FYI: This Story is A ZADR AU of The original Invader Zim TV Series that aired on nickelodeon where Zim is actually a well-respected and successful invader, who is loved by his leaders, and his people. He has a good disguise and fits in perfectly with the humans, and befriends Dib, and lives a double life while trying to keep his secret under wraps.
Zim is not short in this AU he is average human height. Also All characters are aged up for obvious reasons. So just think of invader Zim happening in high school instead of grade school. I wanted to write a story with a smart respected Zim, and give my readers a feel for what the series would have been like if Zim wasn't defective, and was actually appreciated for his loyalty, and tireless efforts. I also added a little ZADR twist because who doesn't like ZADR? Also, this is different from my Prince AU series. Zim is just a regular Irken in this story with no royal heritage.
Disclaimers: I do not own Invader Zim
Author's Notes: So here we are again! A new chapter for all my fans thanks for reading and have an Awesome Day!
With that said please enjoy Chapter 29!
Chapter 29: Detention's Got Some Deep Conversations!
Detention…
Zim had studied the art of torture, and punishment for years in the academy, and if there was two words he had to use to describe detention it was this.
A Joke!
He and Dib entered a large class room with several rows of desk filled with students. "The trouble makers." Zim figured. They were all currently talking and cutting up just like this was any other class of the day. Instead of an extra class taken after the final bell.
"So this is detention?" He asked.
"Oh so I'm supposed to believe you've never gone?" Dib teased.
"Why I never." Zim mused playing along. "In fact I happen to be a perfect little angel."
Dib burst into laughter. "You an angel?" he scoffed. "More like you're just an expert at not getting caught."
Miz gave him a sly smile as he took his seat closest to the door. "You know me so well."
"I'm your best friend Miz." Dib said, sitting down beside him. "Of course I know you."
"Oh?" Zim said, curious now. "And how would you describe me?"
"You?" Dib asked, thinking about it. "Well to be honest at first I thought you were too good to be true." He admitted. "Mr. perfect, but the more we hang out I realize so much more."
"Like?" Zim asked.
"We'll you're smart, and pay close attention to detail." Dib answered. "But at the same time you have the attention span of a hyper active squirrel. You jump from one topic to another like some scattered brain, only to somehow tie it all together."
"It's called being skilled." Zim snapped, somewhat offended by being called a scattered brained squirrel!
"And then there's your self-confidence." Dib went on. "I never thought I'd know a teen as poise as you are. You're so sure of yourself all the time it's kind of intimidating." He admitted.
"We'll it's about time you complimented me." Zim said crossing his arms. "Honestly Dib you are the worse sometimes."
"Says the guy with mood swings." Dib countered.
"Mood swings?" Zim asked.
"Miz." Dib gave him a serious look. "I don't know if anyone has ever told you but you change moods like on a dime." He told him. "Like this morning with Keef that was crazy. I thought you were this sweet gentle guy, and then I learn you have your own aggressive side, that you can turn off at a seconds notice. You're sly and cunning one minute and the next you're concern for my wellbeing. People like Keef make you sick, but you admire Mrs. Bitters' cruelty towards children. You contradict yourself time and time again, but it's the real you." Dib said. "I can tell it is. You're like this jumbled jigsaw puzzle, full of pieces that shouldn't fit, but somehow they do. You're a mystery Miz."
Zim's eyes had widen into saucers again. Had the kid really noticed that much about him? Apparently so, and it amazed him that this ordinary boy could see the real him so well. It was like Dib could see through all of his defenses. With Dib it was like he could read between the lines, seeing his real thoughts and emotions. And what was worse was that Dib never let him run away from him, he pressed for answers until he found out what was wrong.
Dib wouldn't let him twist and turn the truth, forcing Zim to tell the whole truth without giving everything away. He didn't know how Dib did it, but he did, and it made Zim feel like he was naked whenever the boy walked into the room. Like he could see that much of him, and even further into his very soul.
Dib blushed as he realized Miz was staring at him with his wide eyes again. "Sorry I got all weird again didn't I?" he asked.
Miz bit his lip. "Dib why do you have a crush on me?" He asked suddenly.
Dib goes tomato red. "Are you really asking me this now?"
"I'm just curious." Miz said. "We've only known each other for what a little over a week now, but the way you talk about me. The way you…look at me."
"I feel like I've known you my whole life." Dib admitted. "Is that weird?"
Zim thought about it and shook his head. "No in fact I feel the same." He admitted.
Dib smiled. It was that goofy smile that made Zim feel all warm inside, and made his spooch lurch into his throat. 'Oh Irk how did it get this far?' he asked himself.
Who was this kid, and how could he make him feel this way? He was an Irken soldier, his programing should not allow this feeling, oh yes he knew this feeling. Not from experience, but instinct, and second hand accounts.
This is what humans called love.
Oh Irk was he crushing on the Dib
'No I do not have a crush for this stink child.' He told himself.
"Now it's your turn." Dib said.
"What?" Zim asked, pulled out of his thoughts.
"It's your turn to describe me." Dib said.
"What? Why?" Zim said. "Besides I do that every day, your head is big," he said making Dib roll his eyes. "See I described you."
"No I mean in detail like I did to you." Dib urged. "I want to know what you think about me Miz."
"Why?" Zim asked. "What's the point?"
"Well I thought that what we were doing seeing how much we know about each other." Dib pressed.
Zim sighed. "Your smart, skilled, and think fast on your feet." He answered. "There." He had dropped his gaze to his desk now.
"Why do you do that?" Dib asked.
"Do what?" Zim asked.
"Why do pull me in only to shut me out?" Dib asked. "This isn't the first time you've done this Miz, like at the picnic with your parents at the Park, and this afternoon in fifth period."
"I told you I get in these ruts." Zim answered. "You said it yourself I have mood issues."
"I didn't mean it like that." Dib said. "Why don't you let anyone in? What are you afraid of?"
Zim sighed. "It's just easier." He answered. "If you don't let people in they can't hurt you, and you can't hurt them. I don't want to hurt you Dib." He admitted.
"Then don't." Dib said, placing his hand on his. "Miz I know what it's like to be hurt by people who like." He told him. "I'm not like that."
"No." Miz seemed to agree. "But I am."
Dib was stunned by his words. "What?"
"I had this friend." Zim said. "My other friends didn't like him…they said he was weird so I…kicked him to the curb."
Dib was stunned, Miz was acting like this because he had betrayed a close friend of his.
Zim cursed inwardly, how this child forced these confessions out of him was beyond his comprehension. How was Dib doing this to him? "I know you think I'm this amazing person but I'm not." He said. Guilt seized up in his gut and stayed there.
Dib smiled, his hand still on Miz's, he gave it a firm squeeze. "Hey we all fold under peer pressure, the point it you learn from it and move on." He told him.
"Why did you do that?" Miz asked.
"Do what?" Dib said.
"Why do you brush off every bad thing I do like it's nothing." Miz asked. "It's like nothing I say or do can drive you away!"
Dib laughed. "That's what being a friend is about Miz." He explained. "You see someone's flaws, and you accept them for who they are. That's what's great about having them, you can be vulnerable around them, and not have to worry about them stabbing you in the back. There a shoulder to lean on, someone who's on your side no matter when you're right or wrong."
Miz suddenly smiles. "My old friend was like that." He said. "The one I hurt, I bet he'd still forgive me today. The idiot." He snapped.
Dib rose a brow.
"I'm such a jerk." He said, as if realizing it for the first time.
"Yeah you are." Dib agreed. "But you're my jerk."
Zim couldn't help the smile that creeped on his face. There he was, doing it again. Dib called him the mystery, but Dib, he was the real mystery.
"There's my Miz." Dib said, almost sighing in relief. He wasn't kidding when he said Miz was moody, the guy was like an emotional roller coaster ride. Still, it was a ride Dib wouldn't mind experiencing over and over again. He never knew someone with so much feeling before. "We cool?" he asked.
"Well I know I'm cool." Miz said. "You on the other hand are a total Nerd."
"Jerk." Dib said removing his hand from his in order to give him a playful punch.
Zim chuckled. "It's you're own fault." He said. "If your brain wasn't so large your head would be smaller."
"I hate you." Dib said, though he couldn't help the smile on his face.
"Na-uh." Zim snickered. "You love me." He teased.
"I knew you'd never let me live this down." Dib moaned, hiding his face in his hands, but Zim could still see the scarlet of his ears.
"Can't help it." He admitted. "You're reactions are priceless."
"I'll get you back for this." Dib vowed.
"Now that I would like to see." Zim admitted.
"Dib, Miz!" Mrs. Bitters said, bursting into the room, making both boys jump.
The kids around them hid under their desk in fear.
Miz laughed openly at their fear. "Babies." He said.
'Don't encourage her' Dib told him with his eyes.
Zim ignored him and continued. "Any who is there a problem Mrs. Bitters?"
"The problem is you two can't read!" Mrs. Bitters hissed. "You slips say detention room two not one."
"There isn't a second detention room." Dib said.
"There is now!" Mrs. Bitters snapped. "Now move or I'll add time to your sentence!"
Miz got to his feet so fast that it almost made Dib dizzy. He grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out the door. "Come on Dib before she decides to have tomorrows breakfast early."
"Stop encourage her!" Dib shouted. "I swear it's like you have a death sentence or something."
"Maybe I do." Miz teased. "And maybe you still don't know everything there is to know about me."
Dib smiled, and pulled his arm away. "Is that a challenge Miz?"
"Sure why not." Zim said rolling his eyes as he walked up to a room labeled detention room #2. "Knock yourself out."
"Okay fine I vow that I will figure you out Norman Richards if it's the last thing I do." Dib swore. "Because if there is one thing Dib Membrane never runs from, it's a good mystery."
Zim shook his head as they entered the room, only to freeze at who he saw.
"Dark Booty?" Dib said in shock as he sees his senior partner sitting at the front desk of the classroom. "You're our detention monitor?"
"Actually I'm the new school Janitor." Dark Booty said. "Mr. Suggs." He said pointing to the name tag on his gray janitor uniform.
Zim snickered. "Suggs. It's even worse than Dark Booty."
Dark Booty gave him a surprised look.
"You'll have to forgive him." Dib said. "Mrs. Bitters has inspired a dark streak in Miz."
"And why wouldn't she?" Dark Booty asked, looking around as if to be sure she wasn't there to listen. "She's a scary woman, and those who are feared hold all the power, besides teens deserved to be scared straight."
"Hey we're teens." Dib said.
"Case and point." Dark Booty said. "What were you two thinking going after Zim on your own?"
Dib stopped, realizing where this was going. "It wasn't like that." He said. "Miz and Peg told us we should wait."
"Dib is right." Gaz said. She and Peg had been sitting in the back of the class waiting for Dib and Miz to show up. "We thought we could get the drop on him, place a tracker on his person so you know…we could see where he was going."
"He was tunneling underground." Peg cut in. "We wanted to see why, it wasn't until after the factory doors closed that we realized there was a security system in place."
"That is why you wait." Dark Booty said. "We would have briefed you, prepared you for this. I don't think you realize how much danger you were really in."
"It was a trap." Miz said, surprising him. "He was testing us, he did a similar thing to me back in Egypt, like a predator making a mock charge at his prey. I didn't understand it then, but I do now. He was playing us and we fell right into his trap."
"Exactly." Mrs. Bitters said, as she entered the room. "You need to be more careful from now on. You four are our youngest agents, he will try to use your age, and gullibility to his advantage."
The four nodded.
"I know it's not always possible to hang back and wait for back up." Dark Booty said. "But you are all still junior agents. Zim had proven to be more than enough for you to handle, for now on you are to call me if there is any suspicion of Zim's where about."
"And wait while he gets away?" Dib asked, frustrated. "We're seniors you can't treat us like babies."
"You can do recon." Mrs. Bitters said. "If you see him you can watch from a far, take pictures, video tape, whatever, but in less another person is in imminent danger you are to wait for back up."
Dib frowned, but Dark Booty gave his shoulder a reassuring pat. "It's just until you graduate, by then you should be completely trained, All of you."
The four junior agents nodded.
"Good now all of you sit down and start your homework." Dark Booty ordered. "You may go when you're done."
The four did as they were told they each gave each other a knowing look.
Things would probably be far more deadly next time around.
Zim couldn't help but bit his lip. This whole thing with Dark Booty had reminded him of this, he was here to study the humans and gather resources for war. Not start a romantic comedy with his supposed to be enemy. His eyes met with Dib's and he feels that feeling again. Why couldn't he shake this?
Why did this child have to have such a strong effect on him? He made him question everything he knew to be right. What was happening to him?
Dib gave him a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
Zim did his best to return it, but it's obviously forced.
Yes, they could both feel it the tension, the danger it was becoming all too real, and the stakes were stacking up against them; becoming higher and higher with every passing breath.
They were both in way over their heads and it was obvious.
Still neither one of them wanted to back out.
"Hey I still owe you dinner right?" Dib asked slyly keeping his promise to get Miz out of his ruts whenever possible.
"Oh you better believe it." Zim snapped. "And I'm warning you now I am not easy to please. I am a very picky eater."
"Oh I bet." Dib said with a laugh.
"Wait you guys are going out to eat?" Gaz asked.
"Just bowling." Dib answered. "And some cheese fries." He added a smile. "If that's a worthy enough meal for king picky over here." He gestured to Miz.
"Add as much soda as I want and some chocolate doughnuts and you got yourself a deal." Zim mused.
"Deal." Dib agreed.
Zim licked his lips, he could tasted those doughnuts already.
"So it's like a date?" Peg asked hopefully.
"Peg!" Dib yelled his face pure red.
Miz laughed obviously enjoying his reaction. "I don't know is it?" He said giving Dib a smirk that was somewhat playful, but cruel at the same time.
"Miz!" Dib shouted, he was completely flustered now, and Dark Booty's and Mrs. Bitters 'I knew it.' looks were not helping.
Zim snickered, he really did enjoy seeing that shade of red. "No but seriously it's just bowling." He said. "You guys should come, we could hang."
"It could be a bonding experience for the team." Peg added.
"Yeah sure whatever." Gaz agreed. "As long as we're not intruding on your date." She said giving a playful smile to her brother.
"IT"S NOT A DATE!" Dib screamed.
Zim laughed, he couldn't help it. "Relax Dib you know we tease because we care."
"Yeah it's called tough love." Peg added. "Gaz's is the same with me all the time."
Dib smiled, so they did have what they had. He and Miz were on the right track, still he was afraid he was expecting too much. Miz said it himself, he didn't want to get close to him, he was afraid to hurt him. Still some risk were worth taking.
He looked at Miz, he was telling the girls about their last bowling trip, and how Dib dropped the ball so often he thought the floor would crack beneath them.
He smiled, making up his mind. Miz was worth the risk.
He just knew it.
Chapter End Notes:
Oh my gosh that chapter was so mushy, but I had to do it man, I had to make up for making Lard Nar so cold in the last chapter. (I went back and fixed that by the way.) lol I think these two are so cute in this chapter, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I really enjoy writing this story.
Anyways, Thanks for reading and please leave a comment. (If you want!)
The Next update will be soon.
So until then this is Emily Signing off…
