I would just like to say thanks to the person who reviewed this story and said that this story personally touched them due to current life situations. Your comment really hit home to me, too. :)


Zim didn't trust Professor Membrane to help Dib during the day, and Gaz couldn't miss any more school than she already had this year or else she risked attendance failure, so he took the day off to watch over the human. In a way, he didn't mind helping the Dib-human, but when he saw the look of pain that was constantly plastered on his face, it always brought his heart down a little.

Dib had lost the ability to walk properly for the moment. Eventually he'd go back to normal, but for now, he needed help eating, moving, cleaning, changing clothes, hell, just about everything. He was going to have to relearn how to make his own bed. On top of that, his headaches were crippling at best.

Save for the Irken and the human, the house was empty and silent. Zim was in the kitchen trying to figure how to work a microwave, unsure of how to heat up the leftover soup. It smelled disgusting to him, but apparently the strange concoction of salty liquid with white chicken chunks and squishy noodles was easy for a human to digest and thus helped to relieve pain.

Eventually he managed to figure out how to work the strange device after spending numerous minutes trying to decipher the writing on it. He still had slight difficulty in reading English letterings since they were so different from the ones back on Irk, but his brain was capable of processing well enough. It just made him frustrated.

He leaned back against the counter and folded his arms over his chest, waiting for the food to finish heating up. At soon the microwave went off and let out a high-pitch beeping noise, Zim jumped and quickly covered his antennae. The noise was so sharp and loud to his sensitive antennae that it hurt him, even though it was only a mild beeping noise to the average human.

He ripped the door open to stop the noise, relaxing once the terrible sound ended. He sighed heavily and took the soup bowl out, his gloves protecting his three-fingered hands. He headed up the stairs and gently cracked open the door to Dib's room, seeing the weakened form of the human laying understand the covers of his bed.

The room was dark since Dib's eyes couldn't seem to handle any large amounts of light without causing him pain. Zim quietly walked over to him with the soup bowl in his hands, quietly saying, "Dib? Are you still awake?"

Dib moaned but didn't move. Ever since they got back from the hospital a few days ago, he could only focus on recovery. Eventually Zim was going to have to do physical therapy with him, teach him to get his own clothes on, take his own showers, et cetera. But now, he just seemed so…pathetic. Helpless.

Zim set the bowl down on the table and pulled back the covers off of Dib. "Alright, you stinking human, time to eat."

"I don't want to eat anything," Dib slurred. "I feel sick."

"Last I read, animals eat food for fuel," Zim said. "Fuel makes them stronger. Right now, you need more fuel, at least before you start losing weight."

Dib slowly pushed himself upright into a sitting position, pain strewn across his face. Zim sat beside him and grabbed the bowl, then he spooned up a bit of the food and held it to Dib. Dib just shook his head and refused to eat it.

Zim furrowed his brow, quickly becoming frustrated but remembering that he had to be patient. "Dib, you need to eat something."

"…It has chicken in it…" Dib muttered out.

Oh yeah. Dib the vegan.

Zim sighed and set the spoon down. "Sorry," he said as he sniffed the soup. He was still frightened of trying to eat meat, so he set the soup aside, afraid that it might be poison to him. "Is there anything else you'd eat? Like a meatless soup? Just something?"

Dib shook his head again. "I'm not feeling good," he said. "I'm gonna have a lot of make-up work once I get back to school…"

Zim looked at the ground for a second, thought about that. "I'll do it for you," he said. "It's easy stuff anyways. Inferior to Irken knowledge."

Dib looked at him. He had to tilt his head in a funny way, like his depth perception was off when he wasn't wearing his glasses. "No, please don't. You're already do—"

"Silence, human, you have no choice," Zim said as he leaned back and waved him off with a casual hand.

"I'm more afraid of you writing 'destroy all humans' in blood for every answer," Dib replied.

"Nonsense, I'll get everything right," he said confidently, then he stood. "Come on, it's almost seven at night and you haven't taken a bath in three days. You stink."

"Gee, thanks," Dib said, though he only laid down again. "I don't want a bath."

"Too bad," Zim said. He grabbed onto Dib and dragged him out of the bed, startling the human a little as he picked him up bridal-style with his arms.

"Put me down!" he yelled, then grimaced at the pain he experienced from the noise. "I just wanna sleep, Zim!"

Zim ignored him and brought him into the bathroom. Dib tried to fight against him, but he was feeling queasy to his stomach and could only move his left arm and leg. He eventually gave up, resting his head on the nook between Zim's shoulder and neck, looking both defeated and annoyed.

The alien set Dib down on the toilet and closed the door to the bathroom for a bit of privacy. He turned on the faucet to the tub, still nervous at the polluted water touching his skin, but his gloves and shirt were waterproof. He'd be protected from it.

"I really don't want to, Zim," Dib said as he put his weight on his left leg and struggled to stand up. He started hobbling towards the door, his right leg dragging behind him uselessly with his right arm dangling down limply. He didn't even get to reach for the knob before Zim pulled him back over to the tub.

"Bath," he said in an authoritative tone. "Now."

Dib just tried to squirm away. "Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to be naked in the room with you? I said no!"

"Well would you rather have Gaz do it?" Zim retorted.

"Well, no…but still!"

"What about your dad then, hm? You think that'd be any more awkward?" Zim asked.

"It's just…I don't like it," Dib said. "Yeah, I'd rather have you in the room than Dad or Gaz, but still…"

"You humans, always so concerned about little things," Zim said. "Everyone's naked underneath their clothes, Dib. Now come on, I'll help you take your shirt off."

He couldn't get his arm through the sleeve, so Zim had to lift it up and over his head. Dib was pretty thin to begin with, but he was losing even more weight since his first seizure. His ribs were poking through his sides and he grabbed onto his bad arm in an uncomfortable gesture.

Zim watched him and sighed, then he turned his back. "Alright, if it means that much to you, I'll let you try on your own and I won't watch. Is that fair enough?"

Dib didn't say anything at first, then Zim could hear the shuffling of clothes as he tried to undress the rest of him. He had to sit down on the edge of the tub, quickly becoming irritated with his lack of mobility. He needed Zim's help to get into the water without falling in and causing a mess.

"See? That wasn't so bad," Zim said as he grabbed a bucket, filled it with water, and poured his over Dib's head. The human seemed to have relaxed when he felt the warm water cascading down his body, causing him to loosen up a little.

"I guess not…" Dib said as the alien scrubbed shampoo through his hair, or at least, what was left of it after the surgery. It felt good to get the bodily muck and grime off, especially as Zim massaged the soap into him. At the same time, it made him feel weak, like he couldn't do anything for himself anymore. A simple bath was a big ordeal.

He started feeling sleepy after a while as Zim babbled on about something, but he wasn't paying attention. His eyelids were heavy and closed, his mind focusing on how pleasurable the water was. If he could forget about his headache for a few moments, he'd happily take the opportunity.

"…Are you even listening to me?" Zim asked after a while when he realized how zoned out Dib was.

"Hmm?" Dib raised an eyelid and looked at him.

Zim sighed. "Never mind," he said, pouring another bucket of comfortably hot water over him.

Eventually, Dib leaned back and reclined a little, only to fall asleep a few minutes later. Zim sat there and watched him for a while, reflecting on how peaceful he seemed to be when he was asleep, and how…vulnerable. If he wanted to, he could take a knife and rip his organs out. He wasn't going to and he didn't want to, but he realized that he and Dib must have reached some new level of trust. Dib could sleep with his former enemy in the same room, naked and helpless, without a second thought. Something about that felt special.

After a few moments, Zim moved from where he was sitting on the edge of the tub to down on the ground, his back to Dib. He crossed one leg over the over and looked up at the ceiling, sighing deeply. Never in his entire life did he ever imagine doing something like.

And, quite frankly, he didn't mind much.