Zim scoffed as he stood up from his seat and walked to the teacher's desk.

"That was way too easy," he sneered at the woman behind the desk.

"Silence," the teacher hushed, "The others are still testing!" "Right, right," Zim added before he confidently marched back to his desk. He shot a glare at Dib, who sat on the other side of the classroom- just like in elementary. Dib nervously flipped back and forth through the test pages, his eyes piercing them as he repeatedly read the same sentences. He let go of the thick packet and put his hands on his face, clearly in distress.

Ha! Stupid human, this test was merely a simple task for me!

Zim peeked at the rest of the students, who surprisingly looked just fine and not in any kind of state of anxiousness. Puzzled, he looked back at Dib, who was still visibly uneasy.

Zim remembers how hard he studied all this week, being isolated for more than half a day inside his room. He didn't eat, he didn't bother going out of his room, and even worse held in his pee for most of the day. Zim shivered at the gross thought and looked at his desk. The 'ZIM IS THE BEST' sentence was still there and visible as ever, he had carved it in on the first day of school and was later sent to the principal's office for it. He traced his irken fingers around the carving as he thought to himself.

He has been on Earth for more than 5 years now, and though the irken empire will forever be engraved in his mind, he tried pushing it away for years. He dearly loved his tallest, but he won't be forgetting how wrong they treated him soon. Zim remembers the day clearly- he had gotten a sudden transmission from his dearest, and happily answered. His innocent smeet brain had thought they wanted to know how he was doing, maybe if he needed any help, any weapons-anything, to destroy the filthy humans and make his dearest proud. Unfortunately, the only thing he came across was the tallest laughing hysterically laughing about sending Zim to some god-knows-where planet to get rid of him. Their degradation just kept coming: It felt like a lifetime for Zim, and he had heard enough. He left the call and wrecked his base in pure anger and agony. He will never know if the transmission was an accident, or if they did this on purpose, but regardless of that- he felt pathetic. How could he have fallen for that? Was he that stupid? It all started making sense, from the little yellow sticky note on the tallest's gargantuan board that was not anywhere near the Irken Empire, it was millions of lightyears away. The stupid S.I.R unit he received was nothing but pieces of garbage stuffed into a lifeless body. Zim had the potential to fix GIR- to become the S.I.R unit he always dreamed of, but there was no point in doing so anymore. He decided to abandon the Irken Empire.

Zim stared at his desk for what seemed more than 2 hours, only to look up at the clock on the wall above the doorway to find it had only been around 20 minutes. Zim sighs, His time perception was still shit even after 5 years on Earth.

Zim hissed in irritation; he was starting to die of boredom. He quickly sets another glance at the distressed human but soon realizes Dib's paper was soaked in tears. Zim's antennae burst up, making his wig almost fall to the floor. Was the pathetic human...crying?

Zim unconsciously stood up a bit. "Dib-"

Zim let out a small gasp; he caught himself, slamming his hand onto his mouth and sinking into his seat- everyone stared at him. Everyone seemed to have noticed except for the human he called out to.

The class was silent, but everything was deafening for Dib. Time ticked like a bomb, and he was tangled in the wires; he didn't remember shit from the last week at all. Dib clenched his fist, tears continued to stain his paper.

Remember, remember, remember, remember, remem- DIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

The school bell rang- it was finally time for lunch. Dozens of students surrounding the two boys cheered and screamed as they ran out of the classroom. In a moment, the room became hollow and even quieter than before. Dib stayed at his desk, motionless, with his face still sunken deep in his paper- resembling a lifeless body.

Zim stared the human down with concern.

It's not like I care or anything. He thought to himself as he stood up from his old-looking desk, promptly walking out the door. But! His thoughts collided with him; he wanted to see what would happen next. Walking out the door, Zim immediately jumps beside the doorway- eavesdropping.

He wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was, but no one cared to say anything.

A minute or two passes, and nothing has happened. The clock roughly strikes each second, leaving an even worse and deafening silence in the classroom. Zim shuffles his feet, getting greatly impatient, pondering if he should walk away.

"Dib, I need you to hand in your exam."

Stillness emerges from the class.

A sigh breaks the silence, followed by the teacher's chair creaking.

Zim quickly spun back to his spot- almost falling right in the doorway- to

listen intriguingly.

The women's heels clacked with each footstep.

"Dib, did you hear me?" She sounded irritated. "Get up-"

"I'm almost done." The boy's voice sounded shaky. "Just give me five more minutes. Please?"

"Dib, it has been almost 50 minutes now, what is taking you so long!" she growled.

"I'm...sorry- please just-"

The sound of quick rustling and a "No!" from the boy startled the alien.

What the fuck is going on?

A violent THUD came from the class; Zim frantically peered in to see the cause of the disastrous sound.

Zims eyes scanned the room to find the boy on the floor- face planted into the grotesque floor, with the teacher holding his test.

The boy slowly lifted his head after a few seconds.

Dib's dried face quickly turned into a water fountain once more, he stood up carefully- trying his best not to fall again.

"Please, don't tell my dad about my grade." He bawled.

"I assure you I most definitely will," she replied sharply.

Dib sniffled loudly, walking towards the door- right where Zim was standing, observing every movement the human made. Zim stumbled backwards in panic, ready to run, but Dib was already stepping into the hallway.

"Zim?" Dib said softly, attempting to wipe his tears away. "What are you doing here…"

"Erm- I had to...wait outside the classroom" he pointed to the class, "the teacher wanted to see me."

"Oh," Dib replies "Well go ahead."

Dib turned around, ready to leave- it was lunchtime after all, and he needed some time alone.

"Wait," Zim reaches out. "What's going on with you?"

Zim gets a good look at Dibs face; his face looks so much worse than imagined.

Dib's face was filled with tears and small bruises around his cheekbone.

"Nothing, Zim." He says, avoiding the alien's hand. "I'm fine."

"Where did you get those bruises? Was it when you fell just now-" Zim's face became rosy. "I wasn't watching you, I just heard a loud noise and looked inside. That's all."

Dib's face remains the same- not understanding or caring what Zim had said, brushing it off.

"Yeah…" Dib scratches his arm, "I fell really hard."

Zim murmurs to himself in a language Dib has never heard before. He stood in front of the alien awkwardly, waiting for him to finish.

"Lunch is almost over." Zim, at last, said. "You need to go eat-"

"I don't go to lunch." Dib interrupted.

"You always go to lunch," Zim said, concerned.

"I'm just not hungry-"

"Eat with me." Zim sincerely spoke.

Dib's eyes widened. "What?"

"I said come eat lunch with me."

The boy looked down for a few seconds, avoiding eye contact.

Zim hated the awkward silence; "I figured you need the filthy nutrition from the school's awful food-" "Are you trying to trick me?" Dib interrupted.

"Eh? All I did was ask-" ''Y'know we don't have the best relationship, Zim. You've hated me since you've arrived on earth. And now you're trying to be nice to me?"

Zim's eyes furrowed. "I know we aren't-"

"Of course!" Dib continued, "I should've known."

"What are you talking about!" Zim's voice raised in irritation.

"Don't act fucking stupid!" Dib snapped back, "I know what you're trying to do!"

Sniffles arise from Dib's nose- snot. He leaned on the hallway wall before sinking onto the chilling floor.

"Just leave." He sniffled, "You're being a dumb alien again."

Zim stood in awe of what he just saw. He tries reaching his hand out again- but he knew it would be a waste of time. And by the time Dib lifted his head up again, Zim was gone.

Walking towards the cafeteria, Zim's stomach filled with dread and nausea.

Something was wrong, and he was clueless of what to make of it.

Authors note: aaaaaaaaaa Chapter 1 took me around two weeks to complete!!Ill start working on chapter 2 possibly today or tomorrow; This is the first fanfiction I've ever posted and written seriously. Thank you for reading!!!!!!! It means a lot to me

-Paranormilia (9/7/21)