ZADR Orange Chapter 013

       Looking up at Dib guiltily, Zim could only drop his eyes away after a moment. "I'm sorry..." he blushed, knowing he had been getting ahead of himself. "But yeah...I could make you a disguise...You'd have to come back to my base though. The computer has the disguise machine...And...If you wanted...You could stay for a while while you try it out..." he offered, blinking back up at him after a moment or two.

        "I-It's alright. I-I just don't want to do something I might regret in the future. But I can go with you to your base if you need me to. A-And if you don't mind, I-I guess I could stay for a few days while I try out the disguise, though I know I won't really be able to go out in public with it."

        Smiling at Dib's answer, Zim nuzzled him affectionately. "I understand. So...Shall we go then? Oh! But you might want to pack a few things before we leave...Just what you can't live without for a few days." he said, not wanting the other to be stranded at his base with nothing but the clothes on his back.

        Bringing his gaze back up to look at Zim, Dib could only stare at the Irken wide-eyed. "A-Already? I-I guess that's alright, b-but I haven't really showered or anything since the day before last. So unless you have somewhere in your base that I can clean up, m-maybe I should take a shower first and grab a new pair of clothes to wear." he said, feeling as though it would just be easier if he got it over with now.

        "Oh...Heh...I forgot about that. Uhh...Sure. You can take a shower before we leave. While you're at the base, you'll have to take gel baths though. That's all I have." Zim smiled. "But go ahead and take your shower. I'll wait here for you." he said, gesturing to Dib's bed.

        Nodding his head at the other, Dib merely turned to gather whatever he'd be needing together. "Alright. That's fine with me. I'll be as quick as I can." he told the other, standing up to find himself a fresh pair of clothes to change into once he was finished taking his shower.

        Nodding his own head back at the other, Zim was soon flopping down onto his back on the bed as he waited for Dib to finish and return. He could only imagine what life would be like if Dib were part Irken as he sighed to himself, slowly falling asleep on the bed.

        Meanwhile, heading into the hallway bathroom and closing the door behind him, Dib turned the water on in the shower before stripping down and stepping in to begin washing himself off, being as quick as possible so as not to keep Zim waiting too long.

        Finishing up quickly, he then proceeded to dry himself off and pull his new pair of clothes on before heading back to his room where he found Zim curled up on his bed asleep.

        Blinking down at the other confusedly, Dib could only tilt his head to one side. "Was I really gone all that long? He must be tired." he said to himself before just shrugging it off and continuing packing up his things, trying not to make too much noise so as not to wake Zim up.

        Snoring a bit in his sleep, Zim soon found himself rolling over and stretching out a bit. "Mmm...Dib..." he mumbled, obviously dreaming about the human as a hybrid living with him. Smiling in his sleep now that they were happy and together, Zim's fingers twitched slightly as his good dream suddenly began to head downhill.

        In his dream, he saw the Tallest again, this time angry about what he had done to Dib. They closed in on Earth, aiming the cannon sweep on it to wipe out the planet as Zim was dragged away and imprisoned, forced to watch as they killed Dib and destroyed the Earth. "Mmm...Ehh..." he began to toss and turn, snapping fully awake when he suddenly fell off the edge of the bed. "AHH!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, shaking and curling in on himself into a tight ball.

Jumping at the sound of the sudden thud and scream, courtesy of Zim falling from his bed, Dib quickly turned from where he was gathering his belongings and faced the Irken with wide eyes. "Z-Zim?! Are you alright?!" he gasped out in a single breath, quickly kneeling himself down next to the fallen alien and reaching out a single hand to cup his cheek in delicately.

        "NOO!" Zim jerked away from the touch, eyes squeezed tightly shut as he was now shaking like a leaf, balling up even more. "Dib..." he whimpered out, sniffling as he wasn't quite over his dream yet, still thinking it was real.

        Pulling back his hand suddenly at the others yelling, Dib could only stare back at Zim with wide, fearful eyes, thinking he had done something wrong. "Wh-Whatever I did, I'm sorry, okay?!" he apologized, voice upset now.

        Peeking an eye open slightly at the sound of Dib's voice, Zim quickly blinked it fully open at seeing the other. "D-Dib...?" he blinked both his eyes open now to look up at Dib, who sat there with a scared and worried look on his face. Tackling him to the ground in a hug, Zim was quick to apologize, knowing he had scared the other. "I'm so sorry!" he held the boy tightly, nuzzling into his stomach. "Please don't leave me..." he pleaded, afraid Dib might be mad at him now.

        Wincing back at the sudden tackle, Dib merely sat there, feeling so horribly confused now. "L-Leave you? I-I never said anything about leaving you. I-I thought you were mad at me for some reason." he said, still fairly shaken by all the Irken's yelling.

        Shivering against Dib's body, Zim held him even tighter for a few more moments. "I'm not mad..." he said before pulling back to shake his head, blushing now. "S-sorry...Bad dream..." he explained to the other, not wanting to go into detail about it.

        Blinking down at Zim, it took Dib a few moments to respond. "A-A bad dream? W-Well, are you okay?" he asked, reaching forward a hand a second time to cup Zim's cheek in his palm.

        Sighing out gently, Zim couldn't help but close his eyes and nuzzle into the welcome relief that was Dib's hand. "I am now..." he said, seeming to relax again.

        Smiling back at him, Dib gently ran his thumb up and down Zim's cheek soothingly. "I'm almost packed and ready to go if you want to leave soon." he let the other know in a soft voice.

        Nodding in response to that, Zim couldn't bring himself to look up at Dib right away. "As soon as you're ready, we'll go." he agreed, just wanting to get out of there now.

        Nodding his head at Zim, Dib then pulled away to finish getting packed. "Okay." he stood up, packing a few more pairs of clothes into his backpack along with his laptop and a few other things he expected he'd be needing while staying at Zim's base.

        Standing up himself once Dib had pulled away, Zim then proceeded to stretch the kinks and knots out of his back and limbs as Dib seemed to finish up his packing. "Ready?" he asked when he noticed the boy just looking about his room as though considering whether he needed anything more.

        "I-I think so." Dib pulled the backpack up onto his back before giving his room one last good look over. "I-I guess I won't be back here for a while..." his sentence drifted off before his eyes snapped wide open as he remembered one last thing he wanted to pack before going. Quickly making his way over to his desk, he searched almost frantically through the papers on it before pulling out what appeared to be a really old photograph of someone.

        "What's that?" Zim couldn't help but walk up behind him to peek over his shoulder curiously.

        "I-It's a picture of my mom. I-I keep it with me everywhere I go...Err...O-Or at least everywhere I go that I know I won't be back from in less than 24 hours..."

        Nodding his head at the other, Zim turned his gaze to look at the picture of her. "She's pretty...For a human anyways...Hmm...She looks more like Gaz than you though..." he then smiled, laughing at the background of the picture. "But it looks like she had the same interests as you, huh?" he pointed at the starry backdrop of the picture.

        Nodding his head slightly, Dib could only smile a bit himself. "Y-Yeah...Sh-She really liked outer space and was the one who got me interested in aliens...I-I just wish she could have been here to meet you, b-but she died when I was still really young. So I keep this picture with me because I don't want to ever forget what she looked like." he said, going to put the picture in his trench coat pocket.

        Looking up at Dib sadly, Zim hesitated to speak again. "I understand...There is something like this on Irk...When someone dear to you dies...you carry their image with you until you die yourself...so that when you die, you will be together again." he explained in detail to the other.

        "I-It's not so much I think I won't be with her again when I die that I carry this around. I-I just don't want to forget her is all. I already know I'll be seeing her soon enough...Err...Well, you know...I-If I decide not to go through with the change...B-Because humans don't live very long...S-So...Have you ever lost anybody you really cared a lot about?"

        Zim could only shake his head slowly. "No...Zim does not bond well with others..." he admitted, looking away.

        "B-But what about your leaders? Th-The one you nearly slept with, I mean...Y-You seemed to get along pretty well with him."

        "My Tallests are an exception...They are my leaders. I have to care about them."

        "B-But what about before they were your leaders? D-Didn't you have feelings for them before then?"

        Shaking his head slowly, Zim dropped his gaze to the ground. "Not really...They were attractive...They were a lot taller than me, after all. But like I said...I have difficulty bonding..." he said, his antennae drooping.

        "O-Oh...W-Well then, I-I guess you must have done something right when you were still seeing that purple-eyed one b-because it seemed to me like he may have still had feelings for you..."

        Eyes growing wide, Zim could only blush at that observation. "He does...I was the one who broke it off..." he said before turning to face the door. "Can we just go now? I don't really want to talk about this right now..." he said, just wanting to drop the subject altogether.

        Tensing up at those words, Dib couldn't help but blush as he hadn't meant to upset Zim. "O-Oh...Sorry..." he pulled out the picture of his mother to hold close to his chest, staring down at the ground awkwardly now as he followed Zim out of the room, all the while remaining completely silent so as not to say anything else stupid that might upset the Irken.