Dib sat down in a chair as Zim messed around the room. He could hear the sound of metal tools falling onto the floor and clanging as they bounced around and rolled out of reach. Every time something hits the floor, Zim cursed at the state of the tools he had to work with.
"Nothing here is even remotely right to work on your eyes."
"Can't you just improvise some of the tools?"
"You can't improvise Irken tools! They have to be made my tools that are made by tools that are made by tools. And you humans possess none of those tools."
Dib took his left eye out of its socket. It didn't hurt as much as it did when Zim would take it out. The eye almost came out of its own accord as he pushed his eyelids out of the way to reach it. He gave it a painful little tug and it unlatched itself from his optic nerves. He felt it around in his fingers. He could feel the small little bumps on the back of it where all the video relays were.
"Are you sure it's so complicated?"
"Yes, I'm sure, Dib. Do you think I don't know my own technology? I'm the one who built it."
"Well, no, but... What are you going to do then? It's not like you have much of a choice. Besides, Zim, I've seen you do a lot more with a lot less."
"Nah... Well, maybe." Zim took the eye out of Dib's hand. "Perhaps. You don't care too much about colour do you?"
"I can live."
"Let's hope that your primitive tools don't make me break it."
Zim started working on both of the eyes. Dib sat back in his chair and listened to Zim work. There wasn't much to listen to. Just the soft sounds of tools working. It sounded no louder than if someone was gently tapping on a table. Dib leaned back and tried to make himself comfortable. He stretched his arms over the crescent shaped wooden back and laid his arms from his elbows to his hands on the cold metal counter behind him.
Above, he could hear the ocean. He could hear it move back and forth against wherever they were. It was like being inside one of those shells they sell at ocean novelty shops. The ocean, and Zim's occasional cursing, were the only sounds in the room. They almost seemed like the only sounds in the entire universe.
"Done!" Zim announced loudly. Dib nearly fell out of his chair after the silence had been broken. "Just hold still and you should be seeing again."
Zim set a hand on the side of Dib's face and reached into his eye socket to get the connections for the eye. He did it slowly, like he was scared the slightest movement would ruin it. Soon, something flickered in his right eye. It was just Zim's gloved hand, but everything started coming in. Zim pushed the eye back into its socket. Dib blinked a few times, and when he opened his eye again, he could see Zim's face. It was all that was in his vision. Zim's smooth green skin and sparkling red eyes that moved around. Zim squinted at Dib, as if he wasn't sure if he had even put in the right eye.
"Did it work?" Zim said, looking Dib over and over like there was some sort of hidden message hidden on Dib's face.
"Yes, it works. In colour."
"Of course it is. Zim can do anything."
"Then why did you have to ask?" Dib said, with a big grin on his face.
"Just to make double sure. You can never be too sure of something." Zim still had a hold of Dib's face and he leaned even closer.
"Well, in that case, I'm not so sure the eye is working exactly as it used to. All I can see is your face."
"Really? And how do I look?" Zim smiled. He was smiling so widely that it looked as if the corners of his lips was pushing into his eyes.
"Great."
"Oh, dude, Josh! I mean, Dib! You're really here dude!" A familiar voice said, "Oh sweet, an alien. Dude, he's green and everything."
Zim reattached the connections to the last eye and pushed it back into the socket. Dib blinked a few times to let the eye fit more comfortably. It still hurt putting it back in, but not as much as it hurt before. He rubbed his eyes until they stopped aching and stared at a friend standing in the door way.
"Kyle! What are you doing here. Last I saw you, you guys were in New York."
"Dude, lots of things have changed."
"I can't argue with you there."
"So, dude, where'd the alien come from?"
"Kyle, this is Zim. Zim, Kyle."
"Oh, dude! That's the alien you've been fighting all your life? Man, he totally looks like an alien. He looks so much like an alien that he almost... Dude, I totally forgot what I was trying to say."
"Yeah, so, what are you doing here? And where are the others?"
"Well, when your sister came and kind of told me some of what's going on. And dude, if I wasn't so mellow, my head would be exploding with how twisted this all is. She offered us a place to hide from the alien corruption, but it's just me and X."
"What? Why?"
Kyle groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "Dude, I don't know. Jane was getting all scared and Japlin was getting all weird, and Tyler wasn't making any sense, and I just don't know. I just hope that they're alright."
"Oh."
"So what's with you and the alien dude?"
Dib looked at Zim. There were a dozen complicated answers that he could come up with, but all his thoughts had twisted around each other like a tangled mess of worms. Zim looked back at Dib. He stared into Dib's eyes like he did when he was waiting or Dib to tell him that the eyes were working.
"Well, I'm in love with him."
Zim's face relaxed and he smiled. It was as if in that smile, Dib saw and understood why everything was happening. The pounding in his chest as he tried to think of an answer was still pumping against his ribs, and it made his entire chest hurt, but it was the most wonderful hurt he had ever felt, and it felt that much more wonderful as he said how much he loved Zim to another human being.
"Oh cool, dude, alien romance. Wait, did you say that the alien dude was a dude or a chick?"
"Do you have a problem with Zim being male?" Zim said, puffing up his chest and glaring at Kyle.
"No way, dude. I'm totally open minded. I fantasize about alien chicks doing it all the time, so I'm totally cool with dudes. I think it's totally cool that Josh.. I mean Dib, dude I don't think I'm ever going to get that right. Dib's such a weird name, you know dude? I just think it's totally awesome that this dude has someone to be with. No offense, Dib, but you kind of put off a weird, lonely, desperate vibe."
"Noted." Dib said.
"I mean, dude, didn't you say something about not having friends before? That's kind of sad."
"Is there a point to this?"
"Oh yeah, well, I just wanted to see if it was really you and to say that you'll always have friends. Unless there are hard feelings or something about kicking you out of the group. 'Cause dude, we honestly thought that we were going to jail. Well, I thought that. I don't know what everyone else was thinking. Sometimes I think they're keeping things from me."
"How ever could they keep information from such an intelligent being?" Zim said sarcastically.
"I know right, dude? So I guess I should be going now." Without needing to say anymore, he turned around and walked out of the room.
There was a bit of silence between Dib and Zim. The silence of unease after the loudest person in the room leaves and no one wants to be the one to break the quiet.
"So, that's the kind of human you make friends with? How come you had so much trouble with those pigs at skool?"
"Kyle actually accepts what's true."
"So is that what it takes for a human to be your friend, that they agree with you completely? You know what Dib? I think we have more in common than I ever imagined."
Dib gave Zim a small shove. "I'm not as bad as you."
"At least I can pretend to like other humans."
Zim had him there. "Well, at least I'm not a liar."
"Face it, Dib, I'm better at acting like the humans than you are."
"Maybe that's what you are," Dib said, half laughing.
"Huh?"
"Well, maybe you're becoming human. After all, didn't you say before that you're not acting anything like an Irken."
"Zim's just a good liar. It's impossible for me to be human, Irkens and humans are so different it's like um... two completely different things trying to be each other... I am Zim!"
"Of course you are." Dib wrapped his arms around Zim and held him close.
Zim let himself be hugged for a little while, before hugging Dib back, burying his face against Dib's neck. Dib pulled Zim up onto his lap so that he wasn't awkwardly doubled over anymore. It was one of the downsides to having such a short boyfriend, a very small downside. Dib set his cheek on top of Zim's head. He could almost fall asleep right now. It's been a while since he's had a good sleep.
Dib began to feel drowsy. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he should be doing, but for the life of him he couldn't remember. Zim wasn't saying anything, so it was probably not important. It was just one of those weird feelings. Dib leaned a little more on Zim. He was close to falling asleep. A bed would be a better place to sleep, but he doubted anything would be as comfortable as this chair was at the moment.
The door slams open. "Oh, dude! I just remembered what I came in here for!" Kyle yelled.
Dib woke up so quickly that he fell off the chair, taking Zim with him. Despite the fact that Dib had fallen forward off the chair, Zim had somehow managed to land on Dib's back. Dib groaned into the metal floor. He didn't realize until his face had it it, but this floor had a really rough texture.
Zim hopped off of Dib's back. Dib sat up and rubbed his sore face. Face planting onto a metal floor that resembled a cheese grater was not his favourite way of waking up. Dib glared at Kyle, who for a few seconds looked like he was going to pee himself.
"I was supposed to," Kyle cleared his throat, "bring you to the meeting room." He waited for a few seconds for a response. "Um, dude, I hope I didn't interrupt something?"
"No." Dib got up and straightened what was left of his clothes. He needed new ones. It might have been from the fall, but the clothes he had on now were now little more than rags. "You didn't interrupt anything."
"Oh, cool, dude. I was just worried that I woke you up or something. So, Gaz is waiting right now, so dudes, we should probably head over there. Now." Kyle said that like a person who had truly gotten to know Dib's sister. Gaz could be a little scary when she wanted to be.
"That's fine. Let's just get this over with."
Dib walked out of the room. Zim followed closely and held Dib's hand as they walked down the hall, this time not to lead him. Zim gave Dib's had a quick squeeze.
"Are you alright?" Zim asked.
"I'm fine," Dib said with a tense jaw. His face still really hurt, and it felt as if sleep was catching up with him.
"OK."