Dib couldn't believe Zim had called him properly by his name without being forced to. He kept himself calm, inner turmoil hidden from Zim. The Irken seemed to hesitate before speaking again.
"At Skool, lots of the Erth females were staring at me funny. Do you know why? Or how I can get them to stop?" So Zim had noticed the attention but didn't understand it. Dib shifted again, eyes locking onto Zim's.
"It's because you're now a 'hero' and you changed your clothes... they like them..." Dib bit his lip before saying the next part. "They like you." Zim just stared blankly at him.
"I don't like them." He stated and Dib blinked in surprise at the sureness of his tone.
"You understand?" He watched Zim nod against the pillow, lekku teasingly close. He ignored them for the moment, Zim might allow him to touch them at some point and until then Dib could wait.
"I don't want to be their love-pig... boyfriend." He corrected. Dib nodded slowly, wondering why he felt relieved by Zim's obvious indifference to female attention. Was he jealous? Did Dib want the girl's attention? Magenta eyes blinked closed and Dib watched until they opened again. Did he want Zim's attention? All of it? "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Dib echoed, thoughts still racing as magenta eyes closed again and Zim burrowed deeper into the blankets. Did he like Zim? Like the girls liked Zim? With a shaky breath, Dib pushed the thought aside and rolled over, facing away from the Irken. Had Gaz been right all along?
Dib groaned as sunlight hit his eyes. The curtains were still open. He huddled deeper into the blankets to avoid the light, pressing closer to the warm object in his grasp. Dib wasn't ready to wake up yet, not when it was so warm in bed. The object nuzzled against his cheek, breath warm against his skin. Dib opened his eyes, finding green skin in his vision and an alien in his arms. All his sleepiness faded at the sight. He carefully released Zim and sat up without waking the Irken. Zim hadn't moved all night since he was still on the side of the bed he'd fallen asleep on, so it must have been Dib who'd rolled over and pulled the Irken into a hug... A small three fingered hand refused to release it's grip on Dib's pyjama shirt making escape impossible. Dib sighed, at least Gir hadn't come to wake them yet. He still felt groggy so it wasn't even half past six meaning he'd woken earlier than usual.
Dib slouched back against the headboard, resigning himself to the wait. He just had to wait for the 'alarm' or Zim to wake on his own. Usually silence made him uncomfortable but this silence was comforting especially when paired with the warmth of the bed and the Irken. Dib shifted, trying to fill his time by going back over any thoughts he'd pushed aside. There'd been a lot of odd thoughts lately and now he had the time to inspect them. Dib began by making a mental list of them to make it easier on him.
There was a lot of them but quite a few had been answered along the last few days. What was left was only a few; Earth being Zim's home, Zim being cute in his hoodie, Gaz playing voodoo mind games, Zim's agility during the obstacle course, Zim's age, wanting the attention of Zim or the girls and whether Gaz was right all along...
The ones including Gaz could be dropped since he'd most likely never find out or like the answer if he did.
He was starting to believe Zim about his banishment so Earth was now basically Zim's home.
When asked Zim had refused to tell him about his actual Earth age and Dib wasn't too sure he really wanted to know anymore.
The question about whose attention he wanted... he'd never really been interested in the girls, too busy with his paranormal stuff which meant he wasn't after their attention. That meant he was after Zim's...
That left two questions unanswered; Why was Zim's agility so different during the obstacle course? Why did he think Zim was cute in the hoodie?
Zim's agility wasn't something he could answer without the Irken's help but the hoodie thing... Dib let his eyes trail to the Irken beside him. Zim was sleeping peacefully still, not seeming to notice Dib's gaze or the sunlight streaming through the window. His smaller hand was still clinging to Dib's shirt so Dib carefully pried it off, setting it on the pillow beside Zim's head. He'd thought sleeping beside his ex-enemy would be awkward and yet Dib didn't feel awkward at all. In fact, he felt happy. Sleeping Zim was cute too...
Dib froze, thoughts stilling as all the pieces slotted together. He liked Zim. Well actually he not only liked Zim, he liked Zim. In the same way that the girls liked him. Dib felt his face flush at the thought. Barely three days ago they were enemies yet now Dib liked Zim! He should have been horrified but he wasn't. All he felt was nervous. He was lying next to the person... alien he liked and Zim had no clue about his feelings. He knew Zim understood the concept of liking someone or 'mating' with them but if Zim could so easily reject the girls as he had yesterday then how could Dib ever compete? Dib felt his shoulder's slump at the thought. He had no choice then. For the sake of this friendship he'd just have to keep it to himself...