Zim felt quite uncomfortable about the fact that their faces weren't very far apart. Plus, the slight evil smirk and tone in the other boy's voice wasn't helping the matter. If the human could choose 'dare', so could he! The problem was, he didn't like to think about what the human would make him do, after all, he had given him quite a horrible task. Well, anything that involved GIR was horrible anyway. "Uh, dare..." he finally decided, knowing it'd be a boring game if all he chose was 'truth'.
Dib hoped for that answer. It wasn't really a hard task he chose, he just thought it was funny to see how Zim would perform with it. "Ooookay, Zim. Heh. Hahaha-" He couldn't help but laugh -"Z-Zim, I want you to...sing. Yeah, SING something about me. Maybe what you like about me or what annoys you. Heheheh. Please. You chose 'Dare' and there's no turning back, spaceboy." He drew back for Zim and sat cross-legged on the far end of the bed, snickering all the while.
"B-but... Zim can't sing!" He protested. But then he remembered what the human had said earlier when mentioning the rules of Truth or Dare, about the zombies. Zim gulped... He didn't know many songs so he didn't know many rhythms either. Something about Dib... Hmm. He looked down at his lap, blushing immensely. He could do this... If he could survive Operation Impending Doom 1, then he could sing for the human. He just had to make words rhyme... Easy, right? He started, but it was more of a mumble.
"Dib-worm, you're such a pain... forcing me to use my brain, to come up with a song for you... but Zim shall pull though." He paused for a moment to think of something else. "The human's head is so very big, and your manners are that of a pig... But you're my Dib-friend, and I'll stick with you until the end..." He could feel his blush increasing by the second... Wow that song sucked... He covered his face with his hands. "That was really bad... wasn't it?" He whined. Never again would he do that, since he sucked at being nice, and he also sucked at singing. He knew if he had heard someone sing something as bad as that, he'd probably just put them out of their misery.
As Dib sat there he really believed Zim would try to sneak out of the task to sing with all his might. But when he indeed heard the Irken actually singing! Dib fell backwards of surprise and quickly used his hands as support. Never ever thought the boy he would hear Zim sing, even if it was more of a mumble. And about him! Something nice too! So he just stared at Zim who was sitting before him and blushed like crazy. His face got darker and darker with each passing second while at the same time Dib's eyes got wider and wider along with his smile. Hell, it even got a rhyme in it. When Zim ended his little Dib-Song, he fiercely clapped his hands, giving the Irken his well-deserved applause. He tried to whistle too, but failed miserably. "WHOOOO; ZIM! That was incredible. I mean, honestly. It was reealllly good. I didn't know you could sing. And your voice is nice to hear when you do." He blushed a bit at that. It reminded him of Zim's purring. Somewhat alluring and oddly relaxing. "See, it wasn't as bad. You even said nice stuff...about me. I liked it. And my head's not big! It never was and will never will be, spaceboy." He pouted in a jokingly manner, but quickly smiled again after a moment. "But the part with the pig was funny. Heh. I can live with that I guess." Now he remembered about the last part...'Dib-Friend'...'stick until the end'. Dibs face got redder with each word in his mind, just like Zim before. He couldn't help it. That was sooo damn cute! And it sounded so true...so sincere when Zim sang it. It was adorable. Did he really think about Dib that way? But...it's a mutual feeling. Dib became kinda serious.
"Zim. Thank you very, very much. Really." He crawled to Zim and gave him a tight hug without warning and squeezed him. No ribs could prevent that. "I will always remember that song. That's the nicest and cu-" Oh. Better not saying that word aloud again. "-nicest thing someone made for me." He hoped it didn't sounded too mushy. "Heh. And maybe you could continue it in the future...we'll see." He released Zim from his grip and looked back at him, showing his Tomato-Dib face in full bloom.
Zim immediately looked up when he heard Dib applauding, mouth hanging open slightly. He honestly thought his song was rubbish, but if the human had liked it, then that was fine. He smiled at that. But when Dib hugged him, it felt like his spine was about to snap, but this time he didn't mind, even though it was slightly embarrassing. "Heh... There is no way I'm going to be doing that again Dib-human, that is for sure," he admitted. "And your head isn't THAT big, but it was all I could think of at the time," he also pointed out, poking Dib on the head slightly to get his point across. "Now Dib-friend, Truth or Dare?"
Looking at Zim's poking finger, Dib smiled warmly at that gesture, squinting a bit. "Yeah. It's got the right size." Looking back at Zim he said: "And we'll see if that was the last song you ever sang." That smug smile again... "Anyhow, I guess you already came up with some cruel ideas for both cases. But I'm more curious what you would ask me, so...Truth." And poked Zim in the middle of the face, where his nose would be.
When he heard the human almost threaten him about singing again, he gave him a glare. No way was he doing that again. And when the human poked him back, he rubbed the same place that the other had to get rid of the tingly feeling that was now there. Hmm, good questions to ask the human. Well, he knew most things about him. So, it'd have to be something he didn't already know. There was this one question that he'd heard a group of boys ask someone, and it seemed to make them quite embarrassed, so he decided to go with that, since he wanted to have revenge on the human for making him sing. He didn't know what it meant exactly, but it was worth asking. "Have you ever had a 'crush' on anyone?" He asked. He didn't know what a 'crush' was... He always thought it was just something you did when you compress something into a flat shape... Must be a human thing.
Dibs smile immediately turned into a shocked frozen face. It was just a matter of time until something like that would have been asked. And he thought that Zim knew what a crush was. Otherwise Dib surely would have tried to tell something else, nothing concerning a crush. But now he felt kinda trapped. He has to say the truth, no matter what. Sure, it was just a game but rules were rules. Zim did the same with his singing, so it wouldn't be fair at all to lie now. The 'problem' was that yesterday Dib would have answered that question with 'no'. But today...it was an unsure 'yes'. It was Zim... Since he helped Dib to get better after the attack from Torque in Skool and brought him to his base...and especially after they had cuddled and all that stuff... Well, since then Dib felt quite odd. It was a good aching in his heart and a tingling squeeze in his belly. He tried to ignore it first, but the longer this Truth or Dare lasted the more he felt that stuff. '...friends don't usually do this...' Those few words floated in the back of Dib's (normal sized) head for a while now. And when Zim asked this particular question, Dib realized it. He got a slight crush on Zim! Spaceboy. His alien friend. Still he sat there, cross-legged and frozen until he finally formed some words.
"A c-crush..? Well, to be honest...Yes. I-I got a crush at the moment. A-And it's...it's...umm...it's you, Zim. Yeah...I g-got a crush on you..." He avoided Zim's eyes at all costs when he said that. Oh boy. That was the most embarrassing moment today...even in his life! By now...
"Oh," was all Zim could manage. He thought about it for a moment, if the human had a 'crush' on him, 'crush' must mean friend then, right? Or did it mean hate... But, they were friends now, so it couldn't mean that. Or, what if the human actually really did hate him still, but the human wouldn't have been so nice recently. Zim suddenly felt mega dizzy from all the thoughts rolling round his head. So, he shook his head for a moment to clear his mind. "So, 'crush' means friend, right?" Zim asked, curious of yet another discovery of another Earth word. He edged closer to the human, who seemed super tensed up, and was blushing like a tomato again. He put his hand in the other boy's hand, and squeezed it for reassurance. It must be a big deal, or the human wouldn't have responded in such a way. "Zim's sorry..." He mumbled. 'Irk, that was difficult to say, especially to a human!' "I just heard some people at Skool ask someone, and it seemed to embarrass them, and Zim just thought it'd be payback for making me sing," he admitted. He suddenly felt guilty for making the human so awkward.
Zim's hand in his own... If there was one thing that would lessen the awkwardness in this moment, it would be that. And there it was. That intima and reassuring squeeze of the others hand. It slowly calmed him down. Like nothing else. Dib defrosted again and smiled at their two hands and began his rubbing on Zim's hand again. Over his bony fingers and knuckles. How often did they do this hand-holding today? Quite often. But it felt better every time. It was still so new to the boy and it was hard to imagine to ever getting accustomed to it. Good. While he spoke Dib kept his gaze on Zim's 3 unique fingers and smiled dreamily at them. "Yeah, in some way it means friends, Zim. That's right. But there is more to that. To have a crush. It also stands for something more than being friends, involving strong feelings of...of affection and fondness. Hard to explain, ya' know. Since I didn't have a crush before. And now...it's you. Heh. Funny." Dib wasn't nearly as embarrassed as before just seconds ago. And it wasn't really a surprise that Zim was didn't know the meaning of a 'crush'. He just overhears words like that and asking stupid questions without even knowing the content. But Dib found it hilarious in Zim's very own way. Clueless and overzealous. Exotic. Unique. Zim. Who said sorry to him!? "There's no need to apologize, Zim. Oddly, it was kinda refreshing, relieving to answer that. A really good question." That smirk again. "But just wait for my ones...hehe."
Zim just nodded, sort of saying that he understood what the human had said. But when the human mentioned about his questions, Zim couldn't help but narrow his eyes in suspicion. But he just shook it off. "Ok human, your go again." He looked over at the time (Earth time); it now read 11:05pm. Wow, they'd been playing for that long? Oh well, the human couldn't go in to Skool tomorrow because of his ribs anyway, and they were going down to the lab to fix them. So it didn't matter so much, even though Zim himself was starting to feel kind of tired... He felt himself starting to lean against the human's shoulder, but quickly straightened himself back up.
"Okay then. Truth or Dare, Zimmy?" Dib chuckled, liking to use that name from time to time. But he stopped when he felt Zim leaning against him, just for a moment. He then also looked at the clock, realizing how very tired he was. And when he looked back to Zim he bet the Irken as sleepy too. Well, it was a quite eventful day after all. The game held Dib awake by now. "You're looking tired. S-So I guess that's my last turn for today...before going to sleep...in the bed...together..." The very image of him, lying beside Zim and probably almost unclothed was...odd. Tempting. That tingling warm ache in his heart called back, this time rather strong. Well, Dibs face was already red and this Tomato-blush surely wouldn't go away for the next hours... Sleeping of course. Yeah. Even in his sleep. "Y-You can lean against me, if y-you want, Zim. Maybe it helps you to sleep. I bet...it's very relaxing. I like it... when you do that." So Dib stretched out his arms, offering Zim himself as a nice, warm human pillow. "But make your choice first."
Once again, Zim blushed at the nickname. Curse the human and his nicknames, but he nodded and leant up against the human. Zim kind of wanted to do another dare, but he was too tired for that, so he just decided to choose the easier option. "Truth," he decided on. He liked leaning against the human, and didn't especially want to move, but he knew he'd have to later on, but for now, he was just enjoying the moment. He felt a sudden warm, knotting kind of feeling in his Squeedlyspooch, but ignored it.
"Hmm..." The boy let out a content sigh. Zim's warm alien body against him. Slowly Dib drifted into a light slumber, embraced Zim and pressed him to his chest. He didn't mind the pain from the ribs. The good, tingling feeling, caused by Zim's closeness was way stronger than every pain he could feel now. In his current half-asleep state of mind, Dib mumbled his question: "Do you trust me, Zim? I wanna...show you somethin' but I need your trust for that. I promise I don't want to harm you."