Dib sat hunched on the cold, metal bench outside of skool and quietly moved a blob of disgusting grey mush around on his plate. Zim sat beside him, feeling the cold much more intensely, but remaining visibly unperturbed in order to save his pride. He sniveled and nudged a slice of bread with his green finger. The soft mush warped like melting plastic where he'd felt it. He wiped the bread-goo off of his finger and looked up to see Dib eyeing him quizzically.
"What is it, Dib-thing?" Zim asked, slightly irritated.
"You're not eating." Dib pointed out. There was no one to share the evidence with but himself, but he liked to catch Zim's little habits that were not quite human.
"Would you eat this... this squish-dirt, Dib-worm?" He questioned pointedly and somewhat smugly.
Zim had a point, Dib never ate the Skool food.
"I guess not..." He admitted.
Defeat was not easy.
"You know, Zim. It might rain today... See those dark rain clouds in the sky?" He attempted to scare the green boy.
"Ah yes, the rain... it is delicious, human. You cannot scare ZIM." The irken replied without looking up from his "squish-dirt" as he called the grey blob on his tray.
Dib sighed and leaned his head back to rest on the chain-link fence. It made a soft jingling sound. There was a distant rumbling of thunder.
"Why did you sit outside today, earth-monkey?" Zim asked Dib.
"Why did you follow me, Alien?" He countered.
"This is beside the point. You dare not answer the questions of ZIM!" The green boy sounded irritated, but he calmed down seconds after the sentence was spoken.
Dib didn't bother to answer, because Zim had begun to stare dreamily at the sky.
"What are you doing, Zim? Looking for your mothership to take you back home to IRK?"
He'd been spying on Zim's lab, and Zim knew this, but never admitted that it wasn't part of his master plan.
"worm-baby, you should know by now that I don't plan on serving the tallest any longer." Zim mumbled as he stared upward.
There was something strangely calming about earth-weather. It was especially grey today, which was somewhat worrisome because of the dreaded rain, but it was still beautiful. Silvery.
Dib stared at Zim. His eyes were blocked by the disguise of badly made contact lenses. It made him upset because he wanted to see Zim's eyes... he liked to look the enemy in the eye.
"So... why did you follow me?" Dib asked again.
"Foolish, foolish human. I obviously wanted to make sure you wouldn't encroach upon my base during your food-consuming hour of freedom!" Zim mumbled at the sky, looking at Dib and shaking his fist slightly on the last few words. Then he proceeded to stare at the silvery clouds.
"Zim, you know I go into your base almost every day. Why are you really out here with me?" Dib asked, not expecting an answer.
"High skool is something that I find most unsatisfactory." Zim mumbled, looking at Dib intensely.
"We should leave." He added decidedly.
"What are you talking about?" Dib asked.
"High skool is most unsatisfying. The teachers are all slob-rodents and the children are oil monsters. Now that I am as tall as the tallest, I shall not be submitted to this 'skool' any longer."
He explained with hatred.
"Zim... how did you get taller?" Dib asked, disregarding Zim's statement to satisfy his curiosity.
"Growth hormones injected into my Squeedily-Spooch. BUT THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE, DIB-HUMAN!" he cried in exasperation.
"Why, WHY do you never listen to the ZIM?" He ranted.
There was a silence as Dib took a sip of milk.
"What's your favorite color, Zim?" Dib asked.
"Silver." he answered curtly, tired of not being heard.