ZADR Orange Chapter 022

               As Zim continued to sleep on for a while longer, the sweet smell of heated waffles slowly wafted into the living room. "Mmm..." he smiled, licking his lips before then rolling over and crashing onto the floor with a loud thud.

Jumping at the sound of Zim falling onto the floor followed by a pained groan from the other, Dib rushed back over to the entrance to the living room to peek out on the other again. "Zim!" he exclaimed before making his way over to the fallen Irken, kneeling down on the ground next to him to help him back up. "Are you okay?" he asked, sending him a concerned look.

"Mmm..." Zim merely grumbled, snuggling back up to Dib. "Zim is too tired to wake up..." he yawned before hearing his stomach growl loudly, causing his eyes to snap open. "Th-Then again..."he said before offering one of his hands to Dib.

Carefully helping Zim back to his feet, Dib seated him on the couch where he would be more comfortable. "Wait here. I'll be right back." he told the other before heading back into the kitchen, exiting a minute later with a plate of waffles for Zim. "Here. I reheated these back up for you. Sorry I couldn't make fresh ones. I never was all that great at cooking, and I highly doubt you would have wanted me poking around in your kitchen trying to figure out how everything works in there." he smiled weakly at the other.

But Zim didn't seem to care as he took the waffles from Dib and greedily began shoving them into his mouth.

"Woah! Slow down, Zim. You're going to make yourself sick if you eat them that fast."

Swallowing down what he had in his mouth painfully, Zim began coughing afterwords before gasping for air. "S-Sorry...I was hungry..." he said between gasps.

"Well, eat up then. There's plenty more still left in the fridge that we can warm up if you're still hungry." Dib smiled at him.

Smiling back, Zim quickly finished off his plate before setting it down on the floor next to the couch. "Thank you..." he thanked the other, feel a lot better now that he had gotten something to eat.

Smiling even more, Dib then leaned in to nuzzle his face to Zim's. "You're welcome...So, are you still hungry?" he asked, wanting to make Zim feel as comfortable as possible.

Zim just shook his head, however. "No...I'm good." he said before stretching out and yawning. "I feel a lot better too..." he said as even his antennae twitched and stretched themselves out.

Sighing in some relief, Dib's entire body seemed to go lax at that bit of information. "Well, that's good. I was really worried about you yesterday." he sent Zim another concerned look.

Antennas drooping at Dib's words, Zim instantly dropped his gaze away to the ground. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble...Your-That THING is a real piece of work." he then glared in the direction of Dib's house.

"Wh-What?! N-No! No! You didn't get me in trouble! G-Gaz and I were just tired of him never listening to us...It was bound to happen eventually..."

Hugging Dib tightly, Zim just wanted to make things right for them again. "You can both stay here as long as you want, you know..." he reminded the other, feeling that it was the least he could do for them as he still felt like it was partially his fault.

Body drooping, Dib merely leaned up against Zim a bit at those words. "I think that may be for a lot longer than I had originally planned on staying...But thanks..." he leaned up nonetheless to place a small kiss on Zim's cheek as a show of gratitude for agreeing to let them stay.

Pulling Dib onto the couch with him, Zim couldn't help but purr at the small kiss. "You know, Dib...We ARE alone right now..." he whispered almost seductively to the other as he nuzzled the boy affectionately. "Anything special you want to do?" he asked, smirking up at him expectantly.

Blushing at the Irken's question, Dib could only stutter out a response nervously. "W-Well...Well, I...Uhm...A-Actually, yeah, there is." he said, looking up at Zim more seriously now. "I've decided I want to go through with the change, Zim. I'm sick of looking like my dad, and I don't think I'd have any regrets if I went through with it." he stared Zim straight in the eyes to let the other know he meant business.

Surprised by Dib's words, Zim blushed as a small smile slowly formed across his face. "R-Really?! Th-This is GREAT!" he exclaimed, glomping onto Dib so he could nuzzle him even more.

Blushing at the small nuzzle, Dib nodded his head assuredly. "Yeah. I'm ready to do this whenever you are." he informed the other, knowing the sooner they did this the better.

Grinning wide, Zim shot up in his spot. "Then we shall do it now!" he said excitedly, rolling off the couch and dragging Dib behind him by his hand. "To the lab!" he pointed dramatically at the ceiling.

"U-Uhm...W-Will it hurt? I mean, wh-what exactly will you be doing to me?"

"I'm not sure, Dib. I HOPE it won't. I'll try to make it as painless as I can. But I've got to change your whole genetic make up."

Eyes growing wide at this information, Dib nearly pulled his hand back. "WHAT?! You mean, you've never done this before?!" he suddenly went from nervous to scared shitless now.

"Well, never to a human...But you're somewhat similar to a Vortian, right?"

Mouth hanging open and lower eyelid of one of his eyes twitching, Dib had by now completely paled. "How would I know?!" he sent Zim an incredulous look.

"Oh right...But don't worry, Dib. I've dissected many humans before. I can figure it out. " Zim smiled again, grabbing Dib's arm and dragging him off to the lab. "I just gotta infuse the proper DNA structure is all." he made an attempt to reassure the other that everything would be alright.

Dib, however, had at this point lost all the feeling in his legs now and was literally being dragged behind Zim.

Giving Dib's hand a tight squeeze, Zim pulled the human to him and kissed him deeply on the lips. "Don't worry, Dibbers. Zim shall keep you safe." he promised, smiling at the other once they had broken their kiss.

Seeming to snap back to life at the deep kiss, Dib blinked his eyes and blushed before looking away to the ground nervously but nodding his head nonetheless. "O-Okay...S-So long as you at least have an idea of what you'll be doing..." he gave in somewhat, knowing that if he was going to have this done, he'd need to trust Zim.

"And I already know what to do. You'll be looking like the disguise, right?"

Nodding his head slowly, Dib dropped his gaze to the ground. "Y-Yeah...I don't want to erase ALL of my human features...J-Just the ones that remind me of my dad..." he said before looking back up at the other.

Stroking Dib's hair in a playful manner, Zim could only smile at that answer. "Now, I need you to lay down on that table and let me put you to sleep. It would be very bad if you woke up, so I have to use a lot of this stuff." he said, leading Dib over to a medical table before pointing behind him at a large tank of gas.

Sending the tank of gas a nervous glance, Dib merely nodded his head again and did as he was told, climbing up onto the table to lie down. "And you're sure that stuff won't hurt me?" he asked, wanting to make sure.

Nodding his head assuredly, Zim pulled up the tank closer to the table. "I'm positive. It is from your own Earth hospitals after all." he informed the other.

"Hmm? R-Really?"

"Of course." Zim reassured him one last time before laying him back on the table. "Now, just relax." he instructed the other before pulling over a tube, which he attached to Dib's mouth and nose, watching as he began to loose consciousness.

Feeling his eyelids drooping as he blinked them closed slowly, Dib could see his vision blurring more and more with each blink. But before passing out completely, he reached up one hand to take one of Zim's own hands to squeeze gently for reassurance.

Returning the squeeze with a squeeze of his own, Zim smiled down at Dib as he finally passed out on the table in his lab. "He should be out for...Uhh...Let's see...24 hours at least...before I need to give him more." he said assuredly to himself before nodding and quickly rushing around to get the equipment he would be needing. He figured he should have Dib at least half done by about 6 o'clock if he worked without breaks. "Better get working." he then said under his breath to himself, pulling on a pair of gloves.

Working for the next 6 hours, Zim had no knowledge of Gaz returning home around 4:00 in the afternoon.

Entering the base with a bag of some sort of fast food in hand, Gaz came to find the place completely empty now. "Dib? Zim!" she called out their names, looking about the place before just shrugging it off and heading back to her room to drop off her things, returning to search the base for them once she had done that.

Meanwhile, back with Zim, said Irken was working like a mad scientist, wearing very thick goggles to protect his eyes and really big gloves which were being used to handle the chemicals. To top it all off, he wore a sort of face mask to keep himself from inhaling any of the toxic fumes.

Working diligently and without pause, Zim merely ignored how hungry he was beginning to grow as he REALLY needed a snack soon to keep up his energy.

Little did he know that back upstairs, Gaz was beginning to grow annoyed looking for them.

"Zim?! Dib?!" Gaz called again, entering into the kitchen now. Noticing the elevator nearby, she without hesitation stepped inside it before looking up towards the ceiling to address the computer. "Hey, can you take me down to whatever level it is Zim and Dib are on?" she asked before standing back and crossing her arms.

"Why should-" the computer began but stopped itself upon realizing it was Gaz standing in the elevator. "Uhh... Yes, ma'am. Right away." it started up the elevator, which lowered her down to the lab level of the base.

Standing back as she waited for the elevator to take her down, Gaz stepped out once the doors had opened into the room Zim and Dib were in. Then approaching Zim from behind, she tried to get a look at what he was working on. "What are you doing?" she asked before she could even see for herself.

"AHHH!" Zim shrieked at having her sneak up behind him, causing him to almost drop what he had been holding before turning on her. "DO YOU MIND?! THIS IS VERY DELICATE WORK I'M DOING!" he screamed at her angrily, mostly just irritable because he really wanted a snack now and also because at this point in the procedure, Dib's life could be in jeopardy if he did anything wrong.