Zim walked into the hi skool, ready for another boring day. After middle skool, Zim honestly didn't really care that much about world domination. Personally, it was starting to bore him. Instead, he focused mostly on science and history trying to learn more about earth instead of controlling it. Of course, he still didn't like Dib and Dib didn't like him. Every now and then, they would battle against each other using robots and science but other than that, they just avoided each other.
He pulled a folder out of his locker and walked to his health class. He took his seat in the back of the class next to Gaz like every day.
"Morning, Gazlene," he muttered that earned him a light punch to his shoulder from the girl next to him too focused on her GS3 to look up.
"Don't call me that, Zim." She continued to play her game and Zim just put his folder on the table as the class piled in. They all sat down and Gaz still didn't look up. She knew that Zim would write down notes from the class that she studied later. Since the first day of this class, they were partnered up. Going by last name. Zim just decided to pick the last name 'Opal' which meant that he was constantly partnered up with either her or her brother.
"Alright, kids! Today is a very big day." The teacher got up from the desk and brought in a cart covered in a large cloth from the hallway. "As most of you know, this is health class and you were going to have to do this project eventually." She ripped off the cloth and there sat at least 13 robot babies. Zim looked at them in confusion. What were they going to do with these? "Parenthood! Now, I know most of you don't want to do this but it is 15% of your final grade in this class so everyone has to do it. Okay, so I'm going to call up all partners and you will grab one of the babies and input a name into it. Okay, Anderson and Barley, come up." As the teacher called all the students up, Zim looked at Gaz. She didn't know what was going on as she was still too focused on her game. He considered writing it down but she wouldn't have noticed until later in the day. "Membrane and Opal." Gaz didn't even blink. Zim sighed and stood up. He walked to the front and grabbed a baby robot with a bittle pink hat on it's head. "Okay, make sure to take the package too." Zim picked up the little pouch next to it and sat back down at his seat next to Gaz. He set the baby down on the table and the thud of it brought Gaz out. She looked up and then looked at Zim.
"What the hell did I miss?" Zim looked at her skeptically.
"We're taking care of a baby," Zim answered. "You may want to pay attention and not rely on my notes." Gaz sighed dramatically and put her GS3 back into her bag.
"I figured we were going to do this eventually," she looked at the baby. "Why'd you get a girl?"
"I don't know, I grabbed the first one I saw," he said, not looking at her or the baby, just staring ahead as the robots left the cart and now had a place on everyone's desk. When he looked back at Gaz, she was typing something on the back of the baby. He looked in close but still couldn't tell what she was typing.
"What are you doing?"
"Giving it a name." She pulled back and then put the baby back to facing them. Zim took it and looked on the back. 'Elizabeth' it said on the back.
"Elizabeth?"
"Don't question it. And also you can't change it so, deal with it." He smirked.
"Don't you think you should've at least consulted with the father on the name choice first?" She glared at him and he laughed and looked back at the baby.
"Alright, now everyone can open up the pouches. Inside, you'll find a diaper, a bottle and a little red button. Don't touch the red button. If you touch the red button, the baby will shut down and you will get a 0% on the project. Don't worry, you won't be handling a bunch of dirty diapers, the diaper stays clean but it will tell you to switch from diaper 1 to diaper 2 and then back again if it goes. Every time it cries, it means that something is wrong and your job is to find out what it is and fix it. If it's hungry, hold up the bottle to the mouth. It will automatically feed it. If it pooped, change the diaper. If it's lonely, cradle it. It's not that hard. But if you can't handle it, press the red button. You will get a 0% on the project but it is a definite option to get rid of the baby." Zim and Gaz just continued to look at the baby. Gaz picked it up and placed it in front of her as Zim went through the stuff in the pouch.
"I say we press the button now and cut our losses." She looked at him with a stern face.
"Zim! We're taking care of Elizabeth so get over it." He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"Wow. You really got into caring for the little fucker quickly, didn't ya?"
"Shut up, you stupid alien." The rest of the class went smoothly and they left, all being given a carrier for each of the babies.
By the end of the day, Zim was waiting on the steps with the baby in the carrier and the pouch hanging by the handle. He was waiting to walk home with Gaz. Eventually after about a hundred kids passed him, he caught sight of the purple-haired girl holding her GS3. He stood up with the carrier and walked over to her.
"Hey, Gazlene." She closed her GS3 and punched him harder than before.
"Stop calling me that!" He chuckled and rubbed the spot where she punched. Being an Irken meant that he actually could take a lot of pain once he hit puberty. Most Irkens are pretty weak until they hit puberty and when that hits, usually the species get's stronger and tolerates more pain, making battle much easier for them. Knowing that he wasn't really going to take over Earth, he didn't need the strength that Irkens typically have but it did make Gaz's punches more tolerable.
"Alright, let's walk." Zim started walking with Gaz towards their homes. He held onto the carrier the entire way home and once they got to his house, he started walking to his front door with the baby. Gaz walked up to him and made him face her, pulling his shoulder.
"Hey, where are you going with that? It's obviously staying with me at my house." Zim shook his head.
"Uh, no, Gaz. The baby is staying with me. You don't know how to care for it. You weren't even paying attention when the teacher was telling us how to work it."
"I'm the mom," she argued. "And the mom keeps the baby, every time." She pulled the carrier from his hands. "How would you know to care for the kid better than me anyway? We both got the project at the same time and I did pay attention. Mother's instincts. She stays with me." Zim pulled the carrier from Gaz and walked closer to his front door.
"Mother's instincts my ass. You wouldn't have even noticed the damn thing if I didn't go up to the front, get it and put it on the table in front of you. I believe you said, 'what did I miss?' Yeah, good mother's instincts you got there, Gazlene."
"Well, what do you want me to do? I'm not leaving the baby alone with you." She looked up at him and finally put her GS3 in her bag and walked a bit closer to him. Zim leaned his head back and groaned. This was not going well but he had no choice.
"Then why don't you move in for the next few days?"