Our Masks

At noon the next day, Dib dialed the number and hoped (belatedly) that it wasn't fake. When it was answered, however, he knew it to be genuine...

"HELLOOO?!"

It had been so long since he heard GIR's voice, shock temporarily quieted him. "Uhhh... Is Zim there?"

GIR screamed, "Massssterrrr!"

An annoyed-sounding "What do you want, GIR?!" issued from what seemed to be across the room. There was silence as Dib assumed GIR handed over the phone. Finally: "Yes."

Disguising his voice a little, Dib whispered, "I want to meet you."

After a moment of reflection, Zim finally replied, "Okay. Where?"

And thusly Dib found himself sitting in the corner of a small cafe, near the door. It was close to his secret bar, so he hoped that nobody would reocognize him so early in the day. He also hoped that it was a neutral enough location that Zim wouldn't be tempted to try anything evil.

Punctual down to the second, Zim marched through the front door and turned, immediately meeting Dib's eyes. He was wearing an outfit very closely resembling his old Invader uniform, with tall black boots and leather pants. Dib, for his part, was decked out in his old trenchcoat.

"Just like the old days," Dib observed, smiling.

Zim narrowed his eyes as he sat down across from Dib. "Hopefully NOT..."

"Well, yeah. Aside from the whole 'trying to destroy eachother' thing." After fully regarding Zim's garb, he mused, "Since you're not dressed to impress today, I guess you knew you were coming here to meet ME, huh?"

"You didn't exactly make an effort to hide who you were."

He had, but he supposed it hadn't been much. "I guess... I just wanted to see if you'd come."

Shrugging dismissively, Zim looked away and sniffed, "Here I am." He looked back from under his pretty eyelids. "And judging by the way YOU'RE dressed, I'm assuming you had more on your mind than just a meeting. Got a camera under there, Dib-stink?"

"I was... ah... just being cautious, I guess," Dib replied sheepishly. "And discreet. I don't typically dress this way anymore... I didn't want anyone to recognize me..."

"Why not?" Zim asked, leaning forward in a challenging fashion. "You're not doing anything wrong, are you?"

Dib blushed. Truth be told, he wasn't, but... He deduced that maybe he still felt some lingering feelings for Zim--that is, the Alabaster Boy... Even now Dib just wanted to reach over the table and scoop him up like a china doll. The Invader uniform just made it look like he was wearing a kinky costume. "Boy, you human disguise sure has improved," he finally remarked awkwardly, making it obvious he didn't care to answer Zim's previous question. Though, were he astute enough, Zim could probably have been able to tell what he was thinking. Thankfully Zim was not one for subtleties.

"Trial and error," Zim replied, looking a little smug. "After I left skool I could fool around with it and not arouse suspicion."

"So that's why you left, huh?" Dib nodded. "Probably a good idea. You weren't having much success there anyway..."

Abashed, Zim balled his hands into fists. "My appearance was changing..." Then he was angry. "What is this, a performance review?!"

"I was just curious is all!" Dib held up his hands. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"Questions. Always with questions. You ask too many of--those--things. Questions."

Grinning, Dib cried, "I am a scientist after all!" It seemed as if a little of Zim's old self was showing through. To Dib's own surprise, he was actually relieved.

"I used to be a scientist," Zim stated off-handedly.

"Really! You should tell me about it."

Zim glowered. "Too many questions."

"Hey, that wasn't a question. It was a statement."

A waitress arrived then to take their order. To Dib's astonishment, his alien companion ordered pie. And ate it. Albeit slowly. And he actually did tell Dib a little about his days as a scientist. Though it was difficult at first, Dib found that Zim quite enjoyed talking about himself if plied with the right questions (or... statements). Soon they were actually talking like a pair of normal people. Before Dib knew it, two hours had passed.

"I should probably go," he stated, looking at his watch. "I have the weekend off, but I promised one of my collegues I would send him this report before four..."

Taken a little by surprise by Dib's sudden need to leave, Zim blinked. "Uh... Oh. Okay." Shrugging, he said, "I didn't get to finish telling you about the time I trapped a live ZorgleBeast..."

Dib's smile was quite warm and totally genuine. "Are you going to the bar tonight?"

"I... suppose so." Zim sighed, displeasure clear on his face.

"Don't want to?" It wasn't terribly surprising. Zim never looked very happy to be there. "Why don't you come to my place tonight, for dinner? Um, I assume there's something you can eat besides pie?"

"I don't really need to eat," Zim said, pursing his lips. "I just do it for fun. And... I can only handle a few of your horrid delicacies here."

"Oh. Well..." Getting to his feet and throwing some money on the table for the check, Dib ventured, "You could... come over and watch... ME eat?"

The alien looked disgusted.

"Come over AFTER I have dinner?"

Still sitting, Zim looked up at Dib with a blank expression. "Why do you want me to come over to your place?"

"Uh..." Dib blushed. "I... enjoy your... company?" He elaborated, scratching the back of his head. "Normally with anyone else I would just, um, invite them over and we could talk or watch movies or whatever."

After a moment, Zim finally nodded in realization. "Oh! I see. I think I've seen that on TV before." He tapped his finger thoughtfully. Dib stood, looking down a little pensively.

When Zim didn't answer, Dib finally pushed, "So?"

"Whuh?"

"Are you coming over tonight or not?"

Quirking his head, Zim answered, "Oh. Uh... Okay."

Without even thinking, Dib pushed his fingers once through Zim's hair. "Cool. I'll call you later and give you directions." And he left.

As he walked to his car, he suddenly felt his face grow hot. He had just spent two hours with ZIM. And he wanted to spend MORE time with him. He found the alien to be fascinating... Before he had come to Earth, it seems he had already been through a lot... Dib always knew there was life beyond the stars, but hearing first-hand accounts of planets and creatures was thrilling.

Originally, he had just wanted to keep an eye on Zim, but...

...or had he? All this time he hadn't bothered to seek Zim out, thinking he was no longer a real threat to Earth. Nothing had changed since then. No... Dib wanted to see Zim again for another reason. Was it his initial attraction to the Alabaster Boy, or was it something else?

Was it that he could actually be himself around Zim? Even though Zim and he were "enemies," they had many common bonds, and he wasn't ashamed to show Zim his true self. He wasn't afraid of what Zim would think. Any attempts Zim had ever made to hurt his ego usually fell flat, anyway.

"Maybe it's because they were half-hearted," Dib said to himself. Though afterward he laughed at the thought. Thinking that Zim somewhere harbored anything other than hatred for Dib was a stretch. Zim was so self-absorbed that he might not even have the resources left over for anyone else, whether they be hatred, love, whatever.

Wasting time thinking about the whole thing probably wouldn't help. As Dib got into his car, he tried to focus on other things.

Zim was still sitting at the table, face in his hands, elbows thrust outward. Originally he just wanted to see what Dib was up to, but he had to admit that he had enjoyed himself. When he wasn't spouting epithets Dib was actually tolerable to be around. He wasn't sure what his plan would be for the evening, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to just make it up as he went along.