AN:Yes, finally, I have the next chapter done. Everyone celebrate...special thanks to influenza, for keeping me home with a swollen throat so I had enough time to finish this...and there's a little bit of close to the Dib/Zim here, but not enough that you can stop reading it (bwahahaha!) and the Fin/Gaz pairing is just starting. Things will be very confusing for all of us before this thing gets truly underway..but from here, the action begins. Promise. Now I'm off to go sleep a little more...I'm sorry if this chapters incoherent, but so am I. I promise the next one will be longer. I hate school.
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Fin laid on her back in her room, the receiver laying in her hand. She bit her lip. Poor Gaz...

She sighed and began to undo her braids. It wasn't like she had any experience with this kinda thing either. They were too young to know what to do. A week ago she'd had a crush on Dib, for godsake...but it was a silly, fleeting thing. She wasn't even sure she had felt THAT way about Dib as much as she just wanted to be close to him. That and silence her parents, who never ceased their endless wailing about how she was too old not to at least have one date...

Dib was a great guy, really sweet. But Gaz...Gaz was amazing. Gorgeous, with that beautiful purple hair curled in that odd way you'd have to be crazy to like (good thing she was) and those slight little arms...she even wore a skull pendant. And her eyes when open, the most gorgeous shade of hazel...

She had it bad.

If only she had it bad for a boy she could bring home...
-
Weakness
Chapter 9
Anything So Beautiful
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Dib paced around the skoolyard, heart beating much faster then was healthy. He was going to see Zim son. Zim, Zim...how should he act around him? What should he say? Were they...going out or something?

A finger tapped him on the back, and he jumped. He swirled round to see Fin, grinning like a cat. A very scary cat. "Hey, Dibby. What's up? You're pacing like you saw Bigfoot again."

He shook his head. "Nothing, nothing at all."

Her grin got wider and, if possible, scarier. "Come on, Dib. You can tell me."

"Its nothing." He muttered through gritted teeth.

She smiled. "okay. But once its all good, you gotta tell me. Your ears are bright red."

"Mmmph." He wordlessly covered his ears. He gave the skoolyard one last sweeping glance, and then sat with a sigh.

Fin sat next to him. "Have you seen Gaz? I wanted to loan her a comic book..."

He shrugged. "She slept in this morning. She seemed a little upset last night."

"Really." She struggled to keep her voice neutral. "Any idea why?"

"Nope." He glanced at her curiously. "She did make some weird jokes, tho...I'm beginning to wonder if she might have a crush on you or something."

Fin laughed. "That's ridiculous, Dib. I'm a girl. And while I don't know if Gaz...likes girls that way or not, I doubt she likes ME like that. We just enjoy the same movies-"

"Dib."

Fin raised an eyebrow. The sound of that voice made Dib jump. He had always seemed a little uncomfortable around Zim, but he had never actually FLINCHED before. She turned her grin over to Zim. He was slightly red as well. VERY interesting. It couldn't be...

"Er, Dib." Zim stammered. "Are you coming over after school today?"

"I, eh-" He glanced over to Fin, who looked like she was stifling giggles. "Sure. Sure, I am."

"Excellent." Zim smiled a little. "I have a surprise for you."

The giggle that had been lurking between Fin's lips escaped. Dib glared at her. "Ill be there."

"Ill...see you then." Zim walked off, trying to look casual.

Fin watched him go, then elbowed Dib in the ribs. "DIBBY! You STUD!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dib muttered, turning a deeper shade of crimson. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, glaring away.

Fin laughed and noogied him. "Okay, okay. Ill lay off. But you gotta admit that was a little obvious."

Dib allowed himself a small smile. "...yeah..."

"You've done well, tho, I think he's mad about you." She twitched her eyebrows. "He was blushing!"

"Was not..."

"Was!"

Meanwhile, Zim sat in front of the mirror in the boys bathroom, chortling quietly and wiping blusher from his face. After studying human reactions to affection-and particularly Dib's the night before-he knew he would have to reproduce the facial blood flow for full effect. Thank the Tallest that GIR had left some of that hideous human facepaint laying around in the bathroom...

Dib's face. He had LIKED that face. So shy. So vunerable. So easily crushed...but he couldn't crush Dib. Not yet anyway.

Not before tonight.
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Gaz walked down the hall, disinterestedly beating the levels on her GameSlave. She had played the game a bah-zillion times before, the outcome wasn't important to her. She wanted to be distracted.

Her father. as usual, had allowed her to stay at home without close scrutiny. She wasn't even sure that he had called her in as absent. However, she could deal with the office tomorrow. They always accepted the "busy scientist" excuse.

She padded down the stairs in her feety pajamas (Yes, one of her darkest secrets was her love of footed jammies) to make some cinnamon toast. Her Mom used to make her cinnamon toast when she was sick. She had always seemed to know how to mix the cinnamon and the sugar perfectly, then bring it to her while she dozed in bed, warm and comfy...

No such luck for Gaz. She tossed the bread in the toaster and got out the cinnamon/sugar she kept mixed for emergencies. This qualified as an emergency, she supposed, and she deserved some cinnamon toast.

Fin was a nice girl. Fin was cute, in a geeky way, with long brown hair she kept back in braids and large brown eyes that were obscured by her thick-lensed glasses. She was appealing in a Rivers Cuomo kind of way. Shy at first, but the more you talked to her the funnier she got...yeah, she liked Fin a lot.

But what was this? A crush? Some kind of weird infatuation? She had never felt this way about a girl before. She had never felt this way about a boy before, either...

A burnt scent filled the air. "Damnit!" She popped out the toast, but it was too late. The bread had been reduced to smoking remains. Muttering to herself, she stomped over to the phone and dialed information.

It was never too early for pizza.
-
"So, heres your stop...good luck." Fin grinned at Dib, who gave her a sick little smile in reply. They were standing in front of Zim's house. Dib eyed the lawn gnomes. Maybe Zim had forgotten to turn them off. Maybe he should just turn around and run home-

"Um, I think I should check on Gaz." Dib tried to turn around. "She didn't look good this morning-"

"You said she was faking!" Fin took Dib by the shoulders and began to propel him up the walk. "Stop being a wuss already and get up there!"

"I-hey, wait a minute-I-"

The door opened. Dib jerked away from Fin and stood up, laughing uneasily. Fin waved at the confused alien boy, flicked Dib upside the head, and left the two.

Zim grinned. "Dib. I was afraid you weren't coming."

"Um, well...you know, hadta check on Gaz." He grinned. Did he really sound that nervous?

Zim gave a brief nod in reply, then took Dib's hand. "Follow me, I have something to show you." He ran inside, still clutching Dib and giving him no choice but to follow. The warmth in Dib's hand made him blush. Zim's hands, even in his newly grown state, were so small...

They went up the stairs, through a portal, and into the garage of the Vootrunner. Dib's eyes widened at the sight of the alien aircraft. Zim giggled a little. "Do you like it, Dib?"

"Yes...its amazing." He ran a hand over the craft. It was cold and smooth to the touch. The front hatch hissed open. Dib jumped back and covered his head, making Zim laugh even more.

"Come on, Dib." Zim leapt into the craft and held out a hand to help Dib. "Its not going to shoot you."

"O-okay." Dib allowed himself to be pulled into the ship. Zim shut the hatch and pressed a button. The roof lurched open.

"Would you like to take notes, Dib?" The starship rumbled and levitated, then blasted straight up into the air.

Dib nodded, and took out his taperecorder. "Tape 2, inside of an Irken aircraft-outer colors purple and silver, strange marking-"

"Its an Irken symbol." Zim reached over and pressed the stop button. "Do this when we get back. There's something I want to show you first."

Dib wordlessly placed the recorder back in his pocket and looked out the window. The hazy blue of earth's atmosphere faded to black. The stars became brighter and more numerous. Soon, he was looking at the moon closer then he had ever seen it before. He looked over his shoulder to see the Earth hanging in a blue and white mist. HE gasped. it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

A pressure in his hand made him flinch. Zim was holding it again.

"Zim." Dib turned to him, desperate to change the subject. "How are we breathing?"

"Oxygen tanks in the craft." Zim sighed. "I didn't bring you up here top discuss oxygen, Dib."

His voice was smaller still. "I know."

"Look out at all that, Dib..have you ever in your life seen anything like that? Anything so beautiful?"

"No..."

Zim scootched closer to Dib. "I haven't, either. I hadn't untill I got to Earth. The stars from the deck of a craft, I've seen many many times. but affection and warmth like the humans have...I have never possessed before."

Dib gulped. "I'm sorry."

"Not half as sorry as I am, Dib..." He stared out of the craft. "I'm sorry we spent all this time chasing eachother, when what we could have was right in front of us."

"What..." Dib turned red. "what can we have, Zim?"

"An end to our respective exoduses. An end to being outcasts...if we have each other, we aren't alone anymore, are we?"

"I guess not. But...um..." Dib turned to look Zim in the eyes. "What are you asking me for? We're already friends."

Zim leaned in close. "I want more then that." His other hand found purchase on Dib's neck. "You know what I'm asking you for. I want to be with you, in the human sense. Will you allow me this?"

"I...I..." In a burst, it all came forward. Years of suppressing himself and his emotions, years of fear and estrangement, years of wanting to say it...After all, the other side of hate is love. In a second, Dib knew his response. He leaned over and threw his arm around Zim, leaning into his chest. "Okay."