Dib x Ane

Beep…beep…beep…bzzt! As the electricity shot through the small figure, the computer's signal sped up to a light hum, until the figure jolted, back arching and eyes flashing open.

"Welcome back," a voice said. "I was worried you wouldn't make it." The small raven-haired figure sat up, rubbing his left eye.

"…Where are my glasses?" he mumbled, wary and almost sleepy.

"Oh, right, sorry," the voice responded. A large hand reached for the small one, holding large round glasses. "Here." The boy put them on, his world suddenly clear. Sitting across from him was a teenager, also wearing round glasses, and sharing his own amber eyes and black hair. Even the style was the same; a scythe shape swept back. A small, dark soul patch decorated his chin. He was wearing a black coat with a high collar, and earrings in his pale ears. "You alright?" he asked.

The boy blinked, then removed his glasses to rub them quickly, mumbling to himself. Are these the right prescription…? When he put them back on, the teenager waved at him, asking him softly if he heard.

"Why do you look like an older me?" the boy asked. The taller one responded kindly and gently, with no signs of frustration or contempt.

"Well, do you remember when ZiM made that robot of us?" He said "us" as in the two males were one and the same being. The boy could put two and two together.

"You mean I-?" He pointed to himself as he realized. The teenager, Dib, nodded, apologizing in his low voice. "How long have I been sleeping for? And why are you in control now? I thought I was built to replace you…" He tacked on at the end an embarrassed whisper of, "And why don't I have any clothes on…?"

Dib handed him a set of old-looking, but otherwise in good shape clothes, explaining. "You've been asleep for about six years. After Gaz nearly trashed you, I repaired you and overrode your OS in the process. Then I uploaded my eleven-year-old personality into your database. I renamed you, though. Do you know what it is now?"

"Yeah… Ane, right? Funny."

"I thought so," Dib returned, smiling.

"So what was the point of bringing me back?" Ane asked, pulling the neutral smiley face shirt over his head.

"Well, originally it was for survival's sake… Gaz tried to reprogram it to be part of her security system at one point." He coughed, uncomfortable. "Then it was to play a joke on ZiM. I figured it'd be funny... But, lately…" He trailed off, looking solemnly at the corner of his dark room, placing his hands in his lap.

"What?" Ane asked, unknowingly being cute in his slightness and wide eyes. A worried expression clouded his eyebrows which made them turn up adorably. Dib glanced at him, and then turned his gaze away.

"Well, we've been..." he coughed again, "getting along better nowadays, me and ZiM." He blushed slightly under his glasses.

"The filthy space alien?!" Ane exploded. "You haven't taken him apart now that you're close enough to?!" He leaned forward on his hands, staring hugely into the teenager's face. Dib returned calmly, though.

"Look, Ane, I can't. I'm sure, if I were still in your mind-set, I'd spring at the chance, but we…" He trailed off, thinking. Rrg… I was hoping to put this off… He could tell by the smaller boy's face that he wasn't going to wait for an answer, so he picked up what he was going to say. "ZiM and I are dating. I can't just break up with him to put him on a dissection table." He averted his eyes from the small face, but also made a slightly funny-pouting face.

Ane was not amused.

"You're dating an alien?!" He gripped Dib's collar closest to his shirt, pulling their faces close and shouting in his face. "Have you lost your mind?!"

"Ane, calm down…" The tall one tried to softly speak to him, but the small one continued.

"That's insane! Have you even thought about what this means?! You're-" Before he finished his thought, he short-circuited due to a keyword bringing back too painful of memories to be faced. Ane fell limp into Dib's arms, as that single word resonated through his metal mind; CRAZY!

Whoa. That touched a nerve, Dib thought as he held the android in his arms. He was surprisingly soft; he was made using inhuman products, and he wasn't a slapped-together-last-minute project… Ane had been made with love. Dib blushed slightly at the thought and shook it from his head.

At that moment, Ane had started his reboot, and his circuits started humming with electricity again. This time, though, he sat up calmly and zeroed in with his new vision on the teenager that propped him up lightly. New objective; his database told him. He had previously been fitted with AI technology, in case he'd ever been able to be fixed. Keep Dib from fraternizing with the enemy. Enemy: ZiM.

"W…" Ane started, unsure and nervous to follow his new directions. "Why do you need ZiM? You have me now." He blushed as he said it, but continued without stopping until he'd said what he needed to.

Dib paused, then redirected his vision to away and then back to Ane.

"What was that?" he asked, confused. He inconspicuously glanced at his computer screen.

"Y-yeah, that's right!" He closed his eyes, embarrassed, and shoved his hands white-knuckled onto his knees, kneeling on the floor back on his feet. "You don't need some alien who can't even understand basic human anatomy. I actually understand you, better than anyone! I-I' obviously be the better choice!"

During his short monologue, Dib quickly browsed through his computer's ramblings about Ane's system. A new command has been set in place, hmm…

He remained silent for a moment. And then he smirked quietly to himself.

"Alright, Ane." Ane raised his head, his circuits whirring in hope. "I'll give you a chance." Dib held up his index finger to his face, grinning all the while. "On one condition."

"Wh-which is…?" Ane asked nervously.

"You have to do everything ZiM was willing to do for me~" Dib said, leaning in over the small figure, still grinning. Ane gulped.

End Chapter 1