ZADR Orange Chapter 092

    Eyes widening at Rose's words, Zim seemed to seriously consider them for a moment before smiling to himself. "Oh, hey! That's right!" he grinned wide and glanced at Dib. "Well, go ahead and try it on." he said, taking the bunny shirt from Rose and pushing it towards Dib.

    "Wh-What?!" Dib blushed a bright red now, looking at Zim as though he were crazy for agreeing with her. "Zim, are you cra-" he got cut off as Rose happily grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the changing room with her to have him try it on. Then, after several minutes of struggling with him to put it on, Rose pulled Dib out of the dressing room wearing the pajama top.

    Giggling a little, Zim grinned wider then he ever had. "I like it." he said.

    A few other customers looking their way just to giggle themselves at the funny looking outfit, Dib was at this point too horribly embarrassed to even respond.

    Leaning in, Zim kissed him. "Is it comfortable?" he asked.

    Blushing shyly as he wasn't sure how to respond, Dib could only pull back at the kiss. Comfortable or not, it was absolutely the most embarrassing piece of clothing he had ever been forced to wear. His cheeks heated up even more.

    Zim ran a hand over the fabric. "Oh, it's soft." he said.

    Rose smiled wide also. "Oh, I know! It was the softest thing I could find for him to wear. I wanted him to be comfortable at night so he might be able to get a better night's sleep." she said.

    "How about it, Dib? It's not like anyone but ZIM is going to see you in it."

    "I-If I say yes, will you let me change out of it already?!" Dib struggled to pull away from Rose, who had been holding him by the arm this entire time, preventing him from going anywhere.

    Smiling, Zim nodded. "Of course." he said.

    Finally letting go of Dib's arm, allowing Dib the chance the escape back into the changing room so he could pull it off and climb back into his original clothes, Rose clapped her hands together happily.

    A few minutes passed before Dib finally returned and dropped the shirt into the pile of clothes already there, blushing and unable to lift his gaze up from the ground at this point.

    Zim wrapped an arm around Dib. "Oh, cheer up, Dib-love. Now we can go look at stuff for the smeets." he said.

    Not in the mood to have the other anywhere near him, Dib could only stiffen at Zim's touch before brushing the other's arm away from him to walk towards the exit of the store. He just wanted to leave and go home at this point.

    "Dib?" Zim followed him. "Dib, what's wrong? Don't you want to pick out things?" he asked.

    "Just leave me alone...I want to go home. You and Rose can pick out things for the smeets if you want..." Dib said, obviously upset as he set out to locate Jack so he could ask for a ride home, arms wrapped around himself.

    "Dib, please. I wasn't trying to upset you. I don't know what to pick out. They're your smeets too!"

    "I said to leave me alone, Zim! I don't want to be here, and I don't want to pick out things for the smeets! All I want is to go home! If you're really so goddamn clueless about what to get, then just have Rose pick things out for you since you seem so eager to agree with everything she thinks we should get!" Dib screamed at the other, his temper having by now boiled over to a dangerous level.

    Watching wide-eyed, Zim froze. "Eh, but..." he began to say.

    "I don't want to hear it!" Dib grabbed his own antennae and tugged them down to block the other's words out. "I don't...I don't want to hear it..." he said, backing away from the Irken more, body trembling.

    "Dib, stop!" Zim grabbed Dib and pulled him back towards him before he could crash into a group of people who were walking by. "Listen to me, you! I'm doing the best I can! If you don't want something then SAY SO!" he exclaimed.

    Panicking, Dib could only flinch back at the other's yelling. "Don't touch me!" he screamed before punching the Irken hard in the jaw to make him let go. He stumbled back unsteadily. It wasn't until he saw Zim on the ground that he realized what he had just done to the other, however. Staring down at the disguised alien with fear in his eyes, he didn't even wait around for a response from the other before taking off into the crowd, disappearing among the crowds of busy shoppers.

    Meanwhile, eyes wide, Zim laid on the floor, his jaw throbbing. He didn't even move from that spot nor did he see Dib running away as he just laid there. 'Dib...' he thought before letting his eyes droop, still just laying there in silence.

    Carrying a bag with all the clothes they had just bought for Dib in it, Rose exited the store happily with Jack.

    Looking around for Zim and Dib, Jack's eyes grew wide when he noticed Zim laying flat on his back in the middle of the mall's floor. "Z-Zim? Zim!" he ran over to the fallen Irken and helped to prop him up. "What happened? Where's Dib?" he asked.

    Following Jack, Rose came up behind him to see if Zim was okay. "Zim, are you okay?" she asked, eyes widening when she realized he was bleeding. "Oh, God. He's bleeding, Jack." she said in a panic, kneeling down and pulling out a tissue to wipe away some of the blood."Tell us what happened, Zim" she said.

    "I was an ass..."Zim sighed heavily and pushed Rose's tissue away.

    "What?" Rose pulled her hand away. "Oh, no. Don't say that, Zim. You are not an ass. Now just explain to us what happened, okay?" she said

    Zim sighed heavily. "He hates me again...He said he wanted to go home...That you could just pick out everything because I wouldn't listen to anyone but you..." he said, shaking his head sadly.

    "What? But I didn't think he WANTED to pick out his own clothes. If he hadn't wanted something I picked out for him, he should have just said so himself in the first place. I wasn't trying to make him think I would pick out everything for him. We were planning on taking you two to the baby store next so the two of you could pick out what you wanted to get for the smeets together. Not what I think you should get."

    "I know! But he wouldn't listen to me..." Zim put his head in his hands. "Did you buy the bunny shirt?" he asked.

    Pulling the bag up, Rose pulled it out. "I'm afraid so..." she said, holding it up for Zim to see. "But I'm not going to force him to wear it if he really doesn't want to. I just wanted to see it on him once." she said.

    Staring at it, Zim slowly thought something up. "They had other animals, right? Show me." he said.

    "Well...Okay..." Rose led him over to where she had found the shirt.

    Examining all the different animals, Zim finally pulled out one of a frog. Then, digging a little deeper, he found a matching pair of pajama pants for both the bunny and the frog shirts. Carrying them to the checkout lane, he bought them and then stuffed them into the bag. "Come on. We have to find Dib..." he said.

    "O-Okay..." Rose followed behind him, sending Jack a slightly confused look.

    "Do you want me to look for him on my own so the search will go faster? I could call you if I find him, or Rose can call me if you guys find him first."

    Zim nodded. "Good idea. You look at the park and near your house. We'll check with Gaz and at our house." he said.

    "You don't want to check the mall first? I highly doubt Dib could have gotten THAT far in his current condition."

    Zim blushed. "O-Oh...Right...You go that way, and we'll go this way." he said.

    Jack nodded his head. "Alright. I'm going to check the bathrooms on my end. The food court is in the direction you're going, so you might want to try checking there first." he said.

    "Okay. Come on, Rose." Zim grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the food court.

    Watching as they left, Jack then headed for the bathrooms to see if maybe Dib had locked himself inside one of the stalls.

QQQ

    Meanwhile, with Zim and Rose, Rose eyed Zim curiously before speaking up to ask him a question. "Wh-What are you planning on doing with those frog pajamas you bought?" she asked, curious as to why Zim had bought them, especially since Dib hadn't liked the first pair they had gotten for him back at the store.

    "If I wear them too, Dib won't be as embarrassed." Zim stated as if it were obvious. "A-And I didn't want to return his because he looked so cute in them..." he said.

    Rose smiled. "He did look awfully cute in them. And I think that's a good idea. I'll bet the frog pajamas will look pretty cute on you too. He'll probably like that about them." she said.

    Blushing, Zim's eyes widened. "W-Well, Zim is not a furry rodent." he pouted and faced forward again, looking for Dib.

    Rose couldn't help but let out a slightly amused sound. "So I take it that's why you chose the frog pajamas. I think they'll suit you." she said before returning her attention to back in front of herself also to continue searching for Dib.

QQQ

    Meanwhile, Jack entered the first bathroom he found. "Dib? Dib. Are you in here?" he began checking the stalls.

QQQ

    Reaching the food court, Zim started weaving through the people in search of his Dib, looking for black, scythe hair, antennas, and a big belly.

    Checking the stands selling food, Rose asked the people behind them whether they might have seen Dib.

QQQ

    Back with Jack, after having no luck finding Dib in the first bathroom, Jack headed back out to search another bathroom a few stores down.

    Entering the second bathroom to check for Dib, Jack this time had more luck when he heard soft whimpers coming from one of the stalls in the very back of the bathroom. "Dib?" he called out as he made his way down the rows of stalls to one that was somewhat hidden in the back. "Dib, it's Jack. Is that you in there?" he asked, knocking on the door lightly.

QQQ

    Zim met back up with Rose. "I can't find him anywhere..." he said.

    "Me neither..." Rose sighed. "Where could he have disappeared to?" she asked right before her phone went off. "Oh, there's Jack! Maybe he found Dib." she said, picking it up quickly. "Hello?" she asked.

    On the other end, Jack was kneeling down inside the stall with a sick Dib, rubbing his back gently with one hand and holding his phone to his ear with the other as Dib was busy hanging over the toilet seat. "I found him." he said.

    Gasping, Rose turned to Zim. "He found him!" she exclaimed.

    Zim's eyes widened. "Where?!" he asked.

    "Where are you?"

    "I'm in one of the bathrooms with him. He's hanging over the toilet right now tossing his cookies." Jack informed her, continuing to rub up and down Dib's back comfortingly.