Dib stared out the window of the bus as it slowly wound its way up the increasingly snowy mountain. His class was taking a weekend trip to a mountain resort so that Ms. Bitters could drone on for two days about the doomed nature of the mountain and how the tourists, themselves included, were just dooming it further. He sighed as a wad of paper hit the side of his head, followed by a chorus of laughter. By this point Dib was just ignoring the occupants of the bus because they had been throwing around random school supplies for the last half hour, most of them directed towards him. He glanced sidelong at Zim. The alien was glowering in his seat, immensely displeased at this required trip to a filthy human mountain covered in filthy frozen water. Dib had to admit Zim had done a decent job attempting to get out of the field trip but when Dib called his humanity into question the alien gave up and very begrudgingly agreed to go on the trip. Dib looked out the window again just in time to see a beat up rusted old sign announcing the cabins being 20 miles away. A pencil lodged itself into his hair scythe and he sighed again. He couldn't wait until he was off the bus.
"Alright class, pick a number from this box. Those of you who have the same number will be in the same doomed cabin together." Ms. Bitters held out a black cardboard box and shook it slightly. One by one the students each took a number, some of them high-fiving each other as they ended up in cabins together. Dib grabbed his number and looked around to see if anyone had grabbed the same number yet. It didn't appear that anyone had picked Dib's number so he stood off to the side and watched conspicuously as the remaining students picked out numbers. A few of the students avoided Dib, hoping they didn't have his number, until they found out Dib wasn't their cabin mate and relief flooded their faces. Eventually only a few students were left and as they dwindled and found their partners Dib turned back towards Ms. Bitters as the last student came up to get their number. A grin spread across Dib's face as he watched Zim grab his number, the same number Dib held in his hand; this would make keeping an eye on the alien an easy task. Zim scrutinized his number as if it would tell him who his partner was, his eyes darting upward as Dib slinked over to him. Zim looked between the two papers they held, both with the same number, his eyes going wide. He jumped back.
"I will not share a cabin with the Dib-beast!" Zim pointed at Dib, the numbered paper clenched in his other hand. Several of the students turned and stared. Ms. Bitters materialized next to Zim and growled as she leaned menacingly over him.
"You will be in the same cabin together and you will like it."
Zim shrunk back from the teacher and nodded weakly. Zim righted himself, growling slightly under his breath after Ms. Bitters moved away. He glared at Dib, who was still grinning, before turning and marching off.
Dib threw open the door to the cabin he and Zim were sharing and strode in. Zim was having trouble finding the cabin so he hadn't made it before Dib, giving the human time to rig the place with spy cameras he had gotten in a magazine. The alien wouldn't be able to so much as move without Dib knowing about it.
Eventually Zim found the cabin, no thanks to Dib. He eyed the other students outside suspiciously before slamming the door shut and turning around. He came face to face with Dib and let out a yelp before growling and skirting around the human. Dib grinned to himself and turned to continue watching Zim as he made his way further into the cabin.
"It's just you and me Zim. You can't escape!" Dib gloated, his hands behind his back. Zim eyed him with distrust.
"Foolish human! This cabin cannot contain the mighty ZIM!" Despite his speech the alien still stepped further away from Dib, eyeing his arms behind his back. Dib's grin spread and he stepped towards Zim, causing him to dash away but he only ended up cornering himself. Dib advanced on Zim and he panicked, looking around for something to throw at the Dib-beast. When the human was almost on top of him, Zim extended his pak legs and drew himself up to the ceiling. A look of surprise crossed Dib's face as Zim glowered down at him.
"What now Dib? You—eh?" Zim was high enough up to see what the human had behind him… absolutely nothing.
"You have nothing! Zim will not be fooled by your tricks!" He laughed manically. Dib let his hands drop to his sides.
"I wasn't trying to trick you but you thought I had something so I went with it. Next time I might actually have something but if you assume I'm tricking you, it'll just be that much easier to get close to you." Dib's grin turned cocky as he backed away. He laughed as he exited the main room and entered the bedroom, leaving Zim's line of sight. The alien stared after him, his eyes widening.
"Accursed human! You will never trick Zim!" He laughed harder than before, dislodging himself from the ceiling and falling gracelessly to the floor, making an 'oof!' sound as the air left him.
Dib finished unpacking just before nightfall after participating in school activities most of the day. It had been hard to keep an eye on Zim during this time because the alien kept darting off in an attempt to avoid the humans and activities as much as possible. Luckily Ms. Bitters was scarily observant and kept dragging the squirming and complaining alien back.
Dib looked over to the other bed in the room, Zim's bed. It hadn't been touched at all and when he thought about it Dib realized that he hadn't seen Zim's bag since that morning, when they had all gotten off the bus. Dib eyed the living room suspiciously while slowly exiting the bedroom. He looked around for Zim but the alien was nowhere to been found, even in the bathroom. Dib decided to take the opportunity to try and find Zim's bag while he was gone, silently hoping the alien wasn't up to anything terrible.
Dib started in the bathroom since that's where he was. The sink area was easy enough to check, just a pedestal sink with Dib's various hygiene items stacked on it. He looked behind the toilet and in its tank before staring at the shower. The curtain was closed. Dib crept close to the curtain, briefly thinking about being ambushed from inside the shower, before throwing the curtain back. The rings chimed against the curtain rod, startling Dib, but the shower was empty. He let out the breath he was holding and finally left the bathroom.
The living room, if it could even be called that, was a small room with the bedroom and bathroom affixed to it. There were two windows, both covered by hideous curtains, and a single couch facing a small fireplace next to the front door. Dib started with the couch, pulling the cushions off, turning it over, and searching the inside. Finding nothing but lint and old bottle caps in the couch he searched the curtains, the corners, and even in the fireplace, but Zim's bag wasn't in the living room.
Dib started to head back into the bedroom, the only place left to search, when the cabin door slammed open and Zim walked in. Dib looked between the bedroom door and Zim, contemplating making a dash for it, but it was too late and Zim had already spotted him. The two stared at each other for a moment, Zim suspicious about the human, and Dib wondering what to do. Suddenly he dashed into the bedroom. Zim made a noise of confusion and ran after him, sliding to a stop in the bedroom doorway to find Dib wiggling under the bed that had been designated 'his'. Zim made a choking noise and grabbed at Dib's ankles, pulling him out from under the bed. The human had found his bag and was clutching it to his chest, trying to get the zipper open so he could examine its contents. They struggled briefly as both of them tried to control the bag, each grabbing one side and pulling away from the other. The skirmish didn't last long and suddenly they both fell back as the zipper tore open, flinging the contents of the bag around the room. Dib made random noises as items landed on him before he pulled them off of himself, staring at one of the offending objects in confusion. He looked around the room, taking in the strewn about contents before looking at Zim.
"Jackets? You hid your bag and it's filled with nothing but jackets?" Dib was confused but still ended up laughing, unable to believe it. Zim jumped up to his feet and glared at the human.
"Why do you laugh at Zim? This is perfectly normal human attire for this climate!" He picked up one of the jackets and shook it at Dib, whose own trench coat was missing in favour of a warmer jacket. Dib laughed harder.
"Yeah sure, but most humans don't carry around a dozen jackets and nothing else."
Zim blanched. "Fool! I have other… supplies. But they are uh, eh… in my… other bag. Yes." Zim looked around before scuttling off, leaving Dib to roll around on the floor in laughter.
Dib sat in the doorway of the bedroom, watching Zim in the living room. The alien didn't appear to be going to bed anytime soon so Dib wasn't going to go to bed anytime soon either. Zim was tinkering with something in his lap, occasionally looking over his shoulder at the human. Dib had tried getting closer to find out what Zim was doing but every time he was just about to find out, the alien ran away and hid his… thing. Dib decided it was better to just watch Zim from a distance otherwise he'd be chasing him around the cabin all night without result. Besides, Zim would have to move at some point to do whatever it was he was going to do with his… thing.
The sun was peeking through the curtains when someone banged on the door, startling Dib awake. He had fallen asleep in the bedroom doorway and no doubt had an indent running up his face from sleeping against the door. Dib looked around the cabin franticly but Zim was nowhere to be seen again. He stood up and was about to search the cabin when the door slammed open and one of the other students eyed the inside of the cabin suspiciously before spotting Dib and yelling at him.
"Hey weirdo! Ms. Bitters says you're late, so hurry up!" The student ran off before Dib could respond. He glanced around the cabin once more before grudgingly following the other student. He'd have to find Zim later.
"Oof!" Dib landed face first in a snow drift after Chunk pushed him, a chorus of laughter following the event. Dib started to get up but ended up twisting around and landing on his back as his jacket was pulled off him.
"Hey! That's my jacket!" Dib's voice pitched as he got up and tried to grab at his jacket. The student holding it just moved away and pushed Dib back.
"The Dib-beast can't even defend his jacket!" Zim came up behind the students and looked smugly at Dib. "How do you expect to stop me Dib? Hey!" Zim's gloating was cut short as his jacket was yanked off of him as well. Zim turned to face the school children but they just laughed at Zim as well and ran off with the jackets. Zim growled at their retreating figures before turning and stomping off towards the cabin. With nothing else to do, and too cold to want to, Dib got up and followed Zim.
Dib shivered against the cold as he attempted to start the electric fireplace. He had changed clothes as soon as he got back to the cabin but the snow had done its toll and he was contemplating taking a long, hot shower to raise his temperature again, but that would have to wait for now. Zim had stomped all the way back to the cabin, through the living room, and into the bedroom where he picked up one of his many jackets and angrily put it on before stomping off to the bathroom where he locked himself in. Dib decided he was probably tinkering with his… thing again. At least that meant it wasn't ready to be used yet, whatever it was, but it also meant Dib was stuck trying to warm up with the fireplace which he just couldn't get started. After several more minutes of trying without success he sighed and looked over his shoulder at the bedroom, several of the jackets visible through the doorway. His eyes darted to the bathroom door and then back to the bedroom. Slowly he stood up and crept towards the bedroom, watching the bathroom door along the way. He paused and listened for a moment, but Zim was still just tinkering with his… thing, so Dib continued forth. He entered the bedroom and looked over the jackets for one that wasn't so… pink. Finally spotting one buried under the others that was dark brown he sighed and carefully moved over to it. Dib picked it up and eyed it with distain, but he was cold and he wasn't going to find anything better so he put it on and blanched at the cold material as it contacted his skin. Dib shivered as the jacket began to warm up, gradually becoming more comfortable.
The bathroom door opened suddenly and Dib's eyes shot to it, his momentary happiness for warmth gone. Zim walked out, looking around in suspicion before his eyes stopped on Dib.
"You!" He pointed at Dib and ran over to him. "You dare wear the MIGHTY Zim's jacket? Take it off!" He reached for the jacket but Dib swatted his hand away and stepped back.
"Forget it! You have a dozen jackets and I don't have one anymore. You can deal with one less!" Dib pulled the jacket tighter around himself, silently challenging Zim with his eyes. The alien growled at him, looking between the jacket and Dib's face. He seemed to decide it wasn't worth it and stormed off.
"Fine Dib-beast, you can keep the jacket!" He called over his shoulder as he went into the living room. Dib smiled despite himself; a small victory was still a victory.
The sun was starting to set and Dib was drifting off. Ms. Bitters had been yelling at him all day for almost falling asleep (and in one case completely falling asleep) but he'd only gotten about an hour of sleep the night before, and seeing as this was their last night he didn't think he was going to get any more tonight. After all, someone had to watch the green alien.
Dib sleepily shuffled back to the cabin while trying to avoid the other students, especially Chunk, so that he wouldn't have to try and commandeer another jacket from Zim's stash as he was pretty sure he wouldn't get away with it again. He pushed the cabin door open only to be greeted by a dark void.
"Zim?" He slowly stepped into the cabin, searching for the light switch. No response. Dib glanced behind himself before stepping further into the cabin, still looking for the light switch.
"You can't surprise me Zim, I know you're there!" Dib called out, louder this time. His hand hit the switch on the wall and his eyes closed in response to the bright assault. He forced his eyes open despite the burning sensation as his eyes tried to adjust to the influx of light. The cabin appeared to be empty but Dib wasn't taking any chances. He checked the bedroom first, then the bathroom (making sure to check the shower again) but apparently Zim really hadn't come back to the cabin yet. Dib's eyes narrowed.
'What is he up to?' He ran back out of the cabin to look for Zim.
Dib spend a good portion of the night looking for the alien to no avail. He weakly pushed the cabin door open and flopped down onto the couch, stifling a yawn as he looked at his watch. Maybe he could rest for just a few minutes before looking for Zim again. He closed his eyes.
'Just a few… minutes…' He thought as he drifted off.