"You did WHAT?!" Dib screamed at Gaz, as they argued in the living room of their house.
"Don't make me say it twice, Dib!" Gaz said in between her teeth.
"But why, Gaz?! I've been waiting for this concert the whole month! Plus, I paid for the tickets, and they're sold out, now!" Dib whined.
"Because you know that I can't stand your stupid voice!" Gaz complained. "And I won't be going to this concert with you only to endure your screaming and bad singing!"
"Okay…" Dib sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can I at least ask who'd you give my ticket to?"
"… A friend." Gaz said after a moment, blushing.
"You're going on a date, aren't you?" Dib said, not buying her lame excuse.
"Yeah… Shut up." Gaz blushed harder, crossing her arms over her chest.
"With who?" Dib asked, curious.
Gaz thought for a moment. She knew how much Dib still hated Zim. If she told the truth, Dib wouldn't accept it well, but she couldn't lie either.
"Nobody important." Was all Gaz said before heading to her room.
Later that night, Gaz sat on the kitchen table with her short hair tied down into a ponytail, cutting potatoes to put in the soup she was making. After a whole day locked in his room doing whatever-it-was, Dib finally showed his face.
"What are we having for dinner?" He asked as he entered the kitchen.
"Noodle soup." Gaz replied in monotone.
"Sweet." Dib said as he proceeded to take a can of Poop Cola from the fridge.
"You could, like… Help me, yeah?" Gaz complained looking up from the potatoes she was cutting.
"I can't. I'm busy." Dib replied opening the can in his hand.
"Doing what?" Gaz asked.
"I was just reporting to The Swollen Eyeball members, and I have to go back." Dib replied.
"I'm not your maid, Dib!" Gaz complained.
"Aw, c'mon Gaz! This is important!" Dib started as he proceeded to leave the kitchen. "The future of the planet may depend on this!"
"Hello, kids!" Professor Membrane greeted his kids from the floating screen, just as Dib was about to leave the kitchen.
"Oh, hey dad!" Dib greeted cheerily.
"Hey dad." Gaz greeted in monotone, not looking up from the potatoes.
"How are you doing, tonight?" Membrane asked as the screen floated into the kitchen.
"Good." Dib replied. "Did you know that Gaz has a date this Sunday?"
Membrane took a moment to let that information sink in, then suddenly the screen went dark.
"What?!" Membrane hissed morbidly.
"Come on, dad!" Gaz complained looking up to the floating screen. "You won't make a big deal out of this, will you?"
"O-of course not… "Membrane adjusted his glasses and cleaned his throat. "May I ask who's the lucky guy?"
"Oh, it's a secret guy. Gaz doesn't want to tell who he is." Dib replied for Gaz as she rolled her eyes. "Well, I better be off, now. 'Got some things to do."
"Okay, son. Goodbye." Membrane turned to Dib as he left the kitchen, then turned back to Gaz. "Do you want to talk about it, Gaz?"
"No, actually… I don't." Gaz replied and went back to cut the potatoes.
"Okay, honey. I understand." Membrane said. "But just be careful with whoever this guy is. You know that boys these days only think about one thing."
"Sex?" Gaz said in monotone, not looking up from the potatoes.
"… Um… Okay, honey. Have a good one." Membrane blushed and started sweating before shutting off.
Gaz got up from the table having finished cutting the potatoes, and dumped them in a pan on the stove. Her thoughts began racing, she was indeed nervous for her date with Zim… Who would've guessed? Zim of all people, she started feeling attracted to him ever since he changed drastically a couple years back. Now taller than her brother, he had a rocker style and was probably working out, hence his well-defined muscles, not even Dib dared to hit him, anymore, he also learned how to speak English properly, which was a bonus. Gaz bit her lip blushing, she just didn't know what she should do next, for now she just decided to stop wondering and finish her soup.
The next day dragged by for Gaz as she waited excited for her date with Zim, when Sunday came she felt like her heart and stomach were doing somersaults inside her as time passed. Gaz got dressed earlier than she actually needed, she just couldn't wait any longer, she took the bus to the location of the concert, since she didn't want to take a ride with Dib and endure his constant babbling. Gaz headed to the gates and waited for Zim for a whole half an hour until he finally appeared, she pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear as he ran up to her.
"Hey, Gaz!" He greeted. "Did you wait long for me?"
"Um… No." Gaz lied, then looked down noticing the print on Zim's shirt. "I didn't know you liked them." Gaz pointed at the band logo on Zim's shirt.
"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Zim looked down at his shirt to see what she meant. "It's one of my favorite bands. There're only a few songs I don't like from them, really."
"M-me too." Gaz confessed, feeling a bit happy for having something in common with Zim. "Did you know that they're playing here, tonight?"
"Really?!" Zim asked surprised. "I didn't know that!"
"Yeah, haven't you seen it on the social media?" Gaz asked raising an eyebrow and smiling.
"Nah." Zim shook his hand. "I only use the internet for research."
"Oh, sure." Gaz blushed.
"You look very good, tonight." Zim complimented.
Gaz looked down at her clothes. She picked something… rather short for the occasion, mostly to call Zim's attention. Well, mission accomplished, as it seemed.
"Thank you…" Gaz muttered blushing.
Zim spotted a food cart in the distance, realizing he didn't have dinner that night. He turned back to Gaz.
"Hey, the gates will only open an hour from now. Wanna grab a bite?" Zim invited pointing at the food cart.
"Um… No, thank you. I just had dinner." That's what Gaz said, but in reality she just didn't want Zim to see her eating and maybe get her face dirty and ruin the moment.
"You sure?" Zim asked a second time, but Gaz simply nodded. "Okay, then."
They sat at one of the tables on the outside of the food cart while Zim ate his taco, dipped in complete silence. Zim looked down at Gaz who was looking at the tabletop, blushing. He should do something to brake the silence.
"Want a bite?" Zim offered his taco to Gaz.
On one hand, she wanted to accept it because Zim had already bit it. On the other hand, she wanted to deny it because she was embarrassed of eating in front of him.
"S-sure." Gaz accepted, not being able to resist the temptation.
Gaz leaned in and took a small bite from Zim's taco, then leaned back on the chair and chewed covering her mouth with her hand. And there they were again, in absolute awkward silence. "I hope the gates will open, soon. I can't stand this, anymore." Zim thought as he was completely bored by their date. Desperate to escape the awkward silence, Zim spoke.
"So, Gaz. Do you still play that 'Game Slave'?"
"Yeah…" Gaz replied playing with her hair. "I recently got the Game Slave 6, actually."
"You seem very into those kinds of stuff, yeah?" Zim leaned on the table. "Do you intend to work with games someday?"
"Yeah, actually I wanted to be a game artist." Gaz smiled.
"Oh, yeah! You like drawing and painting, right?" Zim pointed out. "Can I see your work one of these days?"
"I don't know…" Gaz looked away blushing awkwardly. "I'm not that good… And… What about you? You're working as a mechanic right now, right?"
"Yeah, only half period." Zim said smiling. "But, in reality, I wanna be a surgeon."
"Those are very distinct things." Gaz pointed out.
"Well, gotta make money somehow, right?" Zim said.
Just then, something hit Gaz. She looked down at the tabletop falling in silence once again, something itching on the tip of her tongue. She finally let out…
"Zim… I've been meaning to ask you… How come you still didn't get to conquer the Earth?"
"It's… A long story." Zim looked down with a sad expression on his face. Gaz felt like she touched a nerve.
"Well… We still have half an hour for the gates to open…" Gaz didn't want to push it, but she was just too curious.
"… It all started three years ago." Zim started after a moment of contemplating. "All the invaders succeeded on their missions… But me. I begged the Tallests to give me more time… But they laughed at me. They said that I was born defective and should've been destroyed years ago, and that this planet was never of their interest. They sent me to outer space in hope that I died without finding any planets to invade… But I happened to land on Earth, so now I'm trapped in here. If I ever come back to Irk, the Tallests will throw me back in Foodcourtia to serve fast food for the rest of my life."
"Wow…" Gaz said, letting all the information sink in. "I didn't know…"
"I can't destroy the Earth, anymore." Zim confessed. "This is my home, now."
"And what about Tak?" Gaz asked.
"I found her a couple years ago, when her escape module fell back on Earth." Zim explained. "After I rescued her, she said that she was in my debt and promised not to destroy the Earth for my sake."
"It looks like you two are very close." Gaz pointed out.
"She's like a sister to me." Zim nodded, smiling. "I didn't know how much of a good friend she could be until this day."
Silence fell between them once more. Zim took his smartphone out of his pocket and checked the time, then turned back to Gaz, putting his phone back in his pocket.
"Welp, twenty minutes left." Zim said to Gaz, getting up from the table. "Let's go?"
Gaz followed Zim to the gates of the stage. They got in as soon as they opened, alongside the noisy crowd. When the band got up on stage and started playing loud Heavy Metal music, Zim and Gaz lost themselves in the middle of the crowd, jumping, dancing, screaming and singing along. They loosened themselves and started feeling comfortable around each other for once, suddenly, when they were almost without any more energy, Zim took Gaz in an embrace, kissing her lips. The kiss took Gaz by surprise, but she took it in soon after, hugging Zim's neck, however, there was something… Off. "What is this?" Zim thought "What is this that I'm feeling?" his squeedly spooch felt weird "I… Can't stop." the kiss… "This feels good."
