always interested with insects, but he had to be in the right mood for a bug. A moth landing on his window? How fascinating! A spider crawling all over him as he slept? Also fascinating, but he would swiftly and calmly freak the fuck out. A mosquito? Well, that was just out of the question. Ladybugs? ABSOLUTELY. NOT. Godspeed to whoever decided that bugs don't belong in the vacuum of space!

Wven while the most emotionally oblivious of creatures could tell that Zim was jealous, Dib was a race all his own. If he had taken two seconds to really look over Zim's frame, there would be good chance he would pause and assess the situation, but surely anyone as excited as the overstimulated puppy would know that there was no stopping the train Dib was on!

Dwicky hardly even knew what was happening when the whirlwind rolled about him. He knew he was toppled over, and the ground really hurt, and that he was pulled back up to his feet, and once again trusted into more confusion. He knew that there was a human-- right?-- grasping onto him, but for what reason he did not know.

But the name 'Dib' sounded familiar as it cropped up into his head. Dib seemed to have changed entirely, yet not at all. The same trench coat, the same glasses, the same excited voice and determined stature, but there were till changes. Height, age, weight, the like all changed. He seemed to carry himself a bit more... dignified, somehow. And his hair, while it was still the same, had grown to a rather shaggy length.

While the Massive offered creatures with talents and skills of which the human knew nothing of, there was no way in hell he was letting an Irken come anywhere near his head with a pair of scissors. But for some strange reason, it seemed that Dwicky was rather clean shaven and suave after spending six, or more, years in space! Perhaps he knew how to cut hair...? That was something that Dib would have to bring up later.

They had so much catching up to do!

"You can never tell with pink bipeds." Bohemian shrugged. The notoriously similar race from the star system Betelgeuse, or XY8S Z GAMMA, consisting of about ten planets, all conveniently named Betelgeuse. They looked very much like humans, but had drastically different ways of life. While a human child would share one mother with anyone at any given time (or in Dib's case, no mothers), a Betelgeusian usually shared about three or four mothers-- sometimes, upwards to twenty or thirty! Because of this, the numbers of heads and limbs, and even internal organs varied. The wrongly elected late President of the Galaxy had with him two separate and functional heads, three equally functional arms (the left Beeblebrox lucked out, controlling two of the three arms), two legs, two hearts, three lungs, and a single working liver. It was the hardest working liver in the damn Galaxy.

Bohemian had to admit: the head fur, eyes, and five-fingered meat-paws were rather stupid. "I suppose you're right." Zim had more history with the humans than Bohemian could ever dream to have.

Bohemian turned from the Tallest to examine the two humans again. As the two Irkens talked, the two humans talked as well. Mostly, "how did you get here?!' 'where have you been?!' 'talk about space! it's a beautiful place!' 'what brings you to the Massive?!'

The Improbability Drive within the Heart of Gold had the possibility to finding another human within the Galaxy, and that chance was 2 ⁹⁸⁶,⁰⁰⁰,⁰⁰⁰,⁰⁰⁰,⁰⁰⁰ to 1 and falling. And by the sheer force of Improbability alone, Dwicky managed to travel the entire Galaxy, across space-time, from the Restaurant at the end of the Universe, for Dib Membrane.

When Zim hears that, he's gonna be pissed.

Dib, wide-eyed and ecstatic, spoke wildly with the human as he tripped over his own words and phrases, telling him about what brought him onto the Massive in the first place. When Dwicky was asked, he shrugged, and said that he found himself on the Massive.

Bohemian nodded slowly, lowering his voice for Zim to hear and for him to hear alone. "I think I may take a pint from it now... If we drain it too fast too soon, it will die. I can convince the guards to put him on a high iron diet, so he can produce more blood and replace what we take. Very simple." Bohemian wanted to pull out his tablet to work, but he felt it to be inappropriate in the presence of his Tallest. "Its organs... can not be replaced, but perhaps a vegetative state could sustain it... But maybe it would be best to harvest it's organs now, and freeze them until further notice. You do have options, but I think your human likes... this being." Bohemian moved forward, and made his way back towards his office.

"I will prepare my Office for the test subject, and alert the guards."

The last phrase caught Dib's attention. The human turned to the small Head Surgeon, and raised an eyebrow. "Guards for what?"

"We will have to perform some tests to ensure there are no illnesses upon this... hitchhiker." Bohemian explained discretely. Dib could buy that. "But because he broke the law by stealing a ship--"

Dib interrupted, turning to the other human and again, raising his eyebrow. "You stole a ship?"

To this, Dwicky shrugged. "I wanted to drive around the block a few times. I mean, the ship was made out of gold--"

Dib just didn't know how to wait his turn. He knew of a golden ship... and he knew Tak knew of one too. "You stole the Heart of Gold? How-- Where-- I just-- what?" Dib paused a moment, and cracked a smile. That must have meant... "You used the Improbability Drive! To find me!!" While it seemed that Dib was grasping at conclusions, he wasn't too far off the mark. Dwicky had no idea what the Drive was, and only knew that it was gold. And it made tea, on occasion. "And you--you had a small probability when it came to finding me-- and--" Dib turned to Zim, and smiled. "This is what Tak was looking for on Damogran! The Scientists can reverse-engineer it, and it can just--" Dib turned to Dwicky again, and smiled as he gesticulated wildly. "That's amazing!"

Dwicky had managed to crack a smile along with the human, and it was quite an easy task. Dib's smile was just too contagious! "That is amazing!" Dwicky encouraged, with a chuckle. He even went as far to gesticulate with him

"Amazing!!!" As Dib fangirled with his new human charge, Bohemian took note of just how easily excitable the human race was. This, as annoying as it was, was rather convienent. Dib forgot that Dwicky had to go back to prison once he was finished.

Bohemian took a look over the situation before he stepped into his office, and he noticed a shift in his Tallest's behavior... it was rather dramatic, to be quite honest. The Tallest was a rather apathetic being, but now... he looked down right furious. Bohemian looked at the two humans, and back to the Tallest. He made the connection rather slowly, but once he did, his antennae slowly raised themselves in curiosity.

Oh.

Bohemian made a rather bold statement that, on Earth, would be something a 'wingman' did. "Dib-human, this procedure is not like the one you were a part of when you were vaccinated. It needs to be in a more sterile and private environment, involving just my team and I, so I must ask you to leave with my Tallest." Bohemian turned to his Tallest, and shrugged gently. "The entire Medical Bay needs to be closed off for a period of time-- long term space travel, I am sure you understand what I mean."

"...Yeah." Dib nodded, trying to mask his fleeting enthusiasm. "Long term space travel, am I right?" What he was right about, he had no idea.

"You are right." Bohemian nodded. What he told Dib was, infact, a bold-faced lie, and he was sure that Zim knew this to be true. Bohemian turned to the other human, and motioned him to follow. "It-- er, this human will be held in the prison by the time the procedure is complete. It may take a few hours... five, six maybe?" Again, another bold-faced lie. A blood test? Five or ten minutes, at the least. He just did not enjoy seeing his Tallest infuriated. He had gotten used to a timid reign after Red and Purple. "He will be in the holding cell when he is finished."

 

[Mira-Charma13]

"Do you doubt the amazing Zim's ability to properly identify a human?" Ordinarily a demanding statement from the Almighty Tallest such as this one would be screeched and shouted at full volume, making ears ring and antennae quiver with discomfort. This time around, however, it actually sounded...forced. As if he didn't really mean what he was saying. That was unusual, to say the least, as Zim rarely passed up a chance to furiously berate anyone who dared to question anything he did or said.

He said nothing in response to the Head Surgeon when he began listing off options, though the contemplative glint behind those dark and insanely envious magenta eyes suggested he was listening carefully. Taking a pint right away seemed reasonable and he nodded glumly in response. He gave no visible reaction whatsoever to the idea of harvesting this other human's organs and placing him in a vegetative state. Though Zim would have loved nothing more than to tear each and every organ out of this human he already knew that the Dib would never forgive him for doing so. In fact, Zim suspected that if he went ahead with that plan Dib would leave and never return.

The Irken monarch knew deep down that he would never be able to handle that. He would end up self-destructing shortly afterward.

At this point Zim wasn't even making an attempt to mask his true feelings. He was seething with anger, jealousy dripping from every fiber of his being. He was mildly surprised that neither human noticed his unusual behavior, but thankful all the same. He wasn't eager to answer any questions the Dib might throw at him concerning that matter.

A wicked grin split across GIR's cute little face when Bohemian spoke and turned slightly to face him, flashing him a quick thumbs up before his master noticed. Zim's shoulders sagged with poorly-hidden relief, though confusion swam in his magenta gaze. He had a strange feeling that the Head Surgeon was being dishonest about the necessity of a quarantine and about how long it would take, but he didn't have the faintest idea as to why that would be the case. If a quarantine was necessary the human creature would already be in quarantine. The Irken leader wasn't the greatest when it came to deep thinking such as that, so he simply figured that Bohemian was just being cautious.

GIR knew better, though. Maybe he wasn't the only one who knew about his master's forbidden desires!

"Come along, then, Dib-human." Zim turned and hovered idly toward the door. He was still using his hover belt, so it was likely that he was still in the throes of a jealous rage--only muted slightly. "You should take advantage of your day off. Maybe come with Zim and help him with his work. Or we can just hide away in one of Zim's private rooms and avoid work like he always does. That sounds good!"

"I wanna play hide and seek!"

---

---

Zim was under the impression that the worst had passed. But, in reality, the worst was yet to come.

His high hopes that the Dib would abandon thoughts of the other human were promptly dashed when he immediately bolted off to reunite with Dwicky once his 'quarantine' was up. The two of them talked for hours on end and even started eating their meals together. Zim eventually gave up on inviting Dib to lunch, simply because the human was never available to ask. As the days dragged on Zim became more and more miserable. He sometimes listened in on their conversations, most of which were about human things and Earth things and other stupid things. Dib sounded passionate when he spoke of Earth, and that admittedly worried Zim.

Did he miss Earth more than he let on? Did he want to return to Earth...?

When Dib finally mustered up the courage to ask Zim to release Dwicky, Zim instantly refused. It was only after a few days' time, and a great deal of pestering, that he finally relented--but only on one condition. Dwicky was a prisoner of the Irken Empire, and was thus reduced to slave status. He would have to complete the tasks of a Service Drone, which included scrubbing floors, cleaning, cooking in the Cafeteria, and doing the bidding of The Almighty Tallest and any Commander without complaint. His two Plookesian friends were to remain prisoners.

Zim thought that this would finally separate the two humans. But he was wrong. If anything, the fraternization became even worse! They were inseparable! They would do strange Earth things with each other in the hallways of the Massive--shouting strange things from a distance (Zim had no idea what a Marco or a Polo was, but he was now determined to find out), quoting Earth films (some of which Zim was vaguely familiar with, but for the most part he was in the dark), and making ridiculously stupid Earth references.

After some time, Zim was absolutely certain that a good portion of this behavior was displayed deliberately to grind his gears. Dib had yet to notice the very obvious jealousy...but he was sure that Dwicky already knew about it. After a while Dwicky's behavior seemed to pick up considerably and he spent more and more time with Dib. Even when Zim insisted on tagging along and being a part of the conversation, the insufferable human would keep blathering and blathering until he found a subject that Zim was very much unfamiliar with. And then he would he go on and on about it, chattering a mile a minute with Dib while Zim sat there seething in a corner somewhere.

What was the human term? Third wheel?

Zim could have slaughtered Dwicky for such vile acts. He should have, in fact. But...he couldn't. The Dib was...happy. He was happy to have this other human around. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't. Dib would never forgive him for it.

A couple of weeks had passed since the Armada located that abandoned ship with the Plookesians and the Dwicky inside. Zim and his beloved robotic servants were in the middle of watching a past WWE pay-per-view (GIR's suggestion, of course) when some peculiar noises caught his attention. Giggling. Muffled snickering. Excited chattering. The noises filtered into his chambers from the hallway outside. Without disturbing an enraptured GIR and a snoozing Minimoose he crept out of his bed in nothing but his delightfully fuzzy pink bathrobe. His door opened just a crack and he peered out into the hallway with one large magenta eye. He caught sight of the elevator going down and just managed to spot Dwicky's annoying ugly face, Dib's familiar oddly-styled head fur, and the same blanket Dib attempted to comfort him with some time ago before the two disappeared from sight.

The Tallest growled under his breath before slinking back into his room. He was instantly suspicious. He turned and noticed that GIR was now fast asleep. Seizing the opportunity he strode back into the room, coming to a halt directly in front of his mainscreen.

"Computer." He spoke softly, not wanting to wake GIR or Minimoose if he didn't have to.

"What?" The Computer whispered in return, sounding intrigued by the uncharacteristic softness of his master's voice.

"The Dib and the other human creature have absconded somewhere," Zim muttered, annoyance tainting his voice. "I want to know where. Locate them and follow them using the Massive's surveillance system."

"Sure thing." A high-definition image popped up on the mainscreen. "Hey, this is kinda neat. I feel like a spy or something."

"Be quiet!"[/hr]

 

[Dip]

Bohemian did not underestimate Zim's ability to properly identify human beings, but Bohemian was cursed with the need to double check every single little thing. It irked him to no end-- no pun intended-- to do something only once and be content with that. He made sure to double do anything that needed a precise measurement. Pain medicine, peroxide, and even sometimes food, he looked over and over again to ensure quality.

He doubted his own ability before anyone else's, really.

The Head Surgeon decided that taking a liter of blood would be a wise decision. Perhaps there was a way to reverse engineer human blood... it was composed of mostly red blood cells, hemoglobin, antibodies, and water. How hard could that be? He would have to remind himself to double-check the possibilities of home-made blood, and see if it would be a logical feat.

Bohemian would have to take a little more than a liter of blood for this little experiment... perhaps a liter and a half. Bohemian knew that Zim would be fine with this, seeing as that humans without the proper unit of blood often became tired and unresponsive, and that seemed almost ideal for the Irken in charge at that point.

Bohemian, to be entirely honest, had continued to think about the state of his Tallest. Rhapsody had rarely commented on it since the human was brought into their holdings, but their initial conversation really left a lasting impression on the Head Surgeon. Jazz's influences did nothing but deter him from the truth, and he also helped shed some light on the situation. Perhaps Zim was Defective.

All signs pointed to that being true as Zim seethed and brewed within his rage. While Bohemian always had small ideas of what Zim and his human's relationship might be, it was damn-near obvious once the new human was added to the ship. Bohemian had learned about human emotions through the plethora of medical texts he received from the human, and what Zim was portraying was very close to 'jealousy".

Irkens were envious by nature. They envied others planets, envied other's metals, other's belongings, other's everything! But this was too far from Irken, it wasn't envy anymore. Zim wasn't envious of the new human, he was jealous of him! Bohemian put his hypothesis through a quick trial of the Scientific Method, and came out with the results:

Question: Was Zim jealous? And if so, was he jealous of the new human?

Background Research: Zim had the attention of the human for quite some time, and it was just him and the human-- save for a few other beings here and there, such as Trillian, Ceedid, and some other strange creatures that found themselves on the Massive via the PIT unit, or some other happenstance (in the most obvious of cases, the Damogran Scientists). Zim, observably, never interacts with his own species very often, and Dib had been confined to the Irken species for months. Until now.

Hypothesis: Zim was jealous of Dwicky, because Dwicky was a human and now had the attention of Dib.

Testing the Hypothesis: The test was currently taking place before his eyes. The more the humans talked with each other, and the most they chatted, and the more they did as humans do, the angrier Zim became.

Analyze the Data: Analysis concludes that Zim was jealous as all get-out.

Conclusion: Zim was jealous, and it was the new human's fault.

Communicate Results: Man, Rhapsody would be hearing about this.

Dib, for as awful was he was with emotions, knew when someone was angry. But at that time, he only knew a few things. He knew, for one, he wasn't the only human on the Massive anymore. And for two, he knew that there was another lifeform out there, besides Zim, who knew the entire song of Bohemian Rhapsody. And for three, there was someone just as pink as he was! To be entirely honest, he thought that there was absolutely nothing wrong at that moment. If he had known that Zim was in such a state of displeasure, he would have addressed it, but he was currently distracted.

Forbidden desires or not, Bohemian knew that if the human's actions continued, the calm and tranquil Medical Wing would cease being just that: calm and tranquil. Bohemian ushered the human back into the office, and closed the door tightly. Dib acted as any human would, and did not feel outcasted. He waved goodbye, and so did Dwicky.

The young man watched as the Irken monarch speed steadily away from the door. Dib took one more look at the human, turned down to his feet, and followed the Irken closely. "Help you? With your work? On my day off? Yeah, I'll pass." He said, feeling even more light-hearted than when he came to the Medical Wing in the first place. As they walked, Dib grabbed the backpack he had haphazardly thrown to the ground in his excitement.

Dib chuckled under his breath as GIR mentioned an Earth pass time. Dib turned his gaze over his shoulder for only a moment, as if he was expecting Dwicky to follow along with the three. "Oh man, I'm the best at hide-and-seek. I can hide real good." And that was the truth. He had gotten good at it, even after Zim's time on Earth was up.

---

Dib had to admit, he jumped at the chance to see Dwicky again.

It was strange and new to see another human, and that excited him to no end. Zim ahd Skoodge, GIR had Minimoose, and now Dib had Dwicky! While the young man hated to leave Zim alone, someone like him could understand the value of one's own race, right? Dib knew that if an Irken came to Earth to visit Zim (in different circumstances, Tak doesn't count) he would have done the very same thing. So what was so bad about it?

As far as Dib knew, Zim understood completely. He had stopped asking him to eat lunch together, and he took that as an invitation to be with Dwicky more. Dwicky did have to catch up on six years worth of lost pop-culture, and advancements in the paranormal investigative industry. Which were... sadly, slim to none, but there were still some advancements that the human did himself!

While Dib had a mutual respect for Earth, it was Dwicky that really romanticized the planet. He insinuated conversation on Earthling topics, he asked about various issues involving the planet, and he asked many things about humanity as a whole. Dwicky, as much as he loved flying through the stars, wished that there was a way he could stop by at his home every now and again. Six years was a long time to be away from one's own home, but thankfully, Dib never quite felt at home on Earth. He didn't foresee this issue cropping up within him, but it was always fun to recall Earth culture after being emersed in Irken lifestyle.

Convincing Zim to let Dwicky out from prison was a challenging task, but once he accomplished his goal, he was happier than a 'Necrom' from 'Omnicron Persei 8' (which, according to Dwicky, was rather happy most of the time). While Dwicky had less freedoms that Dib was comfortable with, Dwicky wasn't all that unhappy himself. He worked at about the same times that Dib did, they ate lunch together most of the time, and they often had time to speak candidly and at their leisure outside of work hours. And even while Dwicky had the job of doing the bidding of The Tallest, Zim hardly asked anything of him.

Dib was hesitant to approach Dwicky with the idea of asking Zim to release him from prison, mostly because he wasn't sure how the Plookesians would have reacted. While the idea of being freed from their holding cell was a good one, they wouldn't be caught dead doing janitorial duties. They were fine with chilling about the prison for a while, until the Irken empire decides what to do with them and their new ship. Dwicky was on board from the get-go, mostly because he forgot what it was like to clean and do 'Earth-like' chores.

---

"...What is that thing?" Dwicky asked quietly, turning from the laptop screen to view Dib.

"That?" Dib asked, raising an eyebrow and motioning to the screen before him. "That's... that-that's a child." Dib said slowly, confused on how someone would get that wrong. He turned back to the screen, which played the movie Star Trek Beyond. It had come out when Dwicky was away with the hitchhikers, and someone had to show him how amazing it was, and that's just what Dib was doing. It was sometime near dinner time, and the two humans had recent gotten off of their shifts (well, Dib mostly, Dwicky had to work around the clock, but his chores for the day were done) and were enjoying a movie on the mostly-abandoned second level of the Cafeteria.

"Why is it…" Dwicky squinted at the screen to try and get a better view at it. "...Excreting…"

Dib turned to Dwicky, both eyebrows knitted tightly towards the middle of his face. "Dwicky, those are tears."

Dwicky opened his eyes from their squinted position, and looked at the screen again. "Huh." He said, plainly. "I haven't seen someone cry in a long time. Well, besides myself." He started. Dib had noticed that within the few weeks that the other human was aboard the Massive, he talked ears off. Mostly with Dib, and that was fine by him. "I cry all the time when I'm alone." Dwicky shared. "I haven't seen someone else do it in a long time, I started thinking that there was something wrong with me."

Dib looked back at the screen, and back at Dwicky. "Why?" Dib asked.

Dwicky shrugged. "To remind myself that I have emotions, I guess. If I bottled them all up-- woo! I'd throw myself out into space, probably." He stated. "The Plookesians have emotions, too, don't get me wrong, but they never cry." Dwicky looked beside himself quickly, and spoke quietly to the human. "I don't know how you can handle it on here." He said slowly. "The Irkens are so... Irken. I saw one laugh the other day, and it was amazing. I've only ever seen them fight and yell and scream-- but this one laughed!"

Dib shrugged. "They're not all that bad. Most of them are pretty Irken, but the rest are... well, they're all Irken, but some are easier to get along with than others."

Dwicky, at this moment, had completely disreguarded the movie and turned to face Dib fully. He shook his head gently. "If I were you, I'd leave this place as soon as possible. It can't be good for humans, to be couped up in one stop for such a long time."

Dib rolled his eyes. "You don't understand, "

To that, Dwicky shrugged. He didn't understand. He turned, and enjoyed what was left of Star Trek.

---

To be quite honest, Dwicky was equally as excited as Dib was to see a new human. Albeit, he had met with other human travelers acorss the galaxies, but they were so detached from human life and humanity, they were a breed all their own, and he personally felt that Dib was the most human human he was ever going to run into!

As much fun as it was to talk about space issues, such as the construction and destruction of planets, Dwicky always managed to loop the conversation back toward home-- Earth. He did this partly because it was just something that happened, and he could hardly control it.

But... he was also sure that if he didn't remind Dib about Earth, he would forget. Dib had been among a culture that knew only two things: killing and destroying. Dib would soon become one of them, and Dwicky took it upon himself to stop that from happening. It was a shame he grew so close to the Irken Zim, or else the new human's job would be a lot easier!

Weeks and weeks pass, and Dwicky soon comes to the conclusion that if the two humans spend any more time on the Massive, they would surely become one with the Irkens. It was bad enough that Bohemian was calling in Dwicky nearly every other week to collect blood samples, but there was nothing that could be done with that-- he was still a prisoner, and for some reason, his human blood continued to contaminate every single machine that it came in contact with, and large quantities were needed to ensure that a proper test result would come back.

Little did he know, Bohemian had begun the harvesting.

It was Dwicky's idea to have a sleepover in the Heart of Gold, and what an idea it was. The only things stopping Dwicky from leaving the Massive were that he didn't know how to get to the Hangars, and he didn't want to abandon Dib with the Irkens. He had received his affects weeks ago, and within the items were the keys to the Heart of Gold, and a sleepover would be perfect.

Plus, there were some important issues that Dwicky needed to discuss with Dib, in the privacy of the golden cruiser.

It was Dib's idea to invite Zim, but of course, Dwicky managed to talk him out of that quickly, and the two began the process of haphazardly collecting anything they might need for a sleepover. Dwicky had pillows, Dib had blankets, and within a matter of time, the two would have snackfoods to eat for the entire night. The two humans raced out of the room dressed in pajamas (Dib lent Dwicky a few of his own clothes, seeing as the rest of his were on the Heart of Gold) and with smiles plastered on their faces.

They had to keep it down as they snuck out, but Dwicky couldn't help but mutter 'Marco' at the human, which ended with an eruption of giggles and laughter. They made it to the elevator, and slowly made their decent to the Cafeteria.

"I haven't had a sleepover in forever." Dwicky smiled, holding onto the pillows tightly. "Since I was in high school, I think."

Dib rolled his eyes. "So, in like, twenty years?" The young man teased. "I thought hanging out with the Plookesians was like, I dunno, a never-ending sleepover?

Dwicky poked his fingers from around the pillow, and counted softly on his hands. "Actually, yeah! Twenty years. And they never sleep. They're really weird about that."

Dib was shocked by this new bout of information. The elevator stopped at the desired floor, and the two walked out as they spoke. "How old are you?"

Dwicky paused for a moment, but soon spoke up. "Well... probably like, thirty-five or something. I kinda lost track about four years ago."

"...How old were you four years ago?"

"I was thirty-one."

Well, that was enough of that. The two humans raided the snack bar, carrying with them bags of chips, candy bars, small bottles of purified water and fizzy drinks, as well as nachos and sandwiches for the night. They had enough for feast for hours, and what a feast it was going to be!

The two soon raced to the Hangars, with Dib leading the way happily, laughing the whole while.