Title: Sticking Together
Show: Invader Zim
For InvaderZela
The alien walked down the school's hallway. He kicked his legs up high with ever step, walking strange and different than the other humans.
"Freak." Some boy said.
"Weirdo." A girl said.
It wasn't his looks or walk that caused people to pay attention to him today. Zim didn't acknowledge them, although he wondered what suddenly grabbed their attention.
"Disgusting."
"Nasty."
He knew the definition to all of these words. They were insults. When he was training as an Invader for Operation Impending Doom 1, insults would ALWAYS be hurled at you. As you trained, your will to be stronger either grew with determination like his did, or wither away like those of the crowd that watched the other Invaders be told where they were to go.
"Fag." Somebody said. That got Zim to stop walking. What was a fag? He had never heard the word before.
"Gay." Someone else said. He didn't know this word, either. He walked faster. Why did it seem like the kids on either side of the hallway were closing in on him as he left school? They seemed to get closer and closer. Someone spat on him.
"Get out of town!" the person who spat yelled. Everyone started yelling loudly in agreement with the person. Zim started running.
In another hallway of the school, a human walked. He walked like other humans, and lived like other humans, but everyone called him a freak due to the size of his head, and his love of the paranormal. They hurled insults at him, too. Why? They usually ignored him unless it was in the classroom where he would daringly point at Zim and try to prove that the obviously alien wasn't human. Today, though, has been horrible. They called him 'Gay' and 'Fag', too. When did that start today? Why did it start today? Why were they—Dib stopped walking. His eyes were wide. He knew the reason.
"Oh no…." he muttered. He started running for the door. He could see Zim headed for the same door. Why did it have to be the alien now? of all times Zim had to be here, this was the worst time. He felt like everyone was closing in on him as he ran. Everyone was yelling now. They chanted the word "Freaks!" over and over again. Finally, Dib reached the door. And as if everything in nature was against him, he and Zim accidentally reached for the same area of the same door, and touched hands. They immediately jerked away from each other, not wanting anything to do with each other.
"Eww! PDA!" someone yelled. Everyone laughed harshly at them.
"Come on!" Dib yelled, grabbing Zim's arm to run out the door with him. He ran all the way to Zim's house and managed to get inside without the gnomes attacking him. The only problem he had was that he nearly lost his grip on Zim multiple times because he was struggling and yelling, saying lots of things he didn't understand. He threw Zim on the couch, and collapsed on the other end of the couch, panting.
"What is the meaning of this, Dib-worm! And why were they insult Zim all day!" Zim yelled.
"Zim…." Dib said, breathing heavily. "Don't you remember our last fight?" he asked.
"As if I could forget! The weirdest most germy thing in the universe happened! StupidKeef ran into you, you fell on me, and pressed your filthy mouth to mine! I had to drink dishwashing liquid all weekend to make the germs leave me!" Zim shuddered.
"Dishwashing liquid?" Dib face palmed himself. "Gross. Just gross."
"And what does 'fag' and 'gay' mean, anyway? Terms like that were NEVER used on my home planet. And they've been insulting us all day! I can handle insults when I can understand what they mean! What does it mean? TELL ME!" Zim yelled directly in Dib's ear.
"OW!" Dib slapped Zim away from him. "They're calling us homosexual, Zim."
"Never heard that one, either."
"You idiot!" he grabbed Zim by the collar of his Invader uniform. "Gay! Fag! Homosexual! They're saying that we're in a relationship, Zim! They're saying that we're in a boy-boy relationship! Do you get it now! We're now even less popular than the dirt and lint in the cafeteria food! HECK! WE'RE EVEN LOWER THAN THE SCUM UNDERNEATH PEOPLE'S SHOES!"
Zim gasped, moving away from Dib back over to his end of the couch.
"On my home planet, same sex relationships were considered normal because everyone has both parts." He shrugged. Then, all of a sudden, he started laughing. "Ha, ha, ha! You guys are so lame that you only have ONE part! HA, HA, HA!"
"Zim, shut up! This isn't a laughing matter!" as Dib spoke, slowly a fire started burning in the house. "We're in trouble, now! They'll do what ever it takes to get rid of us due to that awful mistake! We're toast!" the ebony haired boy sniffed the air. "Hey…. Doesn't it smell like something's on fire?" they both looked down at the same time, and saw the fire on the floor. They had been so deep into their conversation that they failed to notice that they were in danger. Screaming, they ran for the door and made it outside.
"Ahh! The house is hot, Master! Whee! Hoo, hoo, hoo! Whee!" Gir yelled behind them, flying out the door in his dog suit. The three stood together as they faced the crowd that held torches in their hands. They were chunking them at Zim's oddly colored house, destroying it.
"NOO! My home! What have you done!" Zim screamed at the crowd. Gaz walked to the front of the crowd. She was probably the angriest person in town.
"I joined the mob after they burned down my house, Dib. So, I took time away from my games to tell Dad what you've done. You can never come home, and if you try to leave this town, we'll only tell the next town about how sick you are. There's nowhere on EARTH you can go." She said. She threw her torch at the house.
"Our house is gone!" Dib yelled.
"Mine and Dad's house. You have been kicked out of our house, and out of our family. You're just Dib, now. No longer a Membrane." Everyone chunked their torches at the house.
"Gir," Zim whispered to his S.I.R. unit. "Fly us out of here."
"Okay!" Gir said. He picked them both up and started flying away from the crowd, leaving the humans in aw.
"Ahh! Zim, put me down!"
"No way! You're my captive, now. I'm calling the Voot Cruiser."
"The what!"
Pressing a button on his wrist, the roof of Zim's burning house opened up and let the Voot Cruiser fly out. It was now flying next to them.
"Get in on the passenger's side."
Not having any other choice, Dib did just that. Gir and Zim climbed in a moment later. Gir and Zim took off their disguises.
"Someone might see you guys." Dib said.
"Does it really matter? If they don't want us here, we'll give them their wish. And if they love fire so much, I'll show them exactly what getting burned feels like."
"How so? Where are we going?"
"I'm going home, Dib. I'm leaving triumphant, too."
"How so? You've lost! Nobody will stay under your control! You've failed Zim! The Earth is mine! I've protected it from you!"
"You've failed, TOO, Dib-thing. I can't call destroying this place a total failure, though."
"You're gonna destroy this place!"
"You mean there's gonna be no more tacos and burritos!" Gir said in horror, laying on his stomach on his master's head.
"Let me let you in on a little secret, Dib. A first kiss to an Irken is priceless. Once it's taken by whoever takes it, it's theirs forever. If I don't bring you home with me, I'll either be killed, or go to prison." Zim said, ignoring Gir's cries for Mexican food. "So take one last look at this filthy planet. It's going down."
Dib looked out the window. He watched the neighborhood that he grew up in fly by.
"Sometimes I wonder if this planet was even worth living on. What have I been doing? I've been wasting precious time. So…" Dib turned away from the window. "How will you destroy this place?"
"By fire. It's what I said I would do." Zim pressed a button, and microscopic particles fell from a compartment in the back of the Voot. Once it touched anything, it would start a raging fire that couldn't be put out with water. Dib watched the planet he grew on catch fire. Zim flew higher to avoid the mile-high flames that were licking his ship. "You know? I actually planned to set the world on fire today, anyway. I would only extinguish the fire if everyone let me be in control of the world. The Tallest would have been so proud of me! But instead, I'm just going to let it burn." Dib watched his own little sister be caught in the flames.
"Did you…. Actually drink dishwashing liquid?" Dib dared to ask.
"No." Zim looked out the window closest to him, watching the wretched planet burn. "I spent all the time in the world developing these fire particles in one night while I tried to forget the kiss and how much it would change my life. I can't turn back now, we're always going to be stuck together." He looked at Dib. Dib sighed.
"So I suppose I have no other choices, then." Dib said. He grabbed Zim's head, and pressed his lips to the alien's.
"Woo! Master and Big-Head are kissin'!" Gir laughed like a maniac.
Dib broke the kiss.
"I know that it's weird to us, now…. But If I have no other choice, then I better get used to it. Just as long as I'm on top."
Zim blushed a new shade of red as he flew away from the planet, finally leaving the Earth's atmosphere. He tried to keep his thoughts clean as he wondered what they would do for the next six months.