ZADR Orange Chapter 175

Blushing even more at Zim’s offer, Dib could only push the other away from him at that suggestion. “Ew! Yuck! No way!” he squeezed his eyes shut and stuck his tongue out at the other, shuddering a bit at the thought as he continued trying to push Zim farther and farther away from him.

“Awww~ You know you want the amazing help of Zim though!”

“Pervert!” Dib began kicking his legs out, wanting out of Zim's grip now. “Why would you want to help me use the bathroom anyways?!” he then exclaimed in an all too flustered manner.

Zim laughed lightly at that reaction. “I just want to help you, Dibbles~ This is my fault after all.” he reminded the other of his own repeated words all throughout his pregnancy so far.

“Doesn't mean I want you helping me with THAT! I'm perfectly capable of doing THAT on my own!” Dib’s face was a bright cherry red now. “I just...need to take things slower from now on...” he then muttered, looking away to the side with a small pout.

“You could try just sitting down.”

Dib shot Zim a small glare at that remark. “I'm not a female, Zim...” he pouted even more, remembering Rose's earlier words about his face looking feminine.

Smiling at that retort, Zim nuzzled him. “I never said you were.” he said, finding Dib’s overreaction to the suggestion somewhat cute.

Cheeks heating up even more at the nuzzle, Dib pulled away slightly, his antennae twitching before falling back. “So I'm not going to sit...” he said with a small growl just beneath his breath.

Zim sighed at that. “You really do make things hard on yourself, Dib-love.” he pointed out, certain there were plenty of things Dib could be doing at this point to make his pregnancy easier on his body.

“No! I'm not sitting because I don't need to!” Dib snapped back, irritable now.

“Alright, alright.” Zim held his hands up in surrender.

Still a bit frazzled by the earlier female comments, Dib continued to scowl at Zim as he pulled his legs up and curled up on one side around his belly protectively, in another one of his moods. “I am NOT girly...” he then mumbled to himself underneath his breath.

Rolling his eyes at Dib’s currently grumpy demeanor, Zim laid back down behind him before reaching out to pet him again. “No, you're not, Dib.” he agreed in the hopes it would help calm the other down some.

Antennas twitching at the small pet, Dib otherwise didn't pull away as he let his eyes tiredly drift back closed. “Mmm...Not...girly...” he continued to repeat for about a minute longer, mumbling that to himself in a quiet whisper before yawning and pulling the covers up around himself some more, burrowing into them comfortably.

Zim smiled and nuzzled him again when he went to get comfortable. “No, not girly. Just an Irken.” he said in a small reassuring manner.

“Irkens...are technically both though, right? Th-The males at least...” Dib blushed, refusing to look back at Zim for a moment. “A-And our smeets?” he peeked out from underneath the covers at Zim.

“Our smeets will be the same way.”

“S-So...I-If we want grand-children…Th-They'll all have that capability? To get pregnant, I mean...”

Zim nodded. “Yes. So perk up, Dibbles. You'll be drowning in grand-kids by the end of this.” he said with a small, playful smirk.

“You know what this means though, right? I mean...Think about it. This means they'll more than likely end up mating with humans. Are you going to be alright with that?”

Zim bit his lip at those words and thought it over for a moment. “Well...As long as they don't try to mate with any of the idiots in your population. There are a few smart ones out there after all.” he grinned and nuzzled Dib.

“…They'll have to tell their mates eventually that they're part Irken...Either tell them or wait for them to notice...Are you going to be okay with THAT?” Dib glanced back up at Zim. “…Okay with more humans knowing your secret...?” he asked, more worried about how Zim might handle it than anything else.

Zim bit his lip again at that realization, a bit worried now. What if they tried to expose him? Or DIB! What if they got Dib?!

“Zim?” Dib sent Zim an almost worried look when the other didn't answer back right away.

“What if...they didn't understand?”

“Then…Then we'd have to try and make them understand...Because...Because I wouldn't want to tear our smeets away from somebody they really liked...U-Unless that person were a bad influence on them, that is...B-But they'd deserve a chance, right? I mean...Y-You gave me a chance...E-Even after all the horrible things I did to you...”

Zim sighed out shakily and nodded again. “I just…I don't want anyone hurting you…or our smeets...” he said, feeling as though they’d already had enough close calls as things currently stood.

“They're not going to hurt me...A-And we won't let our smeets be with anyone who'd hurt them or be a bad influence on them. W-We'll teach them early on to introduce us to everybody they meet.”

Sighing again, Zim nodded a little, still feeling rather on edge about it. “I hope that's enough...” he said, not entirely convinced it would be as easy as all that to keep tabs on their smeets.

“W-Well...We'll keep our eyes on them too...J-Just to be sure they’re safe...P-Perhaps you can even implant some kind of homing device on them after they’re born...”

Zim sent Dib an odd look at that suggestion. “I never thought you'd be the one suggesting that.” he said, rather surprised the hybrid had even gone there.

Blushing at those words, Dib looked away to one side momentarily. “I...I just want to know where they are...in case we ever can't find them...” he clutched the blankets tightly. “Am I...Am I insane for thinking that way?” he then asked, now thinking his idea may have been a little too extreme.

“No, no, of course not.” Zim pulled him close for reassurance.

“We...We have to keep track of three of them...I...I don't want to ever have to worry about losing one...” Dib began twisting the covers in his hands almost nervously.

Smiling at Dib’s sudden nervousness, Zim kissed him as a means of shushing him. “It's okay, Dib. Honestly, I had been thinking about the same thing. I just never thought you'd think it too.” he admitted, having been giving it quite a lot of thought since returning back to Earth.

“W-Well, I don't want it to be something painful or anything...J-Just something we can put on them that won't come off easily...M-Maybe something they can swallow with their food...o-or wear kind of like your PAK. Something maybe we could just tell people we put on them to tell them all apart in case they all look alike...” Dib said, not wanting it to be painfully obvious.

“Like a collar?”

Dib bit his bottom lip at that suggestion. “Th-They're not dogs, Zim...A collar seems just a little bit...drastic...Too noticeable. Can you...Can you put something into their clothes maybe? O-Or maybe something that can wrap around their wrists. Something that only you or I can remove.” he said, trying to think of how they could make such a thing work.

Having envisioned Dib in a collar and nothing else, Zim pouted when the other shot his collar idea down. “Like a bracelet?” he said before his vision now changed to Dib only wearing a bracelet. “Mmm~” he hummed out to himself satisfied.

Dib didn't immediately notice the suggestive look Zim was giving him. “W-Well, yeah...I-I guess a bracelet would...” he stopped upon noticing Zim staring at him with half-lidded eyes. “...work...U-Umm...Zim?” he leaned back a bit, not sure whether he liked the look Zim was giving him as he could have sworn the Irken had been eyeing him up and down just seconds before.