Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim – I don't quite have that much creative genius.

And so it soon came to be the big night. The dance itself wasn't to be formal at all. It was being hosted by the Irken Empire to help cover up the oncoming Operation Impending Doom 1 and give Irk a friendly, corporation-like appearance. This is partly why it was required for any students at the Irken Academy to attend the dance. Another reason was that the teachers simply enjoyed tormenting their students.

So we now find Zim standing in front of Tak's front door. He had been standing there for over five minutes, trying to decide whether or not to knock. He finally shrugged his shoulders and knocked feebly. Tak immediately threw open the door and grinned, striking a pose to show off. Zim simply arched an eyebrow questioningly.

"Do you liketh my new outfit?" she asked, striking yet another pose.

Zim could not, in all honesty, see a difference between her sets of clothing from the day he had first talked with her and today. But he knew not to tell her that. "Um… …yeah…you look…nice…" Zim said, obviously not used to giving compliments. "Should we head to the dance?"

"Thhure!" exclaimed Tak loudly.

Zim tried to dodge the lisped spit spray and then nodded feebly. He headed back towards his ship. But Tak stayed put.

"A'hem!" she coughed.

Zim whirled around. "What's wrong?"

"Aren'th you going to ethcort me?" she asked innocently.

Zim grumbled under his breath and walked back up to the door. Tak giggled in delight as she took his arm and walked with him to his ship. They boarded his small voot cruiser and flew towards the Irken Convention Center, and well as towards one of the worst nights of their lives.

At the dance…

"Hey! Nithe outfit!" exclaimed Tak to one of her female classmates who was backing away slowly. "And, you haff a date! Thoh do I! Theee! My date ith Thim!"

"My name is Zim," he corrected with a growl. He was quickly pulled over to yet another of Tak's classmates. He groaned. Tak had been parading him around the dance floor and showing him off to all of her classmates, as though he was her pet or something. 'Although,' he thought to himself. 'I am lucky she hasn't asked me to dance…yet.'

Once Tak was finished with showing off to her classmates, she proceeded to start showing Zim off to some of the other alien species which had attended the dance. Zim really didn't mind, because he dreaded dancing.

"Hello! How do you like the danth? Good! Well, thith ith my boyfwend!" said Tak, putting her arm around Zim's waist.

Zim removed her hand instantly. She reached for his waist again. "Hey!" he said, trying to avoid her. "We're not going out, Tak! I'm not your boyfriend!" He shuddered at the word.

Tak turned to face him and put her hand gently on his chest. She looked sweetly into his eyes and said, "No, not yet."

Horrified at Tak's response, Zim immediately drew back. "Uh…um…I have to go get some punch."

"All right. Hurry backhh!"

Zim ran to the concession stand. He slapped five Irken dollars down on the counter and demanded something that would calm his nerves.

"Sorry," said the clerk. "I can't sell to you. You're underage."

Zim's eye twitched. He slapped a one hundred Irken dollar bill onto the counter. "Now am I underage!" he demanded with a hiss.

"No, sir!" replied the clerk, pouring a steep glass of punch that had a bit of an Irken version of Ritalin in it, which Zim felt was going to have to be a necessity for him in dealing with Tak tonight. He drank it down in record time, handed the glass back to the clerk, and said, "Thanks. I needed that."

"She's that bad?" asked the clerk.

"Oh, yes."

"Take my advice, since I'm not using it," said the clerk, leaning over the counter to talk to Zim. "Do what she asks. It'll make the night go smoother and faster."

"Is that advice from experience?" asked Zim.

"Naw. Sounded like it, though, huh?"

Zim rolled his eyes, and then hesitantly walked back to where he had left Tak. She immediately saw him and ran up to him, giving him a huge hug. "I mithhed you, Thimie-Poo!" she exclaimed really loudly.

Zim gaped at her in horror. Some of his fellow classmates began to snicker in amusement. They had to cover their mouths with their hands and turn away in order to keep from bursting into hysterical laughter. Zim felt absolutely humiliated, and Tak took no notice whatsoever.

"Hey, Thim?" she asked.

"What," he asked, even though he didn't really care. He simply wanted to leave.

"Can we go danth? Thith ith a nithe, thlow tune. It would mean thoh muthh to me if you danthed with me."

"I…don't really want to dance."

Tak looked deeply hurt. "Why?"

"Tried it once. Didn't like it. Plus, I have an image to uphold if I'm going to be one of the elite Invaders."

"But…"

"But what?" Zim asked, almost in irritation.

Tak struggled as tears came running down her face. "It'th only one danth. Pleathhe, Thim?"

"Oh, c'mon. Don't cry." Zim looked around nervously. "Fine. Fine, I'll dance with you."

Tak wiped away her tears and smiled at Zim. He returned her gesture with a half-hearted smile. Together they walked to the dance floor and started to slow dance to a very slow tune. Zim grudgingly slow danced with Tak, a frown on his face. Tak, on the other hand, was absolutely enthralled to be dancing with anyone, let alone Zim.

'I wonder if he likes me as much as I do him,' she wondered, as Zim looked over at the concession stand.

'I wonder if that clerk will find out that that was a counterfeit one hundred Irken dollar bill,' he wondered, smiling to himself.

'Oh, he's smiling! He must be happy to be dancing with me!' she thought contentedly.

'By the time that clerk finds out, I'll be light years away, invading an enemy planet for Operation Impending Doom 1,' thought Zim, still smiling.

'He really is happy. Maybe he likes me for who I am!' She paused. 'But I have to know for sure.'

"Thim?" she asked out loud. "Thim? Do you…uh…?"

Zim snapped out of his train of thought. He had thought he had heard his name, but over all of the noise at the dance, he could barely hear anything. He saw Tak looking at him anxiously, and decided that she must have been the one who had said his name. He leaned in and turned his head sideways a little so he could hear her a little better with his antennae. "What?" he asked.

"I thedd…" Tak repeated louder. "Are you happy to be here, with me, tonight?"

"Yes, I suppose," said Zim with a monotone voice. He started to pull his head back so he wouldn't be leaning over, but as soon as he tried, he felt a sharp pain coming from the base of the antennae that was closer to Tak. Zim frowned, and reached up to feel his antennae, following it from the base to where it was…

"Stuck in Tak's braces!" Zim yelped loudly. He began to panic.

"Thim?" Tak asked anxiously. "What'th wrong?"

He had to awkwardly turn his head to look at her. Even this action made his antennae throb in pain. "Tak! My antennae…is…caught…OWW!...in your braces!"

"Are you thure?" she asked with a frown.

"Would I joke about something like that?" he snapped.

"OK…um…let me find thumm help." Tak looked around herself, pulling Zim with her each time she turned her head.

"Oww…oww…OWW!" Zim bawled.

"Thorry!" Suddenly, she spotted one of the overseers to the dance, who was supposed to make sure that things didn't get out of hand at the dance. Tak started walking over to him. Zim yelped in pain.

"Tell me, PLEASE, when we're going to move!" he yelled.

"Thorry…jutht, follow me," she said quietly. Zim, quite obviously, had no choice but to follow her, being pulled along by his antennae.

Tak stopped in front of the overseer. She looked at his nametag. "Um…hello? My boyfriend and I haff a problem."

Zim groaned. "I'm not your…OWW!"

The overseer leaned over. "What's the problem," he asked in a bored tone.

Tak pointed at the antennae. "He got it thtuck."

The Irken saw it and drew back, reaching up to his own antennae. "Oh, jeez! Gahh! That's horrible! How did you manage that!"

"I don't know! Just get it out!" yelled Zim.

"I'm not trained to handle situations like this," replied the overseer.

"Well, obviously not! It's not like antennae get caught in braces very often!" Zim snapped.

"Well, no, but I'm going to have to send you to the hospital. Follow me…I'll get you to an ambulance."

"OK," said Tak with a smile, as she began to follow their new escort down a hallway and out of the dance.

"Oww! Tell me next time that you…OWW!" yelled Zim as he was pulled awkwardly along.