Tattooed on your wrists by Invader Sideos: Woo, I wrote the entire of chapter 3 in one night and I'm already on chapter 4! Yea Zim getting cravings already. I'm gonna try and make this as real as I can using real junkie experiences and stuff, anything I could get from my ex-junkie friend anyway. (She's clean now...YAY!) First intro bit written to Iggy pop - Lust for Life. It's so very, very Trainspotting...

I don't own Zim...damm no drinking nights with him then.

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The main door to the skool smashed open, knocking over a student in the process, as something green and red rushed through it. Zim skidded round a corner, almost bouncing off a wall, and rushed down the corridor as fast as his aching limbs would carry him. Knocking over several more students in his mad rush to get to class on time, he glanced at a clock on the corridor wall. Only two minutes until he was officially late for class, and then they would send the truancy police after him. He had heard they were ruthless in their searches, often driving up and abducting the missing kids off the streets and holding them in the underground classrooms.

Zim growled and shouted as he smashed through a group of preps. "GET OUT OF MY WAY, EARTH SCUM!" He heard several death threats follow him down the hall, but he didn't care; he was Zim, nothing harmed Zim.

He tore round another corner and saw the door to his class. Grinning in triumph he bounced of the opposite wall and smashed though the door, landing on his side with a heavy thump, just as the clock struck 8:00, causing the entire class to jump.

He immediately sprang up and shouted dramatically. "ZIM IS HERE!"

The entire class erupted with laughter and Zim took the chance to get quickly to his seat. The teacher, Mr Root, was sitting at his desk with his pen just hovering above Zim's name on the register.

His face immediately flushed purple with anger. "So, Zim." He began, slowly and dangerously. "You decided to grace us with your presence. What's the excuse this time?"

Zim, panting slightly, began to twiddle his fingers together as he said nervously. "I had a very...interesting night."

There were a few giggles from some of the girls in the class and Zim raised a none existent eyebrow at them before turning back to Mr Root, ignoring the girlish titters that now whispered around the class.

"Really?" Mr Root snarled. "Then I advise you to not have any more...interesting nights, until the weekend. Understood?"

There where a few more giggles, but Zim ignored them and saluted. "Yes, sir."

Mr Root gave a cruel smile "Good." He got up and proceeded to start the lesson. Zim took the opportunity to take a quick glance over to where Dib was sitting. The teenage boy simply gave Zim a confused look and mouthed the words "What the hell?"

Zim looked back down to his desk blankly; he didn't think he should tell Dib about what he did last night. Mainly because it would inevitably lead to admitting he was no longer an invader. Last night was a one off, something to cheer him up. It wasn't like he would ever do it again, no matter how nice it was.

A few more hours into the day however, and Zim was beginning to think differently. It was around first-break it began. He was sitting outside on a strangely warm day, feeling as though it was growing colder then the earth's Arctic. He folded his arms and held onto his elbows as though it was freezing, and he actually shivered. He glanced around as if looking for the answer to why it had grown so cold, but this only made him feel colder. He watched the other students walk or run about as if it was a perfect mid-summer day, which it was.

He felt the uncomfortable feeling of goosebumps run along his arms and he shivered again. Instinctively he clenched his claws, and in doing so he scratched his arms. Immediately he felt a horrible need to do this again, as he felt an itch develop on his skin. He scratched his arms and cringed at the feeling of his skin. It was cold and clammy; he shut his eyes tight and shivered. He was an Irken; Irkens are built against the cold, so why was he feeling this way on such a pathetic day? Slowly he felt a rising need in his stomach, like he was going to be sick, but he knew he wouldn't. He brought his legs up to the bench and wrapped his coat around him. He stayed curled like that until a shadow fell over him.

"Zim?" Came the familiar voice. "What's wrong? Have you got some sort of weird space alien disease?"

Zim creaked open his eyes to glare at Dib and slowly let his legs back down from his chest, but he kept his arms held tight. "I'm fine, Dib stink, just a little cold."

Dib sat down next to the Irken and he gave Zim a curious look. "Are you sure? You don't look well."

Zim turned and snapped "I'M FINE! Just leave me alone, please. I'm not in the mood for your annoying, annoyance-ness today."

Dib leaned slightly away from Zim with a shocked look, before resettling on the bench and looking across the hi skool yard. They sat like that for a moment before Dib looked up into the sky and casually said. "So...wanna tell me why you had to jump though the door today to stop yourself from being late?"

Zim narrowed his eyes and didn't turn to look at Dib, his voice having the same manner. "No."

Dib cast a sideways glance at Zim and looked up again. "Really? Cos I've heard quite a few theories walking round today."

This caught Zim's interest and he finally turned his contact lensed eyes to Dib, but he still refused to fully turn to face him. "Like what?"

Dib tapped lightly on the table and looked around, still in his casual tone. "Ohh you know...the usual stuff."

Zim turned to face Dib, with a growing annoyance at the human. "What? Tell me, Tell Zim." He said drawing out his name.

Dib grinned wickedly, knowing that the information would hurt Zim. "Just stuff...about you...and some unnamed girl...interesting nights."

Zim looked at Dib, confused for a second, then it dawned on him what Dib was implying. "Wha...That's just...AGG! You humans are DISGUSTING!"

Dib chuckled at Zim's horrified expression for a moment before raising an eyebrow and giving Zim a 'well?' look.

Zim cringed at this and looked away. "You can't really believe that, human. I would never; NEVER do a thing like that. I think I would rather be fired into the sun then degrade myself by mating with one of your filthy species." However, as he said this, the image of the Irken bunny girl came into his head and he gulped involuntarily, that sick feeling in his squeedlyspooch growing just a little stronger.

Dib missed this, however, and instead shoved Zim a little, a crafty smile forming on his face. "Well what did happen?"

Zim immediately went back to feeling annoyed. "Nothing, human, nothing. I was just very busy with...stuff that wouldn't in anyway be of any interest to you."

Of course this immediately made Dib want to know what had happened, his already over active sense of curiosity going into overdrive. "Oh come on, Zim. It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone and you know that I'm gonna find out eventually anyway."

Zim got up and began walking away, not to escape Dib, but because he need to stop the feeling of numbness that had crawled into his feet and was threatening to infect his legs. Dib got up and went into step beside him, staring at his face for an answer.

Zim knew he couldn't tell Dib about what he did, but if he didn't say something then the boy would begin his digging and Zim knew from personal experience that Dib's investigating was a force to be reckoned with. His mind fell on his base and he grinned as an idea formed quickly in his mind. "I was doing some upgrades on the Voot Cruiser and I lost track of time."

However, Dib wouldn't give up so easily. "That still doesn't explain why you don't look well."

Zim turned to look at Dib and smiled, partly at his own genius and partly to keep up the excuse. "Yes, well, you try working all night non-stop with dangerous fuel fumes and Gir not helping by breaking the air conditioning."

Dib looked thoughtful, then shrugged in acceptance. "That would explain a lot and why you don't look well. Wait, why didn't you just wear a mask or something?"

Zim sighed and rolled his eyes, clearly Dib was not going to drop it. "Because I am Zim, stupid, I need no mask to cover fumes. Zim can survive anything."

Dib raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Zim, sometimes you're really stupid, you know that?"

The Irken gave Dib one of his best 'I hate you human' stares before they walked on, changing the subject to how humans would have died instantly on the fumes given by Irken fuel and Dib arguing against him.

An hour later Zim was sitting uncomfortably at his desk. He must have shifted from leaning on one arm to the other and back in under ten seconds each time. Instead of feeling better, as he thought he would have as the day went on, he had only felt worse. He had considered simply ducking out of class and going home to find out exactly what was wrong with him, however the threat of the truancy police had kept him in his place.

He had caught Dib looking over a few times, only to then see the boy laugh, shake his head and look back down to his work. He felt an itch begin to grow across his arm and despite his most powerful attempts to ignore it, he gave in and scratched. He immediately regretted it, as he felt it grow stronger. The odd thing about the sudden bursts of itching was that it wasn't just on his skin, it was under his skin. It made him cringe at the feeling, both when he scratched and the general feeling of it. His squeedlyspooch was still punishing him and made him feel like he should be leaning over a bucket rather then a desk. He looked up to the clock, begging it to strike four o'clock and end the day so he could retreat back to the safety of his base.

"And so, class, that rounds up the way veins carry oxygen up and down the body. Any questions?" Usually at this point of Mr. Roots lecture Zim would have began correcting him on what Zim perceived to be mistakes or weakness but with his current illness he stayed quiet, something which caught the interest of the teacher.

Mr. Root looked over to Zim with mild curiosity. "No rants, Zim? No pathetic attempts to preach your own version of human biology that is so often wrong?"

Zim gave Mr. Root a snide stare that only he could give and look back at the clock.

Mr. Root ignored the look and shuffled his papers. "Well, class, if Zim's not going to spend a good ten minutes arguing with me then I suppose I could let you go early. But don't tell your parents. Class dismissed."

The class cheered slightly and began to move themselves out of the classroom, Zim got up more quickly than the rest and was halfway down the corridor before Dib managed to catch up with him. The teen gave Zim a sharp poke in the arm, which Zim could have strangled him for as it set off a horribly powerful under skin itch.

"Hey," Dib started in an annoyed tone. "Wait for Gaz, remember? I know you're not well, but come on, you can wait five minutes."

Zim felt one of his eyes twitch. "FINE, just don't poke me again."

A few more minutes later, the three hi skool students were walking down the road, and Dib was happily ranting on about his latest pictures of Bigfoot and how he was living just down the street from him. Zim still felt the cold clammy feeling on his skin, but the pit of the squeedlyspooch sickness had died off slightly. The itching also seemed to have moved to his arm, just where he had placed the needle. He gave it another weak scratch and then held back the feeling to cringe at himself. Luckily for him no one seemed to have noticed and he assumed Dib must think that he was only shivering because of the quickly coming winter.

He smiled weekly as he saw the entrance to his cul-de-sac; finally he could get home and find a way to get rid of these weird sensations.

Dib suddenly turned to Zim. "What do you think?"

Zim looked up with mild, un-bothered confusion. "What? Oh err...yes."

Dib raised an eyebrow. "I asked you weather you think I should use my zoom lens or the anti-fog on Bigfoot." He sighed. "You weren't listening, were you?"

Zim cast a cruel smirk. "Not really."

Dib rolled his eyes. "Fine then, I was gonna use the zoom lens anyway." Zim smirked again and was about to cross the road to get to his home when Dib held out an arm to stop him. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Zim shoved the arm away, perhaps too harshly. "I'm fine Dib stink, but I'd feel much better if you stopped asking me stupid questions."

"Ok." Dib shouted half heartedly across the street. "I'll see you on Monday then."

Zim just kept walking down his street, waving a hand casually; he had a lot of work to do.

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Wooo...addictions are a bitch eh? This chapter finished at 12:33 am and I'm thinking whether it's worth it starting on the next chapter now...Naa, some rest will sharpen up me ol' brain meats. I came back and added some more after a night of some small expenditure (Read: Drink) I really just wanted to make you all feel squeamish at Zim's conditions. Answermitus is one fast acting, quick gripping drug, take one shot and you're done for.