Dlbn: Hey there, everyone! Two updates in one week? It's been forever since that happened! And no, I wasn't taken by the pod people and replaced with a horribly made clone. Or by the Irkens and replaced with a horribly made robot.

Nbld: Enough of the craziness. Thank you to Arcae, Mio-chan just screwed you ALL, ecrounox, Invader Ang, .-, Silver Night Stalker, suckishLEMONADE, Shar're from Abydos, xXEternal Promise, and XxFuTuRe-EaRtH-RuLeRxX for reviewing! Invader Zim shaped sugar cookies for all!

Mio-chan just screwed you ALL: I looked at the account. Pretty cool! XD The Duelists thank your hair for your review. At least this one does lol

Ecrounox: The meeting Iz/Moth thing isn't in this chapter, but it will likely be in the next. It's a crucial part of the story, mostly cause I've left everyone hanging about it, so I wanna spend extra time on it. I could see Gaz using pictures as blackmail. But then again, video games at her friend's house should keep her occupied for a few years. The chances of her coming home early were slim. XD

Invader Ang: Any yaoi Keef can get his hands on is good for him, since he doesn't have a boyfriend….yet, at least. Yes, Zim sees no reason in celebrating his birthday cause it's not his real birthday anyway. He doesn't know with the whole adoption thing, and Miyuki was too lazy to look it up and tell him.

Silver Night Stalker: Yea, Keef is a creeper here, just like he's a creeper in Zim. seriously, he gets worse in the unfinished one "Return of Keef". The audio was online so I listened to itt. Creepy Keef! And I think they're going to Lust, whichever level that was. I forget numbers, though I learned in Medieval History lol.

SuckishLEMONADE: Alien-spidery-metal-legggy. Lmao. I love it. XD

Shar're from Abydos: I'm always happy to answer any questions. That's what I'm here for! (That and adding more chapters of ZADR goodness)

XxFuTuRe-EaRtH-RuLeRxX: Torque and the rest of Dib's clique will get over it. They're just still getting used to the idea is all.

Dlbn: On a final note before we begin, everyone have a wonderful holiday and enjoy what's left of 2010. It's almost over!

Disclaimer: I own nothing outside of Krill, The Mask, and the plot. Invader Zim and everything about it belongs to Jhonen C Vasquez. But you already knew that. I'm just used to writing these, so they appear all the time.

000

Once lunch came around, Dib wasn't surprised to find that his friends were at a separate table from the GLASS members. It was probably due to lack of space, but the others had clearly stated their annoyance with the others. Dib sighed and took a seat next to Zim, kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey." Zim greeted, not taking his eyes off of Keef.

The redhead seemed indifferent to the looks that he was getting. Dib wondered what was wrong.

"What's up?" Dib asked.

"Keef wants to celebrate Zim's birthday, but Zim doesn't want him to." Gaz answered, nonchalantly.

"It's your birthday?" Dib gulped.

Zim laughed. "No, my birthday's November 5th." He responded. "Keef wrote it on his hand. He got the idea from someone else." Zim looked at Gaz.

"What?" She asked, shrugging.

"It's coming up, then?" Dib asked. "Cool."

Zim smiled softly. "I guess." He said. He didn't see the big deal about a birthday. It just meant that another year had passed by where he didn't do anything significant. Well, other then running away from home for stupid reasons. Zim admitted he'd done wrong when he left, but he was glad he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the friends he did. Let alone being with Dib. It was strange, but Zim couldn't imagine being without Dib and the others, even though he'd only known them a few weeks.

"What do you mean, 'you guess'?" Dib wondered. "It's your first birthday with us! We have to throw you a party!"

"Thank you!" Keef said from the other side of the table. "Maybe he'll listen to you, since you slept together and all."

"We did not!" Zim and Dib yelled at once, bursting into laughter once they realized what they'd done.

"Oh no." Gaz sighed. "Next comes finishing each other's sentences."

Zim glared at her and Dib laughed. "No party." Zim told Dib. "I don't want one."

"But…"

"Please, Dib?" Zim wondered, giving Dib a pleading look that Keef used on Mr. C all the time.

Zim wondered if the other had the hots for their math teacher, but that went away quickly. The only person Keef seemed to have a genuine crush on was Zim. He did kiss him at the reunion, after all. He probably shouldn't tell Dib. Dib didn't like Keef much from the start, so he'd probably react badly to the news. The last thing Zim wanted to do was cause problems between his boyfriend and what could only be classified as his first friend, if not best. Best friend…that term seemed so foreign. Zim was used to his guards scaring away anyone who got close. This was a welcome change though. It was so boring to have nothing but his family and his illegal weapons to keep him company. Speaking of, he was really slacking off on making the stun gun he wanted to try out. Just in case those guys that jumped him two weeks ago came back. Zim wanted to be prepared to fry them without a second thought. He kind of wanted to do the same thing to Keef right now. If he didn't get rid of the writing on his hand, at least. He'd been going over it again and again to make sure it didn't come off. Zim wished he hadn't, but there wasn't much he could do.

"Keef." Zim said, his voice dangerously calm. "Would you please get that off of your hand and forget when my birthday is? I really don't want a party. I never have, and I don't wanna start now."

"You're never had a birthday party?" Keef asked. "Well, then damn are we throwing you the best one you never got!"

"Keef, come on!" Zim whined. He didn't like having to whine, and playing the whole 'prince' card wouldn't work in this situation. "I hate to say it, but I'll d anything you want if you get rid of it."

"Anything?" Keef's eyes sparkled.

Dib growled possessively. He didn't like that look.

Zim sighed, defeated. "Yeah."

"Hm…" Keef thought for a moment, looking up at the ceiling and tapping his finger on his chin. "I guess I could work with that." He smirked. He took Gretchen's almost-empty water bottle and poured a few drops on his hand. He scrubbed with a napkin until the ink was washed off. "Now, what shall I have you do?" He assumed his thinking pose again. A pose Zim had a feeling he didn't use often.

"How about a kiss?" Keef puckered his lips. "I'm waiting."

"You're waiting for a punch across the face, Keef, I swear." Dib threatened softly.

"It's fine, Dib." Zim smiled. "It's not like it means anything. But you have to close your eyes, okay, Keef?"

Keef nodded and shut his eyes while Dib gaped. There was no way Zim was going to do this. Zim sighed. He wet his index and middle fingers with water from Gretchen's water bottle that had landed on the table. He pressed his fingers to Keef's lips before pulling them away and sitting. Keef grinned like an idiot. 'Thank you!"

Gaz burst into laughter, shocking the others.

"Are you okay, Gaz?" Dib asked.

Gaz shook her head at Zim. "You're such an ass." She said.

"Hey, I said I'd do it." Zim winked.

Dib laughed. How could he ever think Zim would willingly kiss anyone else? Well, other than Moth. But Dib was going to meet him, so it was good. Right?

000

Gym class came around again. Zim, Dib, and their merging groups of friends sat on the grass on the inside of the track. Coach Walrus paced back and forth.

"Listen up!" He ordered. "Today we are going to run laps on the track."

Kids moaned.

"It will prepare you for the horrors you will have to face as an adult." Coach Walrus said. "One day, you will all thank me for this, I can assure you of that!"

Zim doubted that.

"You will either run twenty laps, or run until you collapse. Whichever comes first. I don't care either way, because I still get paid." Coach Walrus said. "I don't want anyone walking a complete lap and I don't want to see anyone resting on the sides of the track unless I blow my whistle and call for a time out. For those of you who had me as a coach last year, you know full well that I do not do that very often. Now, all of you get up and get to work!" He took a deep breath and blew into the whistle.

The kids groaned and stood, but they ran onto the track anyway to avoid being whistled at. Zim, Dib, and the others stayed close to one another as other kids either raced ahead of them, or trailed behind. Zim found the pace they were going at to be a little slow.

"Hey, you guys mind if I go my own pace?" Zim asked. "I feel like I'm crawling, no offense."

"None taken!" Keef offered. "Besides, if you run ahead of us, then we can see that cute little ass of yours."

"Keef!" Dib scolded with a glare. "Stop hitting on my boyfriend in front of me."

People stared at the term 'boyfriend', but they stopped when Torque gave them warning glares.

"Oh, relax Mr. Grumpy-Puss!" Keef responded. "I'm just messing around. I know Zim's your boy…" he paused.

"Boyfriend?" Gretchen offered softly.

"Yeah, that." Keef grunted out quickly.

Zim rolled his eyes. "I'm just gonna go now…" He said. Before anyone could say anything more, he took off down the track, passing kids who had previously been passing him and his friends. After ten laps, Coach walrus blew his whistle. "Zim, come here!" He ordered. "The rest of you keep moving!" he blew the whistle as loud as he could.

Zim winced and jogged over to the coach. "Yes, Coach?"

"Zim, I have never seen anyone run that fast in my career as a coach!"

He was so loud! Zim wondered if he and Screamy were related somehow. "Thank you?" Zim asked apprehensively.

"How would you like to join our school track team? We could win a lot of meets if we had a member like you!"

"Uh…can you tone down your voice a bit? I'm sensitive to loud noises."

The coach glared at him. "It's a yes or no question, Zim." He said. "And I don't want to hear anything about asking your parents. You're old enough to make these decisions on your own! You're in high school, not Pampereds!"

Not in what? "Uh…yes?" Zim offered weakly.

"Good." Coach nodded once. "Go finish your laps. Eleven more to go!"

"Uh…ten, sir…"

"You want to go to the principal's office?"

"No. Sorry, sir." Zim said, before running back to the track.

"What did coach want?" Dib wondered, once he caught up to his boyfriend.

"He asked me to join the track team." Zim shrugged.

"And you said…?"

"I said yes." Zim shrugged again. "I don't see a problem. I'll be free at night and on weekends, I assume, so we can still go out and stuff."

Dib smiled. "I know you wouldn't ditch me for some sports team." He said, kissing the other boy on the cheek.

"You know me pretty well, huh?" Zim chuckled.

Dib nodded. "I think I do."

Not enough.