Dib stared toward the wall opposite him. Not at the pretty girls dancing with their boyfriends, not at the buffet table, but at the small green figure sitting by himself. He swallowed and tried to push away that guilty lump forming in his throat as he took long strides across the dance floor.

"Zim?" No answer. Not even a flicker of recognition. "Zim, come on. It's a dance. Cheer up." Dib held out his hand awkwardly for the little alien to take. He stood there for what felt like eternity, though it was probably only a few seconds. Finally a black-gloved, three-fingered hand slipped into his own and Dib pulled Zim out of his seat, unsure about why he was doing this. Why he even cared.

With a couple of shuffling steps they were on the corner of the floor. Dib awkwardly wrapped an arm around Zim's waist and intertwined one of their hands. Zim's own arm hung limply until, with a sigh of frustration, Dib slid it onto his hip and re-took his position.

The human tried to move along with the music but kept stumbling over his partner's feet. Zim had no… life. He looked nowhere in particular, said nothing, just let Dib move him. 'This is so wrong…' Dib thought as he felt a pang in his heart.

Everything quieted as the music died and prepared to change. Dib slowed their already pain-stakingly sluggish movements to a halt. It was then that, for the first time in a week, Zim looked up straight into the human boy's eyes. The fake purple contacts were shiny with the tears he had been holding back for so long. 'Irken's didn't cry. Ever.'

"Zim… I-" Maybe it was something in his eyes, or the way his entire expression was packed with torture, but Dib couldn't stop the flashback of the previous week.

It had taken hours of hard work, but he had finally hacked into Zim's communications network. He wasn't trying to record anything for proof, oh no. Thoughts of getting the alien on an autopsy table had passed from his mind as he and Zim got a little closer. They weren't friends. Not by a long-shot. At least, that's what they both told themselves. They were just two beings that had no one else to depend on and occasionally hung out. All he wanted right now was information to feed his ever-growing curiosity.

The computer buzzed and an image of Zim's two tall leaders popped up. What luck! They were trying to contact him already. The two of them mumbled to each other about leaving this specific transmission as a message so they wouldn't have to see Zim's expression. Dib laughed to himself, the two didn't know they were being watched.

"Zim," the mostly red one started, "we are tired of you."

"Very tired!" the purple one shouted.

"Yes, VERY. We were planning on waiting longer but after that twelve hour analysis of ONE 'chicken' specimen…" he finished with a groan. In the background the purple leader was ranting about how 'annoying and long' the video was.

"We've decided to-"

"Call this off!" the purple one butted in. "We can't take it anymore! You weren't even supposed to land on that stupid toxic planet! You were supposed to just float around until you died!"

"We were hoping something there like 'water' or 'meat' or 'humans' would take care of you before we had to do this, but whatever. We don't want to see you anymore Zim."

"Or hear from you!"

"Yes. So just stay where you are, Zim. If you ever come back, you WILL be executed. That's a promise. We don't need any defects like you running around," he stated firmly. The silver screen faded to black and a little blinking light in the corner said that the message was complete.

Dib wasn't laughing anymore. Zim was… supposed to die? But he always screamed about how he was such an amazing invader and his Tallests loved him and all that junk. Was it all just to boost his own self-esteem, or did he really not know?

The music switched to a slow song about loving the wrong person. Zim's eyes dropped down to his feet and closed tight. Dib could barely get his own feet moving again.

After three days of contemplating it, Dib knocked on Zim's door. He had to tell him, after all. Loud crashes answered his knock and soon the door was opened by Gir, Zim's little robot disguised as a green dog.

"MARY!" It squealed in an impossibly high pitch. Dib winced and covered his ears.

"Hi Gir. Is Zim around?"

"Mmmm hmmmmm!" Dib stood there, waiting to be let in. But that was apparently too much to expect.

"Um…. Can I come in?"

"Yup!" Again, Gir just stood there.

"Now?" It finally understood and stepped away from the door to allow Dib through.

"Thanks." On his tip-toes in front of a fuzzy screen was just the alien Dib was looking for. He didn't know how to put the news gently… and he had tried so many times in his head to word it just right. But it was no easy task to tell someone that their leaders hated them and never wanted to see them again. Dib decided to just get it out quick.

"Zim, I have something to-"

"Shut up, stink-sack! Can you not use your squishy eye meats to see ZIM is working?"

"This is serious!"

"So is this!" Zim grumbled something under his breath about his signal being interrupted. On a normal day, Dib would've laughed in Zim's face about how 'inferior human technology' had so easily hacked the Irken data network. Now wasn't the time for such things.

"Zim, I… I got the message sent to my computer and-"

"You WHAT!" Zim whirled around and glared daggers at the human. If looks could kill…

"I hacked your computer. But that's not what's important! The message-"

"Of course it is!" Zim advanced quickly on him and balled his fists in Dib's face. "Why would you DARE do something like that! Are you an idiot! Those are incredibly important to ZIM. Who knows what important information I could've been receiving!"

"Zim-"

"Shut UP!" Zim slammed a fist into Dib's cheekbone with much more force than necessary. Both of their eyes widened. That was the first punch thrown in a month.

Zim looked away and straightened his uniform. His face was almost immediately flushed of any guilt. "If you would have just shut your stupid noise tubes that wouldn't have happened." Dib's own fists balled up tighter with every throb of his cheek. "My information is-"

"You know what, Zim?" He spat the name out like venom in his mouth. His voice turned a scary type of quiet. "Forget this. I came here to tell you that you're a defect! Your leaders hate you! You were supposed to DIE." The alien across from him stared at him in shock for a moment. Then, eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

"Don't you DARE say that."

"Don't believe me?" Dib ripped a CD out of his pocket and threw it at Zim, not caring where or how hard it hit. "Look for yourself!" He turned to the door and grabbed the knob. He knew he would regret this, but he couldn't help it. Zim really got on his nerves. How did he ever think they could be 'friends'?

His words came out barely above a whisper, but he knew they would be heard. "I wish… you had just died like you were supposed to." He strode out the door and slammed it behind him, never planning to return to the bright green monstrosity of a house again.

Dib's breath caught in his throat as the lump came back with a vengeance. He pulled Zim closer to keep his balance and squeezed his eyes shut.

After that night, Zim had decided to pretend that nothing had happened. Not that he had ever been a good liar. All he did was mope. He barely spoke, he barely moved unless he had to. This just wasn't right…

Why did Dib have to do it? Why couldn't he have been more understanding…. He cheated Zim. And he knew it. They could never get over this, now. Even time couldn't heal something like that. Maybe if he had let Zim stay ignorant, let him come to terms with it on his own, they could've become friends.

Dib swirled their two bodies in a tight circle, longing for nothing but to take it all back.

"Zim… I'm so sorry."

"I'm leaving."

"What?"

"My Tallests want me dead, my entire species wants me dead…. You want me dead. Fine. Zim is leaving. I'm only here to say goodbye."

Dib stumbled and stopped their movements once again. Zim couldn't leave! "No, I didn't mean it Zim!"

The Irken only turned his head away. "It's better this way."

Someone bumped into them and glared. Dib tried to sway this least little bit to stay out of the crowd's way, but he couldn't. He couldn't move. He was never going to dance again.

"Zim…" It was now or never. No matter what he did, it wouldn't make a difference. But maybe, just maybe… He bowed his head and brushed his lips over Zim's in a soft, fluid motion. "Please stay."