chapter two
promise
When Dib woke up the next morning Zim was still there although he was sitting in a chair staring intently at the other. "Jesus Zim, do you even sleep?" The irken's mouth twitched upwards in a grin. "We irkens don't need sleep, only rest. The only reason I was so deeply under yesterday was because I passed out from sheer exhaustion." The irken snickered a little. "you humans seem to get much heavier when you lose consciousness you know." He looked away and blushed slightly realizing he might have just made a serious faux pas. "Not that you were too heavy or anything." He amended quickly. Dib only shook his head and motioned for Zim to come to him. The little alien obeyed the gesture and Dib hugged him close, burying his face in Zim's neck.
"Thanks Zim." The irken only blushed at the display of affection and hugged back. Zim nuzzled into Dib's hair, running his clawed fingers through those inky black locks. Zim had wanted something worth believing, something worth living for. He'd wanted that for a long time. With his face buried in those raven locks he realized he'd been in complete and utter denial until that night. He heaved a sigh at that revelation and placed a small kiss on top of the boy's head sorry he hadn't believed he could bridge the gap between himself and his enemy sooner, at least then he would've been able to heal the boy on his own.
"What's wrong Zim?" The irken almost jumped at the sound of his name but managed to stay still. "Just thinking." Was his only answer. Dib decided to let it go and pressed closer, causing Zim to blush deeper. Just then the nurse came in knocking both boys out of their thoughts. "I'm not interrupting am I?" Zim immediately didn't like her. Just the cheery, knowing way she said that, it sounded like she'd caught them in the middle of some dirty act like sex. Zim was about to give the nurse a piece of his mind when Dib let go of him and answered before he had a chance. "Not at all, I just needed a hug." Zim would've gaped but thought better of it. Now was definitely not the time. The nurse went about administering the painkillers and then left quickly giving the two boys some time alone.
"So, what was that supposed to mean?" Dib sighed and signaled Zim to come closer. He then pulled the other into a deep kiss catching the alien off guard. Zim's eyes went wide for a second before he relaxed into the kiss, wrapping his tongue possessively around the other's which brought a moan from the injured boy's throat. After a near good minute of exploring each other's mouths they broke away from the kiss for air. It left them both breathing heavily and Zim's eyes were still half lidded. Dib might never know just how he affected the irken or what he made said irken feel every time they kissed. All he knew was that this little green alien needed as much tender love and care as he could get and it would be that way for quite a while.
While Dib wasn't really in love with Zim, the alien had practically begged him for love. It was so obvious that the ex-invader needed someone to believe in him and Dib firmly believed that everyone should get a chance at happiness. While he enjoyed kissing Zim quite a bit part of him was screaming at him that it was wrong. That part of himself he yelled at to stfu and that was that.
Finally Dib managed to answer Zim's question. "It meant she wasn't interrupting what we were doing because we could always just go back to it after she left." Zim regarded the boy for a minute before making a 'gimme' gesture to which Dib complied with, pressing his lips to the irken's in a chaste kiss. When they broke away Zim smiled and hugged Dib. In seconds he felt the irken quiver slightly and somewhere deep in his mind it registered the sudden wetness on his shoulder. Zim was crying without making a sound.
Dib pulled the ex-invader up onto the bed with him so he could comfort the alien better. Silently he rubbed the irken's back in small useless circles. It stayed that way for several minutes until a quiet whisper from the alien broke the quiet. "You," He choked on a sob, silently beating himself up for being so weak. "You won't abandon me will you?" Dib hugged the alien all the tighter at those words. "I'm not going to leave you alone ever." He put a hand underneath Zim's chin tilting his head up until the alien was looking up into his eyes. "I promise." Slowly Dib pressed his lips to Zim's in a tender kiss. Those two words echoed in the iken's mind with a soft reassuring tone and he soon took them to heart. He knew deep down that Dib meant those words and would never go back on them. For the first time in a long while Zim felt like everything was going to be okay. He finally found someone to believe in him, someone he could believe in too. He was wanted, worthwhile, but most of all someone cared about him as a person. And with those thoughts the tears slowly came to stop.
