A/N: This is a collection of prompts I'm doing for a community on LiveJournal. I thought I'd upload them here as well. Oh fun. Enjoy~!
A/N #2: This prompt is slightly AU, based upon my fic "Hear You Me."
001. beginnings
Dib's eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times before they at least adjusted to the dim lighting of the room. He looked over slowly, still not being able to move too much and saw the warm Irken sleeping by his side. Zim's arm was around his stomach, his fingers grasping tightly and protectively onto the boy's shirt. His gaze drifted to the clock sleepily to check the time and then drifted back to the slumbering Irken. It was at least 4am and for whatever reason, no one on the hospital staff had come in and thrown Zim out, like he expected them to do in the middle of the night.
Here he was, sleeping side by side with his enemy, with the person who technically was the reason for him lying in the hospital bed he was in. The reason for him not being able to move, to have to relearn so many basic things again. But the Irken was also the reason his father was changing, was also the reason Gaz was becoming his friend, his true sister ... and not just another enemy he shared a home with.
His chest ached and his stomach churned as his thoughts continued. And Zim was also the reason that he was starting to think about things he'd never thought of before. Ever. Like love, and what that meant.
And what it meant to have someone actually love you ... and enough so that they came to see you every day, that they completely changed their routine to revolve around you, and you alone. His green-skinned 'enemy' had done that and more. He still had problems fathoming exactly what that meant to him. All he knew was that it made him feel something he hadn't before. And it scared him even more that he liked that feeling, even just the tiniest bit.
Zim turned towards him a little more suddenly, snuggling very gently against his shoulder, murmuring in his sleep.
".. love you ... Dib ..."
Dib choked back what he pretended were definitely not tears this time in his throat and leaned down to kiss Zim's forehead before he could change his mind.
"Thanks, Zim."
He knew that everything was really going to change after this night; and that it was definitely the beginning of something he couldn't quite define ... or didn't want to.
