The Blood Of the Rose

Zim was completely lost in Dib's golden amber eyes for what felt like the longest moment of his entire life. For one golden second he was able to look into the Dibs' eyes with out preplanned malice, with out hatred, or even the slightest contempt; He was just like an average Earth boy glancing at a friend, and, seemingly, being noticed in a half way decent light. Zim quickly averted his eyes, now wanting Dib to know anything about his emotional system. It was bad enough that Dib's earlier performance of taking off his shirt, and then unwittingly catching Zim when he fell had put Zim's PAK into a form of overdrive. There were too man thoughts that were going through Zim's head for him to process them in an orderly fashion. He poked at the disgusting food in front of him, deep in thoughts that he knew very well could get him de-PAKed...
Dib looked back to his food as Zim looked away and took a few more bites. He smiled to himself. That was the first time Zim had stared straight at him without a scowl on his face. It was almost normal. Dib almost wished that Zim's real eyes hadn't been blocked by those fake lenses. He had always had a fascination with Zim's real eyes and his antennae too. Dib took another bite as he looked back up to where Zim was sitting. Zim's _expression was a dazed one as he seemed to be lost in thought about something. Dib only wished he could read the Irken's mind. Dib stayed watching him a few minutes longer before Zim seemed to come out of his thoughts and give the food in front of him a disgusted look. Dib finished the last of his, waiting to see if Zim would actually attempt to eat any of the food like he so often did to appear "normal". He didn't however. Zim just shoved the tray in front of him and got up, holding his stomach and looking like he would throw up just from looking at i
t. He headed for the cafeteria doors, just trying to get away from the sounds that came from the other students eating the revolting substance they called food. Dib just shrugged it off as normal...at least for Zim, as he got up also to return his tray and head out into the hallway and to his locker. He left the overcrowded cafeteria and looked down the long hallway that was nearly empty except for a few students standing around lockers talking. He made his way to his locker and opened it to throw a few books in and retrieve a few books he would be needing to complete his homework. A warning bell went off, instructing students that class would be starting in approximately 10 minuets so they should use the bathroom, get whatever they needed for class, and head over to their next classes. Dib completely ignored the bell. He had different plans in mind. There were only really two classes left for the rest of the day and the last class they were going to get out of early anyways. He saw
w no point in sticking around to suffer through math and english. So he decided to skip out on his last two classes of the day. It wasn't unusual for him to skip classes. Hell, half the time he would just skip skool all together if he slept in too late. Besides, he didn't worry about his future anymore. He was sure his father would make him eventually take on the family business of studying "REAL SCIENCE!" Dib headed out toward the outside world, hoping not to run into any of his teachers that would force him to go to his next class. Surprisingly enough, he didn't seem to run into anybody until he reached the outer doors. He could see Zim sitting out under the roof to the skool watching the rain fall down. He was completely still, holding his stomach still as though he were cold and half asleep as the rhythm of the rain was lulling him to sleep. He didn't even notice Dib coming up behind him.

Zim's thought were churning his stomach worse than the human meat foods ever did. He couldn't take it so he got up and dumped his tray into the trash, leaving the building. He knew that the teachers didn't care if he showed up or not, and frankly he didn't either. He gave up actually trying around 9th grade, if he even tried at all. He sat out in front of the school, holding his stomach slightly, listening to the rain. It was quite ironic that the only thing that he could really stand on this shit ball was one of the worse things for him. He couldn't touch fresh water at all, unless it was the pure filtered city water, other than that he might as well sign his own warrant for de-PAKing. He stood there letting the sound of the rain pattering calm him, and sooth his thoughts.
Caught unaware he about jumped out of his skin when Dib touched him on the shoulder, in fact he jumped onto the side of the building,clinging on with his battle legs. "DIB BEAST! Why are you touching my superior body?!?"
Dib fell back , startled by the Irken's response to his touch. "WHOAH! ZIM! I'm sorry. I didn't know you were THAT deep in thought. I was just going to ask you what you were doing out here."Dib pushed himself back to his feet, exhaling slowly. Zim just scowled at him as he lowered himself back to the ground. Dib knew the alien was still pissed at him over what had happened earlier that morning. They stood there a few moments, neither saying anything. Finally Dib just shrugged it off. "Whatever...You obviously are still mad at me and won't say anything. Hey, I don't blame you. I was a little harsh today. Oh well. I don't care. Nobody ever talks to me anyways so it's nothing new to me..." he said as he lazily took a step into the rain.
Zim sighed. Those were the most words Dib had spoken to him in a long time that were not edged in malice. He looked at the Dib, his _expression failing him. He had only said that as an auto response after so many years of malice, he didn't mean to take such a harsh tone with the human. Zim thought to himself, 'you would think that after knowing me for this long that the huuuuman would know better than to sneak up on me...'
Watching the Dib linger out into the rain in such a sad fashion tugged at Zim's Squeedley Spooch, "Dib beast!", he called out as malice free as he could. Zim walked out into the rain, skin burning and sizzling, he placed a hand on Dib's shoulder, "Dib shit, er..Dib.... Zim is...regretting his anger earlier..." Zim began, ignoring the excruciating pain that was racking his freshly healed skin, peeling away the fresh flesh. He looked up into Dib's eyes as the boy turned around, "I... I should let you know.... you are the only one who notices that I exist... you are the only one who knows Zim for who he really is..." Zim knew that he only spoke in third person when he felt bad, or really didn't want to get to the heart of the matter.
Dib's eyes shot wide open when he felt Zim grab him and he turned quickly. Without thinking, he quickly pushed
the Irken back under the safety of the roof. "ZIM, ARE YOU CARZY?! YOU KNOW THAT RAIN HURTS YOU SO WHY WOULD YOU RUN OUT INTO IT?! YOU'RE NOT REALLY THAT STUPID, ARE YOU?! AFTER BEING ON EARTH FOR FIVE YEARS?! AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T LEARNED?!" Dib quickly shut his mouth after those words left his mouth. He could hear and sense his own anger in the words. He didn't mean to sound so harsh but he couldn't believe that Zim would do something so stupid just to talk to him. It kind of flattered him that Zim had done it however. The Irken stepped back away from him when he started yelling, giving him a disappointed and confused look. Dib took a beep breath and exhaled slowly again. He took a step forward toward the still steaming Zim and carefully pulled one of his arms closer to get a better look at it. Zim winced a bit in pain, but let Dib look at his arm. It surprised Dib that after that last outburst the alien was still letting him touch him. Dib examined the arm closely, noting the burn marks. Dib then tore off a few pieces of his shirt from the bottom and began to wrap them around a few areas of Zim's skin that had actually began to bleed from the contact with the water and the fight with
Torque combined. "I'm sorry....I didn't mean to yell...I'm just not feeling well today. I've been put through hell for the past couple of hours and I just wanted to get home and sleep it off. I...I know you meant it though.... You wouldn't have run out there if you didn't. It's funny. We're kind of alike but we have completely different goals." Dib shrugged it off as he finished tying the last piece of his shirt that he had torn off around Zim's arm. "Well...It doesn't look like it's going to stop raining any time soon and my coat was ruined in that fight you had with Torque so it looks like we'll have to find another way to get you through the rain safely. Maybe I can run home and grab an umbrella for you to borrow. Just wait here. It will only takes me 10 minutes to run home and get it. I'll be back." he said as he ran off toward his house.
Dib entered his house and quickly found two umbrellas by the door. He threw his bag onto the couch and picked up the two umbrellas and a spare coat that was too small for him now but might actually fit Zim. He opened one of the umbrellas and ran back toward the skool, the spare umbrella and coat under his arm. Dib could see the skool in the distance as he approached. He saw Zim still sitting out under the roof waiting for him to return. Zim got up when Dib finally made it over to him. He handed Zim the spare umbrella and trench coat. "Here. You can borrow these for now but I want them back. Try not to ruin the coat this time. My mom gave me this before she died. It's the last thing I have to remember her by. " The coat was a little small but Zim managed to just barely fit into it. He took the umbrella and Dib turned back to leave.
Zim sat there, waiting for Dib to get back from is house, and as he waited waited he thought.Mainly about how the Dib had half heartedly snapped at him, and then apologized to him. that lead to other thoughts, which in turn led to the mamma jamma of them all... He spoken with his tallest in three of the human's years, roughly three-hundred Irken, though the ages carried over... He figured out that he was abandoned, and when He tried to get through to them to let them know that he had the most brilliant plan, but was told that they were on a permanent vacation from talking to him. He thought about everything that had transpired through the last few years; even though he was abandoned, he still held out hope that if he did a good job and could prove himself, he would be welcomed back to irk...though his faith was wavering. Something in his data processing unit began to cross reference his thoughts, and his laws. 'Of course! If I am no longer a member of the empire, than I can do as I wish...but I would love to be welcomed back when I conquer this floating ball of filth...'
He came back to reality with his thoughts mostly in order, and noticed the Dib Filth making his way towards him. Zim stood up to greet the human sack of organs. He accepted the coat and took the Dib stinks warning to heart. The bumps from the ties on his arms raised small bumps in the leather. With umbrella in hand Zim stopped Dib yet again, "Dib... ZI-..I thank you... I-I was wondering ....why are you being so kind to me after I have treated you like, as you humans say, horse shit? I see what you mean by we are alike, but why are you so nice to Zim? Zim has caused you nothing but pain, agony and destroyed most of your possessions.... so why?" Zim looked into the slightly taller humans eyes, genuine, hatred free curiosity filling them to the bursting point.
Dib couldn't believe his ears. Never! And I mean NEVER had he heard those words coming out of Zim's mouth. In all the time he had been on earth, he had never said the words, "Thank you." Dib had been beginning to think that Zim didn't even know those words existed. It took him a few seconds longer to realize that Zim had asked him a question. Dib didn't know himself why he was being so nice to the Irken. After all he had put him through, he wondered why he hadn't cracked yet and attempted to kill him the few times he was actually vulnerable. But something in the way Zim stared into his eyes made him unable to tell the alien he truly didn't know. So he came up with the simplest solution he could think of. "Well...ummm...I guess it's because you're the only one who ever truly noticed me since my mom died. My sister grew sour after her death and dad? He's never home. I don't think he wanted to go through that pain again so he never wanted to get too at tached to anybody ever again, even if it was his own kids. Everybody else pretty much thought I was just crazy. Mom told me to never let other people tell me what to believe in. So I chose to believe in paranormal phenomena after she died. Things like ghosts and aliens. I believe her spirit still watches over me at times; keeps me safe." Dib hugged himself slightly thinking on the thought. It still hurt him to think about her let alone talk about her, especially to someone he didn't completely trust. But when did he ever trust anybody other than her to begin with. He sighed out loud as he continued. " Besides...without you, my life means nothing. There's not really anything else I'd have to do with it. Protecting the earth from you is all I know how to do. Without that, I'm pretty much useless. What I'm more curious about is why haven't you done away with me? I know you could have by now but you haven't. What you did to Torque. It was something I 've never seen before. You did something to him when you bit him. You could have killed me with whatever it was that you did to him by now but you haven't. It all confuses me. Nobody will ever believe me so it's not like they would care if I died."
Zim understood well what they human was trying to convey. Five years on earth, with GIR and his shows, had shown Zim an array of human emotions, though he couldn't understand them on a deeper level. "Zim does not know.... I guess that you never,as you say, pissed me off enough to secrete Jahus, er, ...venom in your tongue. Zim did not know that you were so ignored..." Zim stood there, wanting to tell this human about his abandonment... though he wasn't entirely sure that he would take it well... He mumbled as he went to pass the human, "At least your whole species hasn't abandoned you..". With that Zim began to walk away, not knowing whether or not the humans less than sensitive ears had caught that.
Dib actually had caught every word Zim had said pretty clearly and he wanted to ask the alien what he meant by it, but Zim had already started walking away from him. He didn't really need to ask as his brain quickly pieced things together. It would explain why his leaders had never came by to check on his progress. It had been 5 years for crying out loud! And still hadn't conquered the planet. Dib had been there to stop him but still, he wouldn't have been able to stand alone against a full alien invasion. Dib wanted to say something. ANYTHING to the Irken but he wasn't sure what Zim's response would be to that. So he just stared after Zim as he made his way down the street. It wasn't the right time to bring up the subject. They had both had a hard day and the last thing Dib wanted to do was be caught in another argument with Zim. He shrugged it off as he turned to walk home. All he wanted to do was sleep the rest of the day off. But new thoughts entered his mind as he continued on his way. 'Does this mean I win? Or is he still going to try and take over the world? If he doesn't, then what does that leave me with? Is this really the end? Is there nothing more left for me to do with my life?' The same questions pounded his head as he made his way home slowly this time. He thought that maybe a quick nap when he got home would help clear his mind a bit to think easier on the matter.
Zim made it home and into his door just as the thunder began to crash. He knew something there was no chance on Irk that he would be going back out any time soon. GIR sat on the couch watching paint dry on t.v. Zim walked past him to his subsurface lab's trash can entrance. He needed to get some raymehk cymja on his burns before they left any permanent marks. The mark of a good invader was flawless skin, and, as Zim thought, he was a good invader.... Even if he was exiled to a shit ball planet, with out any help.
The Cymja tingled his wounds, yet relaxed him enough to heal properly. When he was done doctoring himself, he had used all but a couple of small jars. He thought of calling Prisoner777, but they had had a major fight a while back and still weren't talking; Skoodge was off with his crew to go and explore a new galaxy.... No one that Zim could think of could get him supplies. He was even running low on chemicals to make his gel baths. He was stuck on a planet that would eventually kill him. He looked himself in the mirror, his thin frame was getting thinner by the day and there were bags starting to form under his eyes. He hadn't gotten to really recharge his PAK in a while. There was so much between trying to maintain his image and his personal thoughts.... Zim thought that his PAK would blow off of his back any second...
Dib made it back to his house just as the wind was picking up and the rain was getting heavier. He had to pick up his pace a bit when it had begun to hail down on him about a minute away from his house. He could hear the thunder off in the distance and he knew it would be while before he went out anywhere again. Dib placed the wet umbrella down by the door before heading upstairs to his room. He made it about half way up the stairs before the lights in his house went out and he tipped over one of the steps as he reached the top. He pulled himself back up and searched the area for the wall. He found it quickly and used it to guide him to his room in the dark. After fumbling around for the doorknob to his room, he managed to push open the door and stumbled along the clutter all around his room to his bed in the dark. He collapsed into the soft fabrics of his bed, wondering why he had even bothered to get up that morning when his bed felt so comfortable.Oh well. That d isn't really matter now. He pulled the covers around him the best he could and removed his glasses from his face, placing them on a little table by his bed. He didn't even need to close his eyes before sleep overtook him and complete darkness surrounded him. His head was completely empty though and no dreams came to him.
A few hours passed before he woke up. The first thing he noticed was the presence of something cool against his forehead. He reluctantly forced his eyes open a peak to see if the lights had come back on yet. All he could see though was a flicker of light dancing on the wall. He opened his eyes a bit more to get a better view of his surroundings. He could see the shadow of somebody in his room as he sat up. He found that a candle had been placed by his bed stand and an ice pack slid off his head and into his lap. "Gaz? Are you in here?" he asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He thought that Gaz might have come in to look for the remote to the T.V. or something like that but was surprised to hear a completely different voice reach his ears. "Well hello, son. How are you feeling now?" Professor Membrane's voice seemed to ring throughout the room. "Da...dad? What are doing here?" He walked over to his son's bedside and stuck a thermometer er in Dib's mouth, making his gag a bit at the sudden intrusion in his mouth.

"Now now, son. You should be resting. I came home when you didn't show up at the lab after skool today and thought you might be up to your crazy antics once again. But I found you here in bed running a fever. You kids know better than to run around in the rain." Dib was utterly confused and looked to the watch on his wrist, having a hard time seeing the numbers in the dimly lit room. He nearly jumped when the watch read 6:00. He had slept for more than 5 hours and completely forgot about going to the lab. He was surprised his father had even noticed let alone come home to check on him but like he said, he was watching Dib like a hawk now to make sure he wasn't still going about performing his studies on paranormal phenomena. Membrane pulled the thermometer out of Dib's mouth and took a look. "101.2 degrees. Son, I don't want you leaving this house until that fever is back down to normal. Now I must head b back down to the lab and I won't be back until late tomorrow evening. You should be getting plenty of bed rest and fluids until you are feeling better." he said as he began to rush around getting his things back together to head back to work.

Dib hadn't even noticed he was running a fever. It would explain the headaches he was having all day that day and he was a bit relieved that he didn't have to go to skool in the morning. His day was just getting more and more confusing. He just ignored it and settled back in the covers of his bed and was soon fast asleep again.
The next morning Gaz was forced to bring Dib some breakfast before leaving for skool. She had been grounded for not waking her brother up earlier for skool the day before and having him walk in the rain. She glared at him horribly when she came in that morning, threatening to rip his throat out if he so much as said a word about her punishment. She couldn't believe she was getting grounded just because he couldn't get himself up out of bed in the morning. After she left for skool, Dib couldn't help but laugh to himself over the matter. He pulled himself out of bed, happy that the power was now back on line and he could watch T.V. He was feeling a lot better but he still had a fever. He made his way downstairs and flopped down on the couch to watch T.V. for the remainder of the day, forgetting about everything else that seemed to go wrong in his life just for the day.
Zim fell asleep in his cruiser port while trying to upgrade some of his systems with human technology, though it had been going miserably. Half way through installing a new energy converter component Zim cracked the back of his head against the main body frame of the ship and promptly fell asleep. He was confronted in his sleep with dreams of the most risque quality. In one of them he dreamed that he had the Dib on top of him, bouncing and moaning his name until they both came and fell into each others arms. Zim was glad, later that night when he woke up, that his kind needed physical and conscious stimulation to truly get off.
Zim dragged himself up and made his way to his private chambers, his sheath throbbing pleasantly, making him wish that he had decided to court when he should have on Irk. He had the opportunity, but he threw it away so that he could go of an become an invader..'Look where that got you now tisp vilg.' he wanted to kick himself now. He knew that Courting was illegal with exceptions, but it was better than the alternative that he now faced.
He closed the door behind him and began to strip off his clothes, making sure that GIR hadn't attacked Dib's coat while he was working. Once free of his constraining uniform, Zim was free-er to move about, and could stretch his muscles better. He walked into his washing room and poured himself a Gel bath, washing away the impurities that now dulled his glowing skin. the gel around his sheath was sending sensations through out his body, making him want to bring a release of his own.
Zim laid back in his tub, allowing his hand to slide down his torso, the gel lightly bringing a tingling sensation all over him, though the epicenter was his sheath. Zim lightly coaxed his member out of it's sheath, gently running his finger over the lightly quivering entrance. His Irken ryntuh slid into his awaiting hand. He began, at first, to pump slowly, not really thinking of anything in particular, but as he gathered a bit more speed, his mind started to send him flash images and short mental clips of him and Dib coupling any where and every where. These little flashes brought Zim to a powerful, shuddering climax. He let his hand fall to his side in the water as his ryntuh slid back into it's protective covering. Panting, he cursed himself for the thoughts that had given him such a perfect release.
When he could finally move again, Zim got out of the cooling gel, noticing that his release was visible in the clear gel. Zim barely patted himself dry, looking over his skin, noting that there were only a few light scars where he had been burnt the worse, and knew that they would disappear in a few days.
Zim slid in between the decorative sheets of his bed, sadly tracing a finger over the Invaders insignia. He let his sadness take him into another restless sleep. The next morning Zim dragged himself to the bus stop and awaited the Dib stink to show.
Dib flipped through the channels lazily, unable to find anything on T.V. to watch. Dib moaned as he only came across a bunch of kids' shows and infomercials. Dib slid off the couch and headed for the kitchen. He had a blanket draped over him for warmth as he walked into the big, empty room. He looked up at the clock on the wall. It read 9:30 a.m. His second period class was probably just starting. He wondered if Zim had even bothered to attend skool, considering it was still raining. It had calmed down much over the night but the rain continued on and off still. At first the idea of staying home had thrilled him but now he was just plain bored. The house was so lonely without anybody else around. He almost regretted not going to skool today. He was already feeling better for most of the morning. He laid back down on the couch, throwing a pillow over his face and sighing. Maybe sleep would settle his bored mind. Hopefully a dream would just take over er his mind and cheer him up.
Dib's stomach did flip flops as he attempted to sleep. Maybe he didn't regret not going to skool as much as he began to feel sick again. He wanted to sleep but the sound from the T.V. just seemed to get louder and louder. He sat up to reach for the remote as a wave of nausea overcame him for a few moments. He sat still, closing his eyes tightly and trying to swallow the sick feeling down. It passed momentarily as he picked up the remote to turn off the T.V. Before turning it off, a cooking show came on. The sight of food made him want to throw up all he had eaten earlier that morning. He turned it off and pushed himself to his feet, heading toward the bathroom. He found himself on his knees in front of the toilet, throwing up everything in his stomach. He pulled back after having emptied his stomach, holding his head and just trying to keep the tears back. He hated feeling this sick. He wiped the wetness out of his eyes and flushed the toilet, trying to make it back to his bed. He collapsed onto the bed just wanting sleep to overtake him to escape his throbbing headache. Luckily this time it came through for him, stealing him away into a dream he would'nt 't soon forget.
He was back in the locker room at skool completely alone. He heard a door open and turned quickly. What he saw next was the last thing he expected to see. He saw a half naked Zim walking into the room, smiling deviously at him. He blushed as Zim approached him slowly in a very graceful step. Dib backed up against a locker as he came face to face with him. Zim blocked him in and placed one hand on the locker near Dib's head. He leaned in so close that he could feel Zim's breath on his skin as he whispered something in his ear that really made him blush. "You're all mine, Dib." Dib didn't have time to respond before Zim's lips were up against his and his bare chest pushing on Dib's. He realized that he too had no shirt on when he felt skin against skin. His eyes shot open at the Irken's actions. He couldn't believe what Zim was doing to him. What was even stranger to him was that he didn't care. Dib moved his hands up the slim body, his skin cool and smooth against his own hot skin. It felt amazing and he never wanted it to end . His eyes shifted halfway closed as he began to kiss back. He could feel his member becoming hard between his legs. He wanted Zim so bad. He was thrilled when he felt Zim's hands fall down his body and linger around the waistband of his pants. It took every inch of Dib's self-control to keep himself from ripping his pants off and rubbing his now completely hard member up against Zim until he came. Dib nearly freaked out when things began to disappear around him. He clutched Zim tightly but could feel Zim slipping away slowly. He was so close. SO DAMN CLOSE! So why did his wonderful dream have to be ending now?! Dib awoke a few moments later, his member still hard and him on the verge of coming in his pants. "Shit!" he said as he ran to the bathroom. He took off his clothes in record time and jumped into a bath of freezing cold water. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to have a dream like that about his worst enemy.
Zim got to the skool, but couldn't find Dib. He wanted to get him his coat back, so that if anything happened, it wouldn't be his fault. When Dib was no where in sight, Zim walked off campus, and headed to Dib's house. He had no clue how Dib made it home and back in ten minutes, it was taking Zim what seemed like ages to get anywhere. He finally got to the Dib's house to watch him dart off to the bathroom. Zim opened the window and snuck in to see what had the human on the run. He didn't find any monsters, no vampire piggies, not even a mouse. He looked in the barely open door, watching Dib bring up his earlier meal. Zim knew then what it was....germs. He had never really gotten over the micro-organisms, but had come to term with the fact that he couldn't catch what ever ailment got to these weak bodied humans. He hid as Dib walked by, clinging to the ceiling with his pyddma makc *spider legs* When he was sure that his coast was clear Zim snuck in behind Dib, still staying in his high perch. After Dib drifted off into sleep, Zim slipped down and observed the sick boy. He, even is sickness, was still a decent looking human... Zim knew that he wold never forgive himself for what he was about to do. He cut off the Dib's shirt delicately so that he could get a better look at the object of his obsession. The boys skin glistened lightly with the sweat of a fever. Zim took his own shirt off to compare their bodies. They were so different, yet similar. They both had muscles on their torsos that barely raised the flesh.
During his inspection, the Dib shifted, the pale sunlight playing on his skin. Zim felt his sheath begin to swell pleasantly again. He leaned down to the Dib's lightly glowing skin and kissed him, at first ever so gently on the lips, but when Dib responded, Zim pushed a little harder, his cool and slightly moist skin against Dib's hot and sweaty. moaned as their bodies began to writhe together, but pulled away before he allowed himself to go too far. He didn't want to take advantage of the sick human. In a flash Zim was back on the ceiling, and lucky he was, the Dib darted for the bathroom, the sound of the horrible human water running about drove Zim out of his skin. He allowed himself down long enough to set Dib's coat on his bed and leave the house. his Sheath ached for a release, but Zim had other things on his mind, all of which pointed to Dib-beast...
Dib pulled himself out of the cold bath after he was sure he no longer had an erection. He wrapped a towel around his waist and drained out the water, then proceeded to fill the tub with warmer water. Once full, he slipped back into the welcoming comfort it brought. He sighed, his mind still shaken from that dream. He licked his lips and brought two fingers up to them. "It...It felt so real..." Dib slapped himself and laughed gently to himself. "What am I thinking? Why would Zim want to do that to me? We're enemies." He laughed again to himself before becoming silent again. "But still...Why did I have a dream like that?" Sure, he knew he was gay but he never thought about whether he would consider Zim "hot." "We've been enemies since the day Zim arrived on earth but now...now I'm just not sure about anything anymore." He laid back to think on the idea further. Flashes of Zim from the other day in the locker room and his dream came to his mind. He shot straight up in the water. "Holy crap! Maybe I do find him attractive! But I can't! We...We're enemies and he's an alien! I...I don't care! I won't let my thoughts about him change anything! Chances are he's still trying to take over the world. Besides...I don't know for sure if that's how I really feel about him. Perhaps it was just a fever induced nightmare that just happened to be arousing. Yeah, that's it. I'm sure I'll feel differently about him the next time I see him."
Dib nodded to himself reassuringly before getting up once again and wrapping the towel back around him. He left the tub to drain again as he grabbed another towel and headed toward his room, drying his hair with said towel. He walked in with the towel over his head but opened one eye just enough to glance at the trench coat on his bed. He threw the towel aside to reach for the coat. He ran his fingers over the fabric and turned, expecting to see Zim somewhere in the room. But he was completely alone. "Z...Zim?" There was no response. Dib was sure nobody had entered the house. Maybe he had just sent Gir to drop it off. Dib settled on that conclusion and shrugged the rest of his thoughts off. He threw on a pair of boxers and then some blue pajama bottoms, not bothering to put on a shirt. He sat on the edge of the bed, continuing to run his fingers over his prized possession. It held so many memories, some bad, some good. He laid back just trying to remember everything that had happened in his life when he had it. He smiled pleasantly at one memory. The memory of when his mother had given it to him. He was glad that lending Zim his coat hadn't brought back bad results. It was still in one piece and there were no new holes or scratches on it. He'd have to thank Zim for that later. He closed his eyes once more, falling asleep with the old coat covering his bare chest and the first good dream he had had in a long time.
Zim made it home in record time, barely containing his thoughts and such in his PAK. He wanted the Dib stink, the way one desired a mate, when permitted. He knew the consequences if he were found out, but he was willing to do it, just so that he could have one night. It wasn't love per say, though the thought has crossed his mind; No it was a lust that needed to be filled, and Zim knew who he wanted it to be fulfilled by. 'But he hates your guts Zim,' he thought to himself, " He wants to pull your organs out and show them off to the inhabitants of this Dirtball!" his thoughts tried to settle on him, but he retorted with 'True as that is, I too am am an inhabitant of the place now'
Zim let his thoughts drift off into nothingness as he passed into the deranged realm of sleep...
A smile spread across Dib's face in his sleep. He was having a good dream about his mother. He was finally able to get a relaxing sleep that he was slow to wake up to. Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking his eyes a few times waiting for his vision to return. When it didn't, he shot straight up in bed. He reached for the light on his table and tried to turn it on. When nothing happened, he stumbled out of bed, searching underneath it to find the flashlight he kept in his room. He made a happy noise when he found what he was looking for and turned it on. He looked outside. It was storming again and the power was out. Dib left his room again to find the matches. He passed by Gaz's room, a small flicker of blue light coming from a crack in the door. Dib knew it was well after skool hours. Gaz was probably just playing her Game Slave II or some other handheld game. He made his way downstairs to the kitchen and found the matches and candles still out on the counter from the previous black out. Lighting one, he placed it on a stand by his window. Sighing happily, he fell back into the soft covers of his bed. The day seemed to have passed so quickly but he guessed that was how things always felt when you had been sleeping all day long. That last sleep had been so good he wasn't sure if he ever wanted it to end. He was feeling restless and wanted to get up and do something but his body wouldn't let him. The fever seemed to take so much out of him. It was almost to the point that he couldn't do anything else but sleep. Why fight it? He had nothing better to do. From the darkness outside, he judged that it was pretty late out. Besides a little more sleep couldn't hurt him. It was good for him when he was sick. Dib watched the flicker of light from the candle dance on the walls of his room, almost rocking him to sleep.

When he got bored he turned his attention back to his window to watch the rain fall down. It was hard to see with all the lights on his block out. He wondered whether his dad might be home yet. His eyes fell upon a small note placed on his door. At that point, Dib didn't need to get up to see the note. He already knew what it said. His father always left notes when he would be working later than expected. Dib focused back on the rain, letting it lull him back to sleep, despite the heavy down pour and thunder and lightning in the background. Dib had fallen into a dreamless sleep and awoke feeling grumpy and not wanting to get up out of bed again. He had actually bothered to take his glasses off and put them on the table with the candle he had lit. He forced his eyes open a crack, everything blurry. He noted that the light that now danced on the wall was significantly bigger than before but shrugged that off and closed his eyes to fall asleep again. What he hadn't noticed was the smoke that was beginning to fill his room. His curtain had caught on fire when a small spark had Lept up and touched the fabric hanging down in front of his window, swaying from a light breeze outside. Dib didn't realize that yet and was too far into his sleep to be aware of anything at the moment. So he slept unaware of the threat that was beginning to grow in his room as the fire spread to other pieces of furniture all around him.
Gaz ran into Dib's room and pulled him out of the burning house, mumbling"Damn fucking idiot!'" the whole time. She tossed him his glasses as she watched her world burning down. All her games, her expensive clothes, her privacy. When her brother finally got to his feet, she put him back on the ground. The anger coursed through her as she beat the hell out of him, regardless of his few burns.
After the firemen left, the cops and social services showed up. They questioned the teens, and conferred about how fit a parent Membrane was.
While they talked the neighborhood returned to their houses, umbrella's keeping them from they rain. One individual stood near the siblings, his paste keeping him from sizzling into nothingness. Zim looked upon the Dib stink, he was nursing a bruised rib and a small, but major burn on his forearm. Gaz was berating her brother, "DIB! How many times have I told you to blow out your damned candles when you go to sleep!"
Zim stepped forward and looked down at the berated boy, "Dib stink, why did you burn your dwelling? Isn't your father going to be pissed?"
Dib didn't have a second to answer before the social workers came over, "We have decided that your father leaving you alone for extended periods, and leaving candles in the possession of an insane teen, that we must remove you from this home and place you with a foster family.. That is unless you can think of a friends' family that will take you in..." the male social worker looked over Dib and Gaz.
Gaz immediately spoke up that her best friend Zita would let her stay with her. The social worker looked over Dib closely, "And you son?" After Listening to Dib try to stutter out an answer Zim moved forward, "I'm Dib S-Membrane's b-best fr-friend.... My parent's will let him stay w-with us..."
Dib couldn't believe the words coming out of Zim's mouth. The fact that Zim had even come in the rain had already confused him enough. He was still having trouble getting over the fact that his house had burned down in less than an hour. Dib had been so deep in his sleep, he barely had time to wake up before Gaz had thrown him outside on the cold wet ground and began to beat the shit out of him. All he remembered before then was hearing Gaz's voice in his dream calling out his name and the next thing he knew he was outside feeling all different kinds of pain. He had a few burn marks, and Gaz beating him up didn't help much, especially since he had begun to feel sick to his stomach again with the realization of almost being killed. For the first ten minutes he was outside, he couldn't even speak. He just sat back watching his house burn to the ground, clinging to the only possession he had left in the world. He had been hanging onto the old trench coat in his sleep. That and his glasses. He didn't even have a shirt anymore.

He had only been wearing his blue pajama bottoms and that was all he was left with to wear. He didn't even try to move from his spot on the ground, not when Gaz began to beat him up or after. It wasn't until a fireman had gotten him back up on his feet and brought him over to an area to sit and fix his wounds. He barely had the strength to walk before he was attacked by Gaz. One of the firemen gave him a blanket which he willingly wrapped around himself. So when he heard Zim offer him a place to stay, his whole world seemed to stop all at once. For the first time that whole night, he looked at Zim, obvious confusion in his eyes. He didn't have anywhere else to go so after a minute of silence he finally nodded his head slowly, accepting the Irken's offer. "Y..yeah...I'll just s...stay with hi...him..." he stuttered and the social worker nodded, sending them on their way. Gaz was picked up shortly after and Dib stayed staring at the ruins of his house a bit longer. Zim waited patiently before he turned to Zim. He had been offered an umbrella to use for the trip to Zim's house by one of the social workers before they left the two standing in the rain.
Dib wrapped part of the blanket over his head and hugged the trench coat to his chest before offering the umbrella to the alien. "Here....You'd better use this...I do better in rain than you do..." That was all he said before he started walking down the road towards Zim's base. A hint of sadness could be detected in his voice. The rest of the way there, neither said anything. They reached the house quickly and made there way inside to be greeted by a high pitched squeal and a, "Hhhheeeelllloooo!" from Gir.
Dib flinched at the loud sound but ignored it. His face showed no emotion at all. He just walked past the small dog disguised robot and took a seat on the couch. Zim had been unusually quiet the whole way there. Dib turned his attention to the Irken as he entered the house. "So why did you offer me a place to stay?" It was a question that had been eating away at Dib since Zim had said it. "It couldn't be because you like me. You must just want to do horrible experiments on me, right? And there's nothing I can do about that now." Dib stretched out on the couch and hugged the coat to himself in an attempt to make himself feel better."Go ahead and do what you like to me. " He turned his back to Zim and clenched his eyes closed. "Besides...it's not like anybody cares what happens to a "crazy teenager" like me." Dib had no fight left in him. All he wanted to do was curl up into a little ball and cry himself to sleep but he wouldn't allow himself to do that in front of Zim.