a/n: sorry this is late. i had writer's block for a bit, so it's not the best. i hope you like it anyway!

Chapter 4

The next day at school Zim was thinking just how to tell Dib of his feelings. He decided that the best place would be after school, for their nightly swimming lesson.

They had another lesson today but Zim wanted the moment of his confession to be private and romantic. Or at least not in front of the rest of the school.

Zim spent most of the day leading up to last period looking over at Dib then looking away nervously. Dib caught him a few times, raised a questioning eyebrow but said nothing.

Lunch came and went, finally bringing the last lesson of the day, swimming.

Unlike last time the boys didn't avoid each other like the plague. Instead they sat normally, Dib leaning on the windowsill and Zim just looking at his lap. It was an awkward 15 minutes for the both of them.

Once at the pool Zim and Dib went to their assigned lane and slipped into the water. Zim did what Dib instructed, carefully laying back in the water, Dib supporting his head and back.

"See Zim? It's not so bad in the water" Dib told the Irken as they moved up and down the length of the pool. "Now let's try actually swimming. One of the easiest stroke is freestyle." Dib swam to the edge pulling Zim with him. As Zim pulled himself up and sat on the edge Dib pushed back to the middle of the lane.

"Now watch me because I want you to copy afterwards" Dib began the stroke, bringing one arm up and over his head, then the other taking a breath every three strokes. Zim was watching intently the whole time. Once Dib came over to Zim to help him back in the water Zim stopped him.

"Again" he commanded.

"What?"

"Again"

"Why?"

Zim smirked leaned in close to Dib and whispered, "Because I want to see you move for Zim"

A blush spread across Dib's face and he pushed away from the Irken. He began swimming mostly to hide his face in the cool liquid. He smiled secretly, happy that Zim was back to joking and teasing him.

Zim smiled, watching Dib follow his command. He knew he could only watch him for so long before the teacher caught him, so he savored every moment.

Then he remembered what the teacher had said last lesson. If he couldn't swim in this lesson the both of them would fail and that meant no more swimming and that in turn meant punishment witch would mean he would be closely watched witch meant they might find out he was an alien which meant he would be taken away from Dib!

His brain in its panicked state kept coming up with more and more ridiculous ideas each one ending with no more Dib.

This upset Zim far more then he'd like to admit.

As he thought more about it he saw more negatives. If he failed then Dib would be angry with him forever and even if Zim got out of being studied or experimented on then he would never be able to state his love.

Zim began to panic even more and without thinking he slid into the water less than gracefully and tried the motions Dib had just been doing. But he could barely remember what Dib had done and in his panic he began to sink. This made him even more scared and so trashed more and sunk faster.

Zim was now fully underwater and struggling to breath. He stopped moving and let himself sink to the bottom, drained of energy. As his eyes began to close he saw Dib swim towards him with stretched out arms and fear written all over his face.

The next thing Zim knew a pair of warm lips were pressed to his. The removed themselves and were placed back on breathing out and filling the part of Zim's squeedlyspooch that was in charge of breathing, with air.

Zim's eyes flew open and he coughed up some remaining water and began breathing on his own. He looked up at his savior and who else would it be but Dib?

The teen sighed and pressed his forehead to Zim's, holding his cheeks and looking into his magenta eyes. "Don't ever scare me like that again Zim" he pleaded the Irken.

"I'll try" then after a pause "thank you. For saving me again"

"Again?" the human questioned drawing back to get a full look at Zim.

"I never thanked you for saving me two years ago" the Irken blushed.

"Oh" Dib said simply. Both boys stayed where they were, Zim lying on his back and Dib kneeling beside him. The teacher broke the silence.

"Okay you two can go get changed. Class is almost done. Zim I'll be testing you to see if you can swim first thing next lesson. Be prepared"

Zim nodded and got up, walking over to the change rooms, Dib following.

While they waited for every one else Zim spoke up "umm so will I see you tonight then?"

Dib turned to him and smiled "yeah, but promise me that you won't go in the water unless I'm around to save you" he asked.

The invader nodded.

"Sorry" he said

Dib was shocked. He never thought he would ever hear that word fall from Zim's mouth. Before he could question it though the other students began to climb on the bus making both boys fall silent.

Later that night

Zim was shivering as he waited for Dib to turn up. He was nervous to say the least. He didn't know what he was going to say to Dib, or when he would confess his feelings.

The only help he'd gotten was GIR giving him a cupcake made out of waffles and the helpful words of 'you love the big-head boy. You go tell him that!' followed by lots of screaming and running in circles.

Zim shifted from one foot to the other, wondering where the Dib-thing could be.

"Sorry I took so long, dad was home for once and I couldn't leave until he explained his new experiment in the hope I might want to study 'real science'"

Zim jumped a mile high and whirled around to see Dib standing there panting slightly from the run over.

"Don't do that to Zim!" said alien scolded, moving toward the hole from last night and slipping through.

Dib followed and quickly began to strip down to his shorts. He was just about to get in when Zim spoke.

"Um Dib?"

Dib turned to look at Zim, noticing the bluish tinge to his skin. "Yeah?"

Zim had pulled off his boots but still had his top on. He went and sat on the edge of the pool next to Dib.

"I've been meaning to tell you this for a while, but Zim isn't very good with human emotions, or knowing quite what to do with them, I didn't know that I could feel these things towards a human, especially to someone who's supposed to be my enemy and well what Zim is trying to say but failing horribly at is I think I love you"

Zim looked away from Dib, unsure of his reaction. He felt a warm hand on his cheek and turned to see its owner.

Dib was smiling softly. He leaned closer to Zim and just as their lips brushed he whispered out "I love you too."

Then he pressed his lips passionately to Zim's.

The alien's eyes flew open in surprise. He then kissed back, wrapping his arms around the human's neck and closing his eye's to deepen the kiss.

This was better than he ever imagined. Dib was so gentle and as he kissed his hands slid around Zim's wait and pulled him closer.

Finally Dib broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against Zim's. "I've loved you for a long time Zim. I just couldn't say it." He kissed Zim's forehead and smiled, leaning back to look at Zim.

Zim was now a bright blue, the Irken equivalent of a blush. He couldn't say anything; he could only replay the words Dib had said over and over in his stunned mind. He was vaguely aware of Dibs arms around him and his own around the human's neck.

Finally after a long pause he managed to speak. "Thank you Dib."

The human was a little confused. "What for?"

"It took a bit for me to realize my feelings for you. In fact it took me seeing you half naked to realize I loved you. But now that I have I'm so happy you feel the same way."

Zim pulled him self onto Dib's lap and snuggled into his chest, taking Dib by surprise.

"I love you Dib, who cares if I fail at the swimming? It just means I'll get to spend more time with you." Zim had stopped thinking of what might happen, knowing the only person smart enough to see who he really was, was letting Zim sit in his lap.

Dib smiled down at the Irken and held him tighter. The he spoke "as much as I love this Zim, I'm freezing my tits off so can we go to your place or something?"

Zim pouted but got off Dib standing to pull off his shorts, and pull on his tight pants.

"And what do you have in mind to do at Zim's place?" Zim asked, excited at the prospect of Dib being all his for the night, and the fun they could have.

"Oh I dunno" Dib faked innocence "maybe some games, explore your 'base' a bit, you know stuff." Dib smiled wickedly at Zim sending shivers up the Irken's spine.

"Then let's go my darling Dib-thing" Zim said sliding his fingers between Dib's and pulling him to the hole in the fence.

"Whatever you say almighty Zim" Dib chuckled as they headed off to Zim's base hand in hand, and happier than either of them had ever been.