Life is Change

Rated: T

Summary: Dib's miserable high school life takes a strange turn when his long-time arch nemesis Zim proposes a temporary truce. What could Zim be up to this time? Eventual ZADR.


Chapter 7

A short while later Zim returned to the upper level of his base, arms laden with jars full of brightly colored gels. He carefully placed the medicines on his kitchen table and walked into the other room to see what had become of Dib while he was gone. There on the couch, right where he had left the human, was a giant pile of muffins. Dib's legs and boots could be seen sticking out from under the pile. GIR was dancing around the mound with a basket of even more muffins, every so often throwing yet another muffin onto the growing heap. Zim exploded with laughter.

"Shut up," came a muffled voice from the muffin mountain.

Zim wiped the moisture from his eyes. It was just too good. Still chuckling, he called out to his robot slave. "GIR, I think he's had enough to eat."

GIR turned around, realizing his master was back. He stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth, "Awwww" he said, "Yous sure?"

"Yes GIR," Zim tried to contain his laughter, "Why don't you go watch downstairs and watch some tv? You can use the wall of screens if you like." GIR shrieked, running off towards the hidden elevator. As soon as he was out of sight, Zim turned to address the muffins. "That should keep him busy for a while at least."

Dib's strained voice called out from under the pastries, "Could I get a little help then? I can't move."

Zim walked over and helped Dib shift the majority of the muffins off of his body. Once he was free, Dib used his remaining energy to glare at Zim with the most hateful expression he could muster.

"Look at the bright side," Zim said, walking over to the table where he had placed the jars. "At least he didn't make you eat them."

Dib continued to glare. "You are an evil, evil alien Zim."

Zim flipped a hand in a gesture of dismissal, "Yes, yes I know. Zim is amazing. Now get over here Dib. The computer can't clean up the mess with you sitting in it, and I refuse to treat your injuries in the midst of those disgusting muffin things."

Dib slowly got up and walked over to where Zim was standing. He shot the alien one last dirty look before taking a seat. Zim scratched his wig, ignoring the human's irritation. His disguise was so itchy. Zim's furious scratching did not go unnoticed by Dib.

"Zim," he said, "I'm going to be here all night. I've seen you many times without your stupid disguise already. It's not like I have a camera on me. And our truce is still in effect. I'm not going to be the one to break it. Why don't you take off the costume?"

Zim thought about it. "You have a point, stink-beast. Just know that if you try and take advantage of the situation Dib, I won't hesitate to gut you." With much relief, Zim removed the lenses and wig that were causing him so much discomfort and held them out for his computer to take away. The mechanical arms that popped out of the walls grabbed his props from him and withdrew once more.

"Now," Zim said "Getting back to the task at hand - making you a little less annoying. Take your jacket and shirt off."

Dib's face turned crimson, "What?" he said, his voice squeaking. "There's no way that I'm taking my shirt off for you, Zim. Why should I?"

"With that gargantuan head of yours, you should be able to figure it out Dib. Most of the injuries you sustained were to your back and face, yes?" Dib nodded. "Your face I can treat easily right now, but your back is going to be impossible unless you take off the clothes. Unless you were under the impression that I was going to magically put medicine on your back through your clothes?" Zim said sarcastically.

"Fine," Dib said, removing the offending jacket and shirt, his face bright red with embarrassment. "And my head's not big" he protested under his breath. Not that it ever did any good.

Zim picked up a jar from the table. The mess inside the jar was bright pink. He put on an extra pair of gloves and stuck a hand in the jar. "Hold still," said Zim. Dib remained as motionless as possible, although he couldn't help a slight flinch at the touch of the cool gel on his aching back. He did his best to suppress his fears that the alien was trying to kill him with some sort of poisonous goop. If Zim was going to kill him, Dib reasoned, it wouldn't be something as subtle as that. Zim was always amazingly obvious when he was up to no good. Yet another reason why it was so extraordinary that he was the only one in his class that knew Zim was an alien.

"What's in the jar exactly?" Dib asked, slightly afraid but also genuinely curious. He had pretty much mastered the Irken alphabet from reading files he'd hacked from Zim's computer, but he didn't know what the words on the jar in Zim's hand meant.

"It's an analgesic. Far superior to anything you humans have manufactured." Zim said, turning Dib's face toward him. He grabbed some more goo and smeared it onto Dib's jaw. Dib could feel the pain already receding in his back. "There," Zim putting the jar down and picking up another. "Before you ask, this is a chemical aimed to speed the healing process. With this, you should be back to almost normal by morning."

Dib remained still and silent as Zim applied the violet colored slime to his back. The alien's actions were puzzling him. He was grateful for all the help he was receiving from Zim, but the question remained, why was Zim doing all this? If he just wanted Dib alive, why go to the trouble of treating his injuries? Didn't Zim hate him?


Woot! Two chapters in two days! The creative juice is really flowing. Anyways, as always I beseech you to review please! I adore reviews! ^^