Notes:

SO, this was written a while ago but then aaa it got lost in the abyss. Meaning my computer shut down without me saving anything. It's just a silly idea and I liked it at first and still do, but idk about my writing here. Feels a bit meh. Please let me know what you think.

A plan. They needed a plan. ZIM scrambled back into cover, bullets digging into the air where his head had been a moment ago, still chuckling a bit. The alien didn't like loud noises. But, he liked the aftermath of them.

Dib irately brushed a bit of dirt off his precious trench coat that his partner had managed to kick up. "How many are there?" ZIM's attention shifted from the action to the human.

"Three. Two on the left out cropping and one in the middle." The alien recited, sounding mostly sure. Dib narrowed his eyes at the irken, almost wanting to question him. To ask if he was positive...but, he just shook his head and tried to think. ZIM watched and waited. This is how it worked. They got into a huge mess, there was a scuffle and then Dib thought of some amazing plan that usually worked. Usually.

But, ZIM's ideas didn't have the best track record either. Whatever. Somehow between the two of them, with their combined minds and strengths, they managed to wiggle out of anything that might mess with them. And damn if they hadn't actually become a force to be reckoned with over time. That was probably why there were bounty hunters trying to murder them.

People knew about them. Or at least they'd heard rumors. A tiny (oh so small it was sad really) irken (irkens known nearly universally as being huge assholes) defective (rouge, evil, crazy, way too independent) and the one he traveled with. A mysterious alien that no one had ever seen before. But, whatever it was it was cloaked in black and somehow had gained the irken's loyalty. Rumor had, that it was a great shot.

Dib bounced his gun from hand to hand, biting on his bottom lip as he thought. A bad habit. ZIM's eyes were, as always, drawn to the action.

"Okay." Dib mumbled. "We'll have to attack in between gunshot rounds. Do it fast and they won't even know what hit 'em." He had twelve bullets. That should be enough. "You take the one in the middle." He said over the rain of gunfire.

ZIM's eyes flickered back up to the human's face, older, dirty, angular face, to his eyes. A dark brown. At least right now. Later they could be a light amber or nearly gold. Sometimes he swore they were black. He knew them well. ZIM frowned as the humans words finally registered. "Wait! That means you're killing the other two! Why do I just get the one?!"

Dib shook his head and smirked. "Because I'm a better shot than you." ZIM elbowed his companion in the ribs. Dib pushed him away by his face. Neither action held much force.

"Are you ready?" A final bullet tore at the ground by their feet, and like all the others it reminded Dib of the annoying buzz of a mosquito. Silence as their attackers reloaded.

They made eye contact and without another word, jumped from their hiding place, dust kicked up like smoke all around them. ZIM charged forward on his robotic legs, shooting manically where he knew his target to be.

Dib was more careful, he found his enemies and dispatched them quickly. Giant hulking bodies fell to the sandy ground, strangled yells and curses in alien languages. It only took five bullets between the two.

ZIM stood over his fallen prey, laughing. Not this time! He turned to yell at Dib, to celebrate and gloat. "Ha! Another successful maneuver! They didn't even stand a cha-"

The whizzing sound, almost like that of a mosquito. He cut off. It wasn't pain at first. Confusion. Then it ripped away his air. ZIM stumbled backwards, toppling to the brown ground. He cried out, agony in his lungs. Little black spots blinked before his vision and he shut his eyes to stop them.

Dib spun around as the overconfidence turned to a choked silence. His heart kicked up in his throat. And he heard it; a vile, deep chuckle. Slurs in an alien tongue, celebrating its victory. Dib gripped his gun in his hands as a viscous rage brewed in his gut, overshadowing a primal fear. Seven bullets left. And he flew across the sandy waste, towards where he knew the last bounty hunter to be hiding. He quickly deposited five bullets into his surprised and enraged enemy's skull.

A bit of an overkill but, whatever.

ZIM was a crumpled heap on the ground, spider legs sprawled around his tiny body. Dib knelt down at his side, gently searching. The alien's chest continued to move up and down, shallowly. Good. A sticky pool of bright pink blood congealed in the dust near the alien's left leg. The lazer had hit deep enough to shred muscle, a clean wound. He scowled and wished he could kill the hunter all over again.

Without a second thought, Dib grabbed the edge of his trench coat and tore a strip from the dark fabric and used it to wrap the wound, to staunch the bleeding. He tied a small knot and looked up to the irken's face. It was pinched with pain and probably anger.

ZIM rejoined the land of the conscious with a rude stab of pain. A noise left his throat that he would never admit to. A keening sort of cry that was dragged from his chest. He knew he was lying on the hot, dirty ground of some Irk forsaken planet and he'd been shot.

ZIM fumbled, twitching towards his injury, hands going to it shakily. To see how bad it was, to stop the bleeding, to do something. Only...there was something already there. A dark knot of familiar, soft fabric. He pulled with shaky fingers on the tiny bow and looked up with wide eyes. Dib was above him, shadowing him from the planet's two suns.

The human's hands replaced his own, shooing them away from his wound. "Stop."

ZIM fell back to the dusty ground, confusion welling up in his chest.

"D-Dib? That's..." He sat up again to snatch at the human's coat, searching for the proof.

"What are you doing?" Dib grabbed the tiny irken's wrists and pushed him back to the dirt. "Will you relax for a second you got shot- again." ZIM made a tiny noise of discontent, brow furrowed. he would know that fabric anywhere.

The human's coat was his one memento he'd carried with him all these years. He tended to it carefully, sewing any holes or tears. He mended it with patches and kept it very clean. Dib didn't trust anyone else to mend it, was careful to avoid letting others touch it as they walked through crowds.

It was a symbol, kind of how ZIM wore his own uniform. The coat was Dib's shield, as it protected him from the elements. It was his armor, his uniform and part of his identity. ZIM's mouth was dry, felt like it was stuffed with cotton. The fact that the human had done something as radical as tear off a piece of it for HIM was...impossible to comprehend.

And yet.. there it was, proof of something he didn't dare try to name, wrapped around his calve, holding back pink blood.

It was a little hard to breathe. Maybe because of all the dust and ZIM's asthma (which he denied he had).

The human pressed the back of his hand against the alien's forehead, checking for a temperature.

Zim grabbed the human's arm, holding it in his grip. "W-why...why did you..." He searched Dib's face for an answer. He found confusion, irritation, leftover anger and fear, concern.

"What? ZIM do you feel dizzy?" Amber eyes dark, so many shades of brown flickered from his face to the injury. ZIM did feel dizzy. This was evidence of something he hadn't really expected. Something that filled him with such flimsy terror and exhilaration. Dib gently pried the irkens fingers from his arm and sighed as no answer came.

"You're being a smeet. You've been shot before." He was mostly just saying it to get a rile out of ZIM, and not because he actually believed it. Getting shot fucking sucked. He looked back in the direction of where he knew their ship to be, a tiny speck in the distance, glistening in the suns, distorted by heat waves.

ZIM scowled and scrambled to grab the human's attention again, clawing at his shirt front. "DIB! Answer me!"

Dib returned the scowl, and was as always surprised at how quickly his patience was whittled down by this one being before him. "What? What do you want? We don't have time for this, we need to get you patched up."

"That's just the thing!" ZIM bit out, eyes narrowed. "I don't need that! To get 'patched up'! The bleeding has already stopped. Your little makeshift bandage didn't do anything to help or hinder. You just..." He frowned and looked away, feeling sweaty and sticky (two things he hated with a burning passion) before glancing back at Dib with side eyes. ",ripped your coat for no reason."

Dib sat back on his haunches and rolled his eyes. "Right. I forgot, okay? Instinct. Humans don't magically stop bleeding after they get shot." He wiped his forehead of sweat and went to lift up the irken. "Now, are we done with this? I'm ready to get out of this heat. I'll be lucky if I'm not red as a lobster after this."

"NO!" ZIM squirmed away, lightly smacking at the offending hands. "I can stand on my own!"

Dib sighed and stood.

"Fine. Do it."

The irken did his best. He stood for a total of three seconds before the pain became too much to bare and he toppled over. Dib swooped in and caught him, lifting his partner up and carrying him bridal style. ZIM grumbled but, let it happen as he had no desire to feel the pain again.

Dib trekked across the sandy waste, kicking up drifts. The alien's attention went from the out of place black fabric wrapped around his leg to the human's face. It was dripping with sweat (gross) and flushed slightly from exertion and the suns' harshness.

He fiddled with the frayed edges of his bandage, frowning hard, trying not to wince as he was jostled. It kept torturing him. Wheedling at his mind. The human had been his companion for several years now. And they'd know each other for much longer. They'd been enemies, sworn nemesis, reluctant allies, 'frienemies' as Dib called it, and genuine friends. There had been...incidents. Of which neither of them spoke of much.

Simple things, nothing world bending or mind changing...just times when Dib had horrible nightmares and slept in ZIM's bed. Moments where they laughed together and the universe felt like it had shifted perfectly into place. Where ZIM was going to charge headlong into something dangerous or stupid and Dib stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. And even times where Dib's eyes became heavy lidded and his breathing rapid as they stood close together. Zim could hear his heartbeat. 'Kisses' were strange and rare and definitely something they ignored after it happened.

This...seemed like it would be another one of those things. An occurrence that seemed so foreign and incredible and not normal to him. But one which he found he desired greatly. A piece of evidence that he kept secreted away in the back of his mind. That Dib cared for him on some strange level. Which was obvious of course, everyone loved him! He was ZIM! But, somehow the idea of Dib loving him...seemed much more desirable than anyone else's love in the universe.

Zim tiredly leaned against the human's chest, trusting him to take them home.