A/N: Alright. After a bit of discussion with one of my role play partners, we finally decided that I should be the one to post this new story here. So here I go. The following story is a ZADR/DADR combo story, so if you don't like said pairings, please just click on the back button at the top of the page and don't even bother commenting. As many of you may have noticed by now, I don't take shit from anyone on here. So unless you're leaving a comment telling us what you like about the story, don't even bother commenting. We don't accept criticism mainly because most people on here DON'T KNOW HOW to give proper criticism. So that said, I'll now get on to posting the first chapter of this new story.

Now, for those of you wondering, unlike the story I'm working on with Sass (Dib Is Sick), this new story WILL come with responses back to those of you who review. So feel free to jump in with any questions you may have about the story and we'll try to answer those questions to the best of our abilities. Though, to be perfectly honest, unless a question is directed at me personally, -I- will not be the one responding to your guys' reviews. My role play partner on this story, LinnechaRose, will be responding to any and all reviews we get. So yeah. I'm just posting for us. She'll be the one getting back to you guys. Oh, and please note that these chapters are VERY short in nature. I'd like to be able to get updates posted quickly, so it's much easier for our beta if we keep these chapters short. Please don't complain about it.

We hope you guys enjoy the following content of our story and will look forward to future chapters from us. ^^ An as always, feedback is very much appreciated. So don't be shy. =3 We love hearing from our readers. ^^

Through the Fire and Flames: Chapter 1

Zim: Me (For a change. XD)

Dib: LinnechaRose

Counselor: Both of us

Beta: CattGregory

Warnings: I hesitate to say extreme OOCness in this story because to be perfectly honest, we're trying to keep them in character this time around. I will say, however, that there might be a few minor scenes in which OOCness comes across. So yeah. Don't expect them to be perfectly in character. Just assume that we're doing our best to TRY and keep them in character.

Rating: M for later chapters

Disclaimer: We do not own Invader Zim, nor any of the characters from it. We do not make any money from the writing of this story.

"Does it bother you? That he's never around, I mean?" Zim could hear the counselor saying from his spot outside the counselor's office door.

He wondered why the chubby, sweater-wearing man asked Dib that same question every single day. It wasn't like the boy's answer was going to change. It'd been the same for the past two years and he doubted it would change even slightly in the future.

Ever since they had entered high school, Dib had been forced to visit the school counselor every day at lunch, and for as long as he could remember, Zim would stand outside the door, listening and waiting for the others time in there to be over. It was, after all, better than going to that vile cafeteria each day and trying to pretend he was eating that sludge they served all the other high school students.

He shuddered at the thought of those humans, slurping down mouthfuls of the filth. Thankfully, Dib was smarter than them and more often than not brought his lunch from home.

Zim's antennae perked when he heard shuffling on the other side of the door. Somebody had stood up. Bolting to an area just beneath the stairway, Zim waited for Dib to open up the door and exit the room in that same moody demeanor he did every day. The Irken loved to push the teenage boy's buttons after his daily "appointment." It was always the time he was more likely to get a rise out of Dib.

As Dib shuffled out the counselor's office, just as moodily as Zim expected, the alien waited until the councilor left before initiating his daily torment of the human.

"Dib, please. Our session isn't up yet. We still have ten minutes left before I can let you leave." The counselor in charge of Dib chased after the boy, grabbing him by the arm. All he had asked was whether it bothered him that his father was rarely around. He hadn't expected such a reaction today.

Dib appeared rather angry, even more so than usual. Just as soon as the counselor grabbed him by the arm, he slowly turned his head towards him. He had a warning look in his eyes, almost as if to say 'Back away, now.'

"I'm absolutely sick of these little "sessions" you put me through every day. They don't accomplish anything. In fact, they're making things worse," he nearly spat out at him.

With an almost pained look on his face, the counselor slowly let go of his arm, backing away a few steps. He had never seen Dib react this way before.

"W-well if you want, we can just reduce the sessions down to once a week instead of every day. Would that be better? I'm just trying to help you Dib, you know that." He reassured the teen, giving him a weak smile.

Dib didn't seem to appreciate the counselor's efforts at all. No, he wasn't lying when he said he was sick of them. He really, truly was.

"Look...I have no friends. Everyone thinks I'm completely crazy for my 'outrageous claims'. My own sister loathes me and wishes I didn't even exist. The only person who's even remotely close to being my friend hates me too. My dad can't even remember my name half the time. Tell me, what good would it do to just rub it in my face every single day, REMINDING me that my own father isn't there for me? That's only a fraction of the entire freaking problem!" he yelled at him, his voice loud enough that it echoed down the hallway they were in.

His counselor sighed, tracing his gaze down to the ground. He finally began to realize that his attempts at helping the boy just weren't getting him anywhere.

"I...understand, Dib. But if it means anything, I could be your friend. Even though I'm your counselor," he smiled at him sincerely, hoping it would make Dib feel better.

It didn't. He simply kept staring at him, his angry expression never wavering.

"Whatever, guy," he muttered as he turned on his heel to walk back to the cafeteria, just wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

The counselor merely shook his head slowly and returned to his office, not being able to help but feel sorry for the teen.

On the way back, Dib spotted movement from underneath the stairs. Curious to know what it was, he walked over and peeked around. He saw Zim sitting there nonchalantly, staring up at him with a big smirk on his face as if he'd been there the entire lunch period.

He wasn't surprised to find him there, as he knew Zim spied on him every day during his counseling sessions. It got really old after a while.

"Zim..." he murmured in a low voice, narrowing his eyes. He was not in the mood to be messed with.

"Well, hello there, Dib-shit. Did you enjoy your time with the overweight counseling human?" he asked, just to get under Dib's skin. Of course, he knew the answer already. And he knew that Dib knew he knew the answer.

Standing up to straighten out his uniform top and readjust his wig some, he then crossed his arms as though waiting for an answer from the teen. He could tell the human was fighting not to yell at him, not to HIT him. But if he did such a thing out here in the open and one of the teachers just happened to notice, it'd mean more counseling for the human and more ammo for Zim in the future.

Circling the human a few times, just because he knew the other hated it whenever he did that, he couldn't help but look the other over some. A small frown crossed his features. Although he had accepted it by now, he couldn't say he was all too happy about the fact that the 17-year-old boy had grown taller than him over the years. After all, by Irken standards, the human was still a smeet. Sure, he had grown some too over the years, but not nearly as much as these humans pig-smellies had. At 5'2", he was one of the shortest students in their class, though his increased height would be considered quite a feat on his own home planet.

A/N: And there you have it for the first chapter. Once again, we ask that you not complain about the length of these chapters. We'll be trying to get them out as quickly as we can. But for now, please just sit back and enjoy what we do get to posting. We have a very well thought out plot for this story and it'd be great if you guys would stick around to see where we take it from here. =3 So until next time~