Zim sunk deeper into the purple couch as he watched the seconds tick by. His magenta eyes peered underneath heavy lids as he felt boredom slowly transform itself into sleepiness. Gir's humming and nonsensical noises filled his antennae, matching the pitches of the sounds that came from the television. Dib had left...just fifteen minutes ago. It felt like hours. It felt like days. Zim finally began to surrender to the comfort of the couch as he felt his eyelids droop further down his eyes. Gir's loud noises became quieter...and quieter…
A hushed rumble of tire on stones trickled through the door, then yanked Zim's antenna erect with the slam of a door. Zim stretched and blinked hard, his eyes not quite used to the light that had been shut out for those few minutes of rest. The door to the base opened and the scent of cheap, spicy food washed over the room. The scent would cling to the walls and stick for the next few hours, only to be replaced by the scent of whatever dead animal or fast food Gir brings in come the night time.
"I'm back! Sorry about the wait, I forgot about the dinner rush," Dib presented a plastic bag stuffed with various paper bags. He used his toes to slide his shoes off at the heel to leave them at the door. The shoelaces remained tied, as he was usually in far too much of a rush to bother properly untying them only to have to tie them again when he put them on again. This usually ends with the heels of his shoes being slightly squished. He used his pinky finger to hang up the car keys on a hook haphazardly installed in the wall.
Zim settled back into the couch and reached both arms out directly in front of him. "Present Zim the nutrients!" Dib set the plastic bag down on the table in front of the couch to unpack. Gir hopped up onto the table and began inspecting all of the food Dib removed.
"I think you meant to say 'Thank you, Dib, for being such a wonderful boyfriend and getting me food when I'm much too lazy to get it myself," Dib teased. Zim wasn't the most polite partner. "Here, this one's yours," Dib held out a paper bag stained with grease.
"Yes, yes. Zim is excellent at choosing the perfect mate," Zim took the bag and dug through the layers of chips to get his foil-covered "nutrient tube", as he had deemed it when he first saw it. He always got a burrito with every non-meat topping available. The result was soggy and thick, with a composition of approximately 80% vegetables and salsa and 20% bean. His defense for requesting such an uncommon dish was that if he was going to be exiled to this planet for the rest of his life, he may as well try everything there is that won't burn him so that he can at least find something that brings him joy.
Aside from dating Dib (the first successful experiment to find something worthwhile on this planet), he found that sour cream was quite joyful. When Dib brought extra sour cream to enhance his burrito, Zim would take note how much more joyful already wonderful things can be if you combine them in the right way.
Dib sat next to Zim, who had already lined the top of his burrito with the extra sour cream and begun to eat. Dib decided to change up his usual order and got some strange one-off promotion that was strange enough to draw attention, but delectable enough to be edible.
"That's new. What's that?" Zim pointed with his nutrient tube, getting bits of lettuce and bean on the floor. Gir, who had been digging into bag after bag of stale tortilla chips, made a cat sound as he licked the bits up. Dib had once remarked on how Zim would never have to invest in a vacuum cleaner, to which Zim insisted that he did not ever wish to buy that cable package.
"It's got...rice. I like rice." Dib used a plastic fork to pick apart the contents of the bowl. "There's beans. I'm quite neutral towards beans, but I do enjoy them sometimes. I'm not sure what kind of salsa this is, but you can't really go wrong with salsa." Dib began to fold the bowl into itself with his fork, mixing up the contents and making it impossible to tell any liquid ingredients apart from each other.
Zim's mouth was too full to comment, so he simply nodded and hummed as he worked his way down the burrito. Dib reached for his bag of chips and dug inside of it, only to find it empty.
"Aw, I wanted some of those-"
"Gir! The Dib wishes to enjoy the crunch of the tort-ill-ay chip! Bestow upon him the chip!" Emphasizing every instance of chip, Zim pointed to his robot, who smiled and stood up.
"Chip!" He chirped as he threw a full bag of chips at Dib's head. The bag hit him between his eyes on his forehead and fell onto the table, crushing the empty bag that had toppled over.
"Oh. Hey, thanks," Dib dug through the now crushed chips in search of a flat one, perfect for scooping. He found one that was still whole and dug into his bowl, attempting to get as much as he could on the one chip. His tongue darted between his lips as he brought the chip to his mouth.
He was able to get the chip in his mouth without having to bite down onto it, and began piecing apart the flavors in his mouth. There was the avocado, and the meat, and the salsa, and the overwhelming flavor of the salsa, and the heat of the salsa-
"F-fuck, it's really hot," Dib didn't dislike spicy food, but he was not expecting something this hot. He reached for his cup of soda to help wash the food down and drown out the heat. He could feel the sting of the salsa as it trailed down his throat. "Oh my god, I was not expecting that,"
"Expecting what, Dib-love?" Zim had finished his meal and was nibbling at the crumbs of Dib's chip bag.
"You don't like hot food, do you? There's no sour cream in this."
"I don't know, let Zim try!" Dib started to reach for a chip to let Zim try when he found his lips caught in the alien's. Dib's eyes widened in shock and his breath hitched. Without pause, he felt Zim's tongue slip past his lips and wrap around his own. Dib made a noise in reaction.
As fast as it started, Zim pulled away, letting Dib's tongue slip between his. Dib was left confused and breathing heavily as he tried to process what had happened. He didn't dislike it, they were dating, after all, there was just usually some sort of buildup to such an intense kiss.
"Wh-what...h…"
Zim smirked. Despite being the more level-headed, Dib was much easier to fluster. Zim flicked his snake-like tongue against the roof of his mouth, and hummed in consideration.
"Hm, it is pretty hot, almost hotter than you."