Summary:

'we're both fucked up and it works'

The dust motes fell and his room was stuffy. Dib knew he should get up and open a window but, that would require moving. Something that he wasn't sure was possible right now. The blood had dried several hours ago but, it still hurt. He licked his lips and tasted it there too.

Dib thought about the reason behind his current state of injury. They'd been hunting something. A wiccan who had betrayed her sisters, who had used her magic for evil. And Zim had gotten in the way, he'd been stupid and reckless like always. Dib knew the witch could easily kill the idiot. She was powerful.

And instead of being smart, instead of throwing something at her or using a spell against her, he'd thrown himself in front of Zim and ended up broken and bleeding. He remembered spots of colors in front of his eyes and the irken's shocked face, he distant calls for help from the other wiccans.

Dib remembered Zim doing something weird; of six, shaking claws holding his face in his hands. And just before Dib blacked out he remembered the word 'please'. In English, in irken whispered over and over again.

He groaned as the door to his room opened. Zim walked in, looking pale and fearful. He was mumbling to himself but, as he saw Dib his expression changed to relief. "You. You're alive." That relief was quickly replaced by anger, as he rushed to the bed and clutched at the boy's bloody shirt.

"Wh-what happened?" Dib wondered, through a mouth that felt filled with cotton.

"That stupid witch cursed you to bleed from every orifice. But, a few of those other ones came and saved you or something. But, you lost a lot of blood. It was everywhere, Dib." The human tried to swallowed but failed. Mouth so dry. Zim's uniform was caked with blood. His blood.

"Oh." No wonder he felt so stiff and dizzy. Zim's claws were still clutching his tshirt. Dib looked up at the irken and saw the haunted fear in his eyes. Zim had never done well with blood. But, he'd stayed beside him despite that. A warmth filled his chest and how sick was that?

"Thanks…" Dib sniffed, raising a hand that felt too heavy from his side and place it over the alien's.

That seemed to shake Zim from his position. His eyes narrowed and he pulled away, wrapping his arms around himself unconsciously. "Yeah. Well. Don't do it again. It was gross."

"I will try not to ever bleed again." He replied sarcastically.

"Yeah." Zim said distantly, obviously not getting the sarcasm. Dib didn't think that irkens understood what it was. "Good."

Dib sighed and sat up, slowly, instantly getting a roaring headache that had been lying in wait. He groaned and shut his eyes. Two hands shoved him back down and ran over him anxiously. Dib looked up to see Zim, eyes wide with fear, breathing heavily. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Zim. It's just a he—"

"The witches said you might randomly start bleeding again. Do you feel like you might start bleeding again?"

"No. It's just a hea-"

"Because if you do, I might have to kill you or go get them again."

"Zim! Calm down." He reached up and grabbed the alien's head. "I'm fine. It's just a headache. You're freaking out."

Zim froze at the touch, realizing he really was kind of freaking out and blinked a few times before shaking himself. "No, I'm not. Silly. I'm just a bit concerned about this whole bleeding from every orifice thing. It's kind of bad."

Dib let his hands drop to his side. "I know. I'm fine now though. You can relax." He watched as Zim tried to calm himself down, wringing his hands and looking quite anxious. He would have a panic attack if Dib let this go on. Odds are he already had had one while Dib was unconscious.

Despite the horrible headache, Dib sat up again and grunted, reaching out towards Zim.

"Hey. Come here, genius."

Zim looked over at the human, who was still covered in blood despite his best efforts to clean some of it off of him, and then down at his own shaky hands. Silly. He turned on his heel and wobbled towards Dib, falling into his outstretched arms. Zim blankly stared at the bloody, ambivalent emote on his tshirt and reached up to curl his claws into the fabric.

Dib wrapped his arms around the alien and sighed at how much he was shivering. "You did good. You saved me…and…" He laid his chin on his irken's head. He wanted to say something else. Something that he'd been trying to say for nearly a year now.

'I love you. You're pathetic and stupid and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with the urge to bash your head in with a blunt object but, I never do because I look over and remember that this war between us is over and instead I end up kissing you. You say you sometimes feel the same way but, I trust you despite all of that. I trust you to have my back and to never do anything right. I trust you to fuck up on a daily basis and to defend me against all odds. I know I would die without you and I want to die because of you and for you.'

"I…we're both fucked up." Dib said as a substitute. "And it works."