Author's Notes: My first IZ fic in two years! (Man, the page seems dead these days.) Anyway, spoilers for issue #2 of the comic, though that's been out for months now. Enjoy!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Dib moaned and curled tighter in his blankets, but somehow that didn't make him feel any less cold.

He could still hear them laughing. Every being, everywhere in the universe, at that very moment was laughing at him.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

He was humiliated. More humiliated, in fact, than anyone had ever been. It wasn't bad enough that he was a laughingstock on Earth? Now he was going to be a pariah in the rest of the universe, too?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

He closed his eyes tighter, covered his ears, trying to block out the sound, wanting nothing more than to disappear, to make it all stop—

"Oof!"

Dib's eyes snapped open as pain shot through his body. He thrashed in his blankets for a moment, then noticed that he had fallen from his bed onto the floor. Had he actually managed to fall asleep, then? He checked the clock; 4:13 AM. He rubbed his eyes and sighed.

The room was silent; the laughter had stopped. But Dib could still hear it echoing in the back of his mind.

(ha ha ha ha ha)

Dib's mouth felt as dry as cotton. Slowly he rose to his feet and stumbled out of his room, making his way to the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and then sat down at the table, slipping it slowly in the dark.

The whole world seemed eerie—wrong somehow. Dib was used to being up late, but usually because he was working on some project or fighting against Zim—he felt too still, just sitting here in the kitchen in his pajamas. Everything was too quiet, even if that was an improvement over all that horrible laughter.

Suddenly the light turned on, startling Dib so much that he jumped out his seat with a "NYAAH!" He relaxed when he realized that it was just Gaz, still in her day clothes and with her video game helmet tucked under her arm.

"Oh. Hey," Dib said miserably, slumping in his seat. "What are you doing up?"

"Campaigning. But Dad made me promise to stop and eat at least once every twenty hours." She went to the fridge, took out a box of leftover pizza and some soda and then sat down across from her brother. "What were you doing sitting here in the dark?"

"I haven't been able to sleep much," Dib mumbled, looking away.

"Yeah, that laughter was annoying." She took out her first slice of pizza. "I can't believe that it went on for more than three days."

Dib's forehead slammed onto the table. "The entire universe saw that stupid workout!" he exploded. "Literally! Everyone on Earth, everyone in space—it's not enough that the whole human race thinks I'm crazy, now every other species is just gonna know me as 'that fat, smelly Earth kid who was in that video once?!"

He felt hot tears begin to burn behind his eyelids. "Everyone is laughing at me," he whispered, his voice cracking.

"...I didn't."

Dib looked up immediately, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "You didn't?"

"Of course not," Gaz said, still calmly eating her pizza. "I was there for your workout. There was nothing funny about that smell."

Dib's head fell back onto the table. "Gee, thanks," he said, his voice muffled.

Gaz stopped eating and watched him for a moment, as his own eyes glazed over and stared at the kitchen wall. She slowly took a second slice of pizza and began to chew it thoughtfully.

"Why do you care, anyway? The whole thing's just a viral video—everyone will forget about it in a few days. And it's not like you're not used to people laughing at you all the time."

"WELL, I DON'T EXACTLY ENJOY IT, GAZ!"

Gaz gave a slight pause, briefly considered destroying Dib, but then let his outburst go. "But it's never stopped you before. You're always just as weird and annoying no matter what people say."

Dib opened his mouth to retort, then closed it, letting her words sink in.

"...You're right, Gaz. Who cares if people are laughing at me? I mean, what are they laughing about, anyway? The fact that I gained some weight? That I skipped taking a bath for a couple months? I'm gonna worry about that when there's still so much important work left to be done?"

Dib was suddenly on his feet, hands behind his back as he paced the kitchen. "I mean, I'm Dib! The world's greatest paranormal investigator! Savior of the human race like, at least a dozen times by now! What am I gonna do, just stay in my room hiding for the rest of my life? No!" he said, pausing to punch his palm dramatically. "I'm gonna stay in my room, watching my monitors for Zim! Hey, wait—he's probably not back from the Gargantis Array! I could break into his base right now! I'M GONNA GO DO THAT!"

He suddenly ran out of the kitchen, and barely one second later Gaz heard the front door burst open and slam shut. She paused, listened for a moment, and then heard the front door burst open again, followed by the sounds of Dib's footsteps racing up the stairs.

"I'M STILL IN MY PAJAMAS JUST GONNA CHANGE REAL QUICK BUT I'M STILL GONNA GO DO THAT RIGHT AFTER!"

Gaz rolled her eyes, took out another slice of pizza and enjoyed the silence of the empty kitchen.