When Gaz stepped into the Membrane Residence, she wasn't surprised to see Dib freaking out in the living room. He had the house phone pressed to his face and if he was any sweatier he would probably drop it. Dib, seeing her alive, ran up and hugged her.
Gaz didn't return the gesture. She perked her upper lip and tried to keep her face away from his nasty self. Dib, upset over her rejection but not intent on letting it ruin the moment, backed away from her and finally studied her clothing.
"What happened?" He asked breathlessly, reaching out his hand in order to collect some slime off of her shoulder. Gaz scowled and walked past him, trying to get to the stairs.
"Hey! Do you know how long you've been gone?" Dib inquired, jumping back in front of Gaz in an attempt to get some answers. Gaz clenched her fists and glowered.
"Do you know how long you've gone without a bath?" She shot back, trying to get to the stairs only to be blocked by Dib. Everytime she would move an inch he would follow her motions. He was about to get himself smacked.
"Zim did this, didn't he?" Dib accused, causing Gaz's eyes to narrow further. She was tired of Zim by now. Even so, a blush crept up her neck when she remembered all the things Zim had said about her. How would Dib feel about all this? She pushed the question down.
"I knew it!" Dib exclaimed after her silent treatment. Gaz's face contorted in anger and Dib took a step back, feeling like he had crossed a line somehow. "I-I mean, whatever happened, you can tell me," he leaned down to her level, "honest."
Gaz's face softened. She had a hard time being mad when Dib was attempting to calm her down. It felt wrong to be mean to someone who was trying to help, but the conviction only made her feel sick.
"I'm gonna take a shower." She stated, finally hitting him to the side and walking around him. Dib watched with a frown as she disappeared from the living room.
Gaz let the hot water fall over her face and wash away the ooze that coated her body. She was so confused right now. She felt a bit violated, being cloned and all, but that part didn't even upset her the most. It was how she enjoyed it that scared her. Every moment that she spent in that awful realm of his made her a bit more secure about herself. She felt important. Zim went through all that just to hold her hand? It made her heart flutter.
Gaz has never had a boyfriend. She didn't need one. She figured out a long time ago that she was different from other people, and that she was smarter than other people. She wouldn't waste her time fraternizing with someone dumber than her. But Zim… she had a hard time deciding whether or not he should be grouped with everybody else. He's technically the only one she's ever had romantic feelings about, but why? Maybe she just didn't like humans.
Oh wait, maybe I don't like humans.
It was disgusting but it made sense to her. She's never found anyone attractive, and she's never formed a strong emotional attachment to anyone of her species. Was she the freak in this situation? Her best friend was a demon pig, after all. Once the pieces started to fall into place she became even more repulsed by her own feelings.
But, to her relief, Zim was a freak too. She was an alien, and he was risking everything he stood for just to have a crush on her. She wondered if he thought the same way about Irkens as she did about humans.
But she was getting too far ahead of herself. Her and Zim wouldn't get anywhere, especially with so much being revealed so fast. Thinking about it made her feel sick again.
Gaz left the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. Going to her room, she passed Dib's door in the process. She glared at all the stupid posters he had glued to it. Out of the two, why did she have to be the xenophile? Well, not that she found Zim attractive. He was quite ugly, actually. He had the build of a dead leaf and all the alluring charms of a roach. Also, his eyes were creepy; they looked way too big for his head. He probably thought the same way about her. She probably smelled like meat and had the grace of a water balloon. She would have grinned if she wasn't disappointed with the facts.
An hour later, laying in bed, her thoughts started to slow down.
Gaz was going to give them a try. She had gone back-and-forth with that decision a few times, but she knew that she was going to do something about it.
Gaz was still afraid, though. She desperately hoped that none of this was coming from infatuation. She reasoned with herself that she had a bit of feelings before the whole fiasco, but that couldn't support the two going serious on the account of mutual affection. Zim probably didn't have a clue what a serious relationship felt like. To be fair, neither did she. She knew she was going to mess up. She knew she was going to take it too fast and ruin their chances.
Gaz wondered if Zim was thinking about her right now. Was he in his lab trying to justify his affection? Was he changing his mind every three seconds about what he thought of her? It made her smile thinking about it. But then she remembered that she was mean and scary and wasn't allowed to smile.
Now she just felt stupid.
Gaz came back to reality. She tossed around in her bed for a while, staring deep into the dark purple walls of her room. There were stuffed animals all over the place. Some were on the floor, some were on the bed, and some sat on the shelf she had designated for them. Gaz made stuffed animals when she got bored, and she was good at it. She had learned from her dad how to program them and build little endoskeletons that wouldn't make them any less cute and fluffy (when they weren't bloodthirsty, at least.) She had made a Zim plushie once, though it was less of a symbol of her affection and more of an episode of inspiration. Now that she thought of it, she hasn't seen it in a while.
Gaz rolled to the other side of her bed and stared at the window above her, hoping that Zim would barge in and lay eggs in her stomach or something. She usually had the same stony-hearted energy in her room as she did at school. Her stuffed animals were probably judging her for being so fanatical about someone other than herself. In fact, they would probably prefer that she do what she always does before she goes to bed: play her Gameslave until two in the morning.
That was a good distraction. She popped the device open and felt her mind go numb. She didn't have to think as hard when she played video games. It kept her brain dormant. If she couldn't think, then her thoughts didn't have the chance to challenge her.
She would deal with Zim later.
Monday morning came around and Gaz had more of a clear mind about the situation. It was easy to say that she was more mature than girls her age, and she felt that right about now. She changed her plans that she had established a few hours ago, and has now decided to just let things play out. Gaz just didn't think she would be able to manipulate something like this to work out in any way she wanted. Anything that happened from this point on was fate.
Though, what worried her the most was Dib. Gaz didn't care what Dib thought about her or the creatures she dated. But, knowing him, he would probably do something that would hurt everyone, including himself. He was just something that she would have to let play out, too.
Gaz mentally slapped herself for thinking so far ahead. She could try to tune into whatever Dib was rambling about to distract herself, but she would rather melt into her Gameslave again. She couldn't avoid him on the bus.
"He's gotten skinnier. You think he's shedding or something?"
Gaz didn't feel like shutting Dib up. She was still nervous around him. She knew that he remembered last night. Dib knew something was wrong, and he would pry it out of her eventually. Her Gameslave had trouble drowning out his voice today.
Zim came to school today. Not that she was expecting him to stay home out of shame or anything, it was just something to note. They didn't have the same class, so she only caught glimpses of him every once in a while. He was always staring at her as if her eyes had fallen out of her head.
Zim probably thought he was being subtle. But she noticed, and so did everyone else.
None of her classmates had the nerve to mention it. Good. They all figured that he had been one of her most recent victims. He was shrimpy, and if she could maim anyone to the point of watching her every movement to make sure she couldn't get at them again, it was him. Oh, but her teacher, her teacher.
Mr. Elliot made Gaz want to claw her ears off. He was young, insecure, and desperately wanted to make an impression on his teenage students. Everyday he tried, and failed, to relate to them in some way or another on a personal level. Gaz wondered if he had any adult friends at all. He certainly didn't have a wife. Gaz was ready for the day that he would get engaged and stop trying so hard to be hip.
"Heya, Gazzy." He passed by her desk while they were doing a little busy work and leaned on a shelf adjacent to her. Gaz looked up with a glare.
"You okay?" Mr. Elliot was always asking if she was okay. Everyone wondered the same thing, but none of the students had the gall to ask her. She couldn't help that she had a resting angry face.
"I'm fine." She growled, going back to her assignment. Mr. Elliot assumed that she would be easy to get along with, considering she looked conveniently "emo" and automatically came with a chill factor, but he had definitely underestimated her.
"So, you and that green kid..." He went on, making sure that he didn't have to send the two to guidance on the account of bullying. Gaz didn't bully. Gaz just hit.
"It's nothing." A few kids have nervously turned their heads, wanting the spill on what was going on between them but too timid to make it obvious. The kids in her class were worryingly easy to intimidate.
"Oh, okay hon. I'm always here if you need to talk, though."
Gross.
"No thanks." Like she needed another therapist in her life.
She thought about bringing it up to Dib later at lunch. Dib too thought it was weird that people were always asking if she was okay, even though he usually got the worst of her moods. Maybe he was used to her scowl.
Gaz didn't even bother to talk to him today. Not that he would let her, anyway. She just tapped away on her device while Dib babbled her head off.
"He just sits there… picking at his food. If he bothers to pack a lunch then why doesn't he eat?"
Gaz looked up just in time to see Zim slouching in his seat, staring blankly into the table and occasionally glancing around the room. Their gazes met for a split second, but he narrowed his eyes and looked down to his lap. Gaz didn't remember him being this quiet.
Dib was right about the food thing. Zim started bringing his own lunch once he could no longer stand going hungry on the account of sickening school food. She had a vague memory of him eating, but now he just half heartedly pushed around some white substance with a spoon. It almost made her sad.
Gaz contemplated sitting with him. She didn't care about embarrassing him or herself, but something kept her away from him. She wasn't nervous or anything. She would die before she said she was nervous. Gaz just wasn't ready to confront yesterday's tension. She had plenty of time to modify their relationship, anyway.
Gaz looked back down at her Gameslave, feeling hollow.
Nothing much happened after lunch. Gaz wasn't very satisfied with the day's outcome, yet she didn't quite know what she expected. A heated confession? A murder? At least something that would qualify as an out-of-the-ordinary experience that she wouldn't regret. Maybe she should have talked to Zim. She could have waved or something. Just a gesture that said "I know you exist"or whatever. Though, she'd get her chance to do so after school.
Gaz really didn't expect Zim to approach her first. Considering his occasional spontaneous bursts of initiative, she should have. She was walking home when it happened, and Dib was right beside her to witness it.
Zim cleared his throat.
"Dib-sister," he began, squinting at her and completely ignoring Dib, "Zim is in good health, and was in fine condition prior to your accusation."
Gaz blinked. It took her a moment, but she was able to put together what he was talking about. It was yesterday, in a fit of emotion, that she called him sick. Zim didn't understand that it was a term for mentally unwell. She should have thought about that before screaming at him.
"Okay." Gaz replied, not wanting to give away too much just in case Dib picked up on anything. "Whatever." She added, just in case Dib noticed the change of pitch in her voice.
Dib stepped in front of her and flung an arm above her chest, as if she was the one who needed protecting. He probably wasn't listening to Zim in the first place, and would only realize later that he was talking to Gaz.
"Whatever it is you have to say, we don't care, you lizard!" Dib yelled, causing some other students to look their way.
Zim could tell that Dib was ready for a fight. Instead of engaging, he just balled his fists and walked away. That was very uncharacteristic of the same alien who would have mauled a child for looking at him the wrong way. Dib caught that, and squinted at the Irken as he turned the corner.
"Okay, that was weird." Dib added after a moment of processing the scene. "Zim should have… yelled or something."
Gaz didn't comment.
"He must have realized that he's been fighting a losing battle." Dib said with annoying confidence. Gaz raised her eyebrows and gave him a half-frown. Though it felt strange to admit it, Dib might be right.