Hello! I did not intend to take a whole year to get this next chapter out! AND YET

Real talk, I got really into other IZ fics, as you can tell, and MHA, as you can probably also tell, and so this one just kinda fell off the wagon in the process and then May came around again and I wanted to draw mermaid Zim again and that reminded me this existed LMAO

I don't have a real "plot" for this one, yet. I have bullet point notes. But, I also have a secondary challenge when writing this fic: Don't Make It A Copy of Your Mermaid Book You're Also Writing On The Side. Which will be….. challenging, because a lot of the head canons I have for Mer!Zim stem from my lore of that book, so I will probably fail to keep them separate lmao

Either way, enjoy!

Chapter II

Dib watched Zim with a heavy sigh.

"Just for a minute," Zim asked—more demanded—reaching for the glasses. Dib held them away, eyeing him suspiciously. When Zim offered no other offers or explanations he slowly handed them over.

"Just a second," Dib shot right back.

It had been ten minutes since he'd relinquished his glasses and he was starting to regret it. Dib wanted to berate himself for even falling for that obvious "just a minute" lie, but he couldn't deny that he admired Zim's level of curiosity. He could at least relate to that, and it gave him a chance to observe the tail and fins more, largely unimpeded. This was, arguably, safer than trying to do it like he had before.

Zim watched the clouds floating by through the lenses, watching as the clouds lost some of their definition as they passed behind the glass. It wasn't exactly unlike when he did the same with old bottles or shards of glass that he'd find on the sea floor, but it was still… different. Somehow still more crisp. Finally, Dib's hand came into his view to make a snatch for the glasses and Zim tilted. He held them over the edge of the dock threateningly, glaring at Dib over his shoulder. Dib's hand froze in the air to hover above Zim's side. Zim smirked, showing off just a little bit of a shark tooth smile. Dib glowered at him. Zim splashed his tail in the water and flicked one of his antenna out, whacking Dib's thigh harshly with it.

"Ow!" Dib jerked away, rubbing at the sore spot.

"It was not that bad."

"Says you. Those things are weapons!" Dib shouted. He made another grab for the glasses, going so far as to lean over Zim to reach. "Give them back."

Zim held them out with the hand furthest from Dib's reach, turning onto his back. The movement ended up moving Dib a little as his body pushed him away. Dib flinched back at the contact, struggling to keep from falling onto Zim. Zim huffed a short laugh and finally relinquished the glasses back to him.

"Asshole," Dib quipped.

"I'm taking that as an insult."

"Good. It is one," Dib snapped.

There was no malice in his voice, though, so Zim let him be. His tail flicked in the waves, the base brushing against Dib's legs as he moved to sit at the edge. He kicked his legs a little, wringing his hands in his lap.

"So… I came out here with the idea of finding a mermaid again, and I was kind of really optimistic about it, I guess, even though I also kind of didn't expect to find a mermaid…but, I mean I don't know what I was expecting—I knew they existed, I mean I knew I hadn't dreamed all that, even though everyone said I had to have made it up somehow, I mean therapy was a complete bust—"

Zim listened to him for a while. The boy was starting to ramble something fierce, the words falling out of his mouth faster than he could actually keep up with. It reminded Zim of the other scientists and Invaders when they were swapping ideas to present to The Tallest. Zim sat up, propping himself up with his hands. Dib was in the middle of regaling why he'd fallen into the water in the first place when they'd first met, but frankly, Zim wasn't that interested in hearing about the clumsiness he's already witnessed in humans.

"Just say it," he demanded. Dib stopped mid-sentence to stare at him uncertainly. He fidgeted a little with his hands.

"I have a surprise?" Dib tried. Zim turned his gaze on him, unimpressed.

"You have a what?"

"Um—a surprise. I just—it was just in case," Dib falters.

His ears started to turn pink. Was he hot? Humans got strange when in the sun too long, he was fairly sure, so perhaps that is what was wrong with the human. Zim flicked water up at him with his tail in an attempt to cool the boy down. Dib sputtered, wiping the water from his face. He pulled his legs up and paused, uncertain.

"I'll only be gone for a minute. You'll be here, right?" Dib asked.

Zim regarded him a long moment before he laid back, hands behind his head as the clouds passed and sunlight started to seep through the leaves of the trees. "I have nowhere to be," he says. Then almost as an afterthought he tacks on, "At the moment. So, be quick."

Dib beamed at him and shot down the docks. Zim listened to his footfalls until he heard a stumble on the sand. He tilted his head, cracking an eye open to watch as Dib fumbled to slip on his shoes before rushing down the beach. Zim craned his head to watch him. He was headed towards that house that had sat untouched, far as he knew, for years. He craned his head back up to the sky, sighing.

Dib stumbled up the back deck and barreled into the house. He had stowed his duffle bags in his room, but the surprise was in the fridge, if he remembered correctly. He had thrown it in there in a haze after they arrived, only partially trusting that he'd ever actually grab it back out before they left. He hadn't really wanted to admit that he may be wrong, or may be right, and his childhood experience had been a near-death fever dream. Just where he'd left it was a brown baggie in the back of the fridge. He snatched it up and shut the door.

"Hey."

Dib screeched, throwing his arms up. Gaz blinked at him, pausing her game.

"That was loud," she comments slowly. "You're done moping already?"

"I wasn't moping!" Dib shouts, waving the bag in his hands. Gaz's eyes follow it and he quickly stops. "I'm… having lunch."

"Isn't that the weird bait you brought?" Gaz prompts, one eyebrow raised. Dib regarded the bag, then her, then the bag, and then the door. Gaz took one step to the side to start blocking his path to freedom.

"Um…"

"You're being weirder than usual," Gaz says. She set her game onto the counter in favor of crossing her arms. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not going to drown," Dib cuts in quickly. He quickly realized that was the wrong thing to blurt out once Gaz took another shuffle to further block the doorway. "No, that's not—I'm really not planning on it—I swear—I just, it's—I need this; and I don't have time—"

"Oh my GOD. You think you saw it again, don't you?" Gaz asks incredulously. She pointed accusingly at the baggie. "Is that shit some sort of mermaid bait? Your weird Eyeball friends scam you into buying that shit?"

"It's not a scam! And… um… I don't know… if it actually works," Dib mumbled. "I mean, I've not tried it."

"Yet?" Gaz offers. Dib found himself nodding unconsciously. He shook his head almost immediately.

"Um—"

"Just don't knock yourself out on the rocks," Gaz spits at him. Dib was nodding and shuffling around her before he paused. He got a wild glint in his eyes and rounded on her in a flash.

"COME TO THE DOCK WITH ME!" he shouted.

He didn't even wait for her to refuse before he had snatched her hand in his and yanked her out the door. He pulled her with enough force she was left no option but to focus on not tripping in the sand and throwing insults at him as she tried to pry his hand off. She really would have loved to kick his knee out, but he wasn't giving her the second she needed to do that if she didn't want to face plant into the sand and be dragged instead. She dug her heels into the sand just to spite him. He pulled her regardless and they rounded the corner to where she could see the docks ahead of them.

"—let me—uh."

Gaz's brain stopped. As if all thought processing stopped. Dib dragged her, heels the only thing keeping her upright, all the way to the dock where her feet hit the first step and he was yanked backward by the sudden jolt. Both of them fell back into the sand.

The… thing on the docks looked up to them once Dib yelped. It looked bored, but slightly intrigued. Then, it focused in on her. Whatever calmness had been seeped into the thing by the sun seemed to evaporate immediately. The antennae on his head reared forward. Then, Gaz's ears were immediately assaulted by the hissing. As if hundreds of cicadas were suddenly surrounding them. She'd heard that before, and while that sound was deafening, it had never hurt. This was like a spike to the head. She clapped her hands over her ears, managing to stifle the sound enough that she could think straight.

Dib scrambled back beside her, doing much the same. The thing on the dock—Dib had said the name "Zim" at some point on the way here, hadn't he?—splayed its fins out. Somehow, they got even larger. Combined with the shark teeth she could see very prominently she was hoping that 'Zim' wasn't eyeing up her throat.

"What the fuck what thefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck—"

"Zim! It's my sister!" Dib shouted.

The hissing quieted enough that Gaz tentatively lowered her hands. They felt wet. She glanced down to see that she had small trails of blood on her palms. A quick glance to the side confirmed Dib was bleeding, too. Not profusely by any means, but it might have torn their ear drums. She sat there, unsure what to do, while Dib tried to talk to Zim. She couldn't really make out much of the conversation once Dib had moved over to him, hearing more of a ringing in her ears than words. He made it about halfway down the dock before stopping to sit and talk instead of risking upsetting the… that couldn't have been an actual mermaid, right?

But then what the hell

Gaz shakily stood, steeling her legs so she wouldn't fall when she walked up the dock. The last thing she was going to do was show any more weakness in front of this thing.

"—never said I couldn't bring her," Dib argued. The fins were deflating, at least. Which was a good sign. And she couldn't see the shark teeth anymore past the sneer.

"You made a mistake, land maiden," Zim growled. Dib brought the baggie in front of him, waving it.

"What I did was bring a surprise, like I said I would," Dib countered boldly. Gaz watched as Zim's eyes seemed to track the baggie curiously. She sat behind Dib, ready to shove him as a sacrifice if she had to bolt. The thing didn't have legs, so she didn't have to go very far before it couldn't reach her, unless its arm strength was something of horrific legend.

"….What is it?" Zim asks. As Dib started to explain the "mermaid treats" to him, Gaz locked eyes with it. A finny antennae—because what else would those things on its head be?—flicked a few times and a curious expression crossed its face.

"And it's got a hint of… you're not even listening." Dib deadpanned, letting the baggie drop to the wood. The motion snapped Zim out of his daze.

"No," he admitted. He took the baggie and dragged it over to himself, taking a sniff. "But, it smells acceptable."

"Well, let me know if it tastes acceptable," Dib murmured. He shimmied a little, blocking more of Gaz from Zim's view.

"I recognize her now," Zim stated, popping a piece of jerky… something, in his mouth. It was greyed, green, and Gaz wasn't entirely sure it wasn't just some sort of jerky kelp. The Swollen Eyeball would trick her idiot of a brother into buying something like that.

"What?" Gaz asked.

"From the beach. You were smaller," Zim says pointedly.

"I thought you'd be smaller," Gaz comments. She elbows Dib in the ribs. "You didn't say it was huge."

Zim made some sort of choked sound. His face flushed a deeper green, almost blue, and he propped himself up on his hands, screeching again. At least it wasn't blowing her eardrums out.

"Do not call me that! I am one of the smallest of my generation and the insinuation of that—"

"What that you're not tiny?!" Gaz spat with a scowl. "You're bigger than this idiot!" she shouted, pulling on Dib's cheek.

"Ow, ow, ow."

"You cannot say that," Zim stressed, his hackles raising again. Gaz shot up and took a few steps back. Dib watched her guiltily. He turned back to Zim with placating hands.

"We won't, we promise," he says. "Right Gaz?"

Gaz and Zim locked eyes for a tense moment. She nodded, regarding him with as much tension as he was her. He visibly calmed down and she made her way back to him. She really, really wanted her bat. She'd heard about fish scales cutting people if you ran your hand over them wrong, or the fish thrashed, and she would punch the… fucking mermaid in front of her if not for the fact she risked tearing up her knuckles doing so. Or lost a hand.

God, she wanted her bat.

"Wait a fucking minute," Gaz said. Dib turned to her, looking tired already, and Gaz wondered how he could dare look tired with a mermaid laid out in front of him. "You're one of the smallest?!"

"Yes," Zim hissed. "And do not say otherwise!"

"How big do you things get?" Gaz asked, almost sounding angry. Dib whipped his head back around to Zim, eyes ablaze.

"Oh! Yes! How big does your species get? Is there a size limit? How varied is it? Does it affect daily life?"

"I'm beginning to regret saving you," Zim said flatly, his head hitting the wood planks. Dib deflated with a tired sigh and Gaz snorted.

She took a seat behind Dib, setting the boy between her and Zim. She sat staring at the water while Dib accosted the green mermaid. She wasn't very interested in anything the creature said. Her only concern was that he didn't try to eat her. It was a good half hour, based on the shadows of the trees, before there was finally a lull in the conversation when Dib had to take a break to regain regular breathing patterns. Gaz felt eyes on her and flicked her gaze away from the water towards Zim.

He was staring at her. Looking less bored and more contemplative.

"What?" she snapped.

"You're like Tak," Zim says, scowling. He absently reached for the baggie, pulling it close enough to take another treat.

"Is that a friend?" Dib asks.

"No."

"We have a lot in common then," Gaz says flatly.

She bolted down the dock when Zim made a lunge for her, getting caught by Dib, who was still dumbly sitting between them. She turned just in time to see both fall off the edge of the dock, screaming the whole way to the water. The baggie teetered on the edge; but it didn't fall.

"Heh."

Dib's head broke the water surface before Zim's did. Zim shook himself out, his antennae smacking Dib upside the head. Dib rubbed the sore spot of his cheek away, glowering at Zim. He pushed his hand over his hair and took his glasses off, shaking them out. He sat on the sand bed with a sigh, the water sloshing against his back and ribs. Zim glowered at Gaz from his position in the water, sinking down until the waves were brushing his cheeks.

Gaz shrugged. She watched as Zim's fins raised as he growled and made a note that she needed better running shoes for the beach. Though, frankly, she doubted he could actually get far on the sand. She chanced going to the edge of the water and taking a seat on the sand, hugging her legs. Dib turned to her with a grimace.

"I just got dry," he says.

"Bite me," Gaz says automatically. She caught the feral look in Zim's eye, the twitch of his antennae, and shot him a deadly glare. "Not you!"

"It would be a clean break," Zim promised. His tail thrashed once in the water, sending water spraying everywhere and eventually hitting her with the aid of the wind. Gaz flinched from the cold spray and leveled him with a withering glare.

"I'll break your head if you think you're getting anywhere near me, bitch."

"Zim should have drowned you when you were smeets!" Zim roared.

"Learn proper English!"

"I know English perfectly fine!" Zim shouted. "For instance," he shoved Dib to the side so he could glare at her more effectively. "FUCK YOU!"

Gaz shot up, wishing she had her bat with her even more. "COME AT ME, BITCH, I'LL KICK YOUR FANGS IN!"

"Get in the water then—"

"Get on the beach."

"Do not kill each other!" Dib ordered loudly, latching onto Zim's torso like a koala bear. "If you don't kill each other, I'll give you my glasses for an entire hour, and you," Dib looked up to Gaz, "a whole new gaming system. Deal?"

"…It is acceptable," Zim muttered, seemingly calming down enough to lay more on the sand bed.

Dib sighed, leaving his arms around Zim, at least until the other threw him off. He could feel the tiny scales that made up Zim's skin and was more than happy to know it wasn't one of those "shark scale" effects or he would have lost his arms by now. And his back now that he recalled Zim hauling him towards the shore.

"Gaz?"

"Fine."

"Ok, thank god, because I am too tired for this shit," Dib grumbles. He leaned against the post of the dock, dragging Zim with him by his waist. Zim paid him no mind, keeping his glare trained on Gaz. She flipped him her middle finger. "I'm begging you not to do this."

"Perhaps next time you let the monster from the ocean know that you're bringing someone by," Gaz spat at him, pointing to her ears. "BEFORE HE BANSHEE SCREECHES!"

"I admit, I made a fatal error. I'm quite good at them," Dib says with some mirth. Zim turned back to him, an antenna raised slightly, curiously.

"Quite. You almost drowned. Twice."

"I told you I wasn't drowning—"

"I should have let you—"

"I wasn't going to drown," Dib stressed, shoving Zim off his lap.

Zim flailed in the water a second before righting himself. He splashed Dib with his tail, drenching him entirely once again. Dib coughed, trying to clear the saltwater from his lungs, and whilst he was distracted Zim snatched up the glasses. He started to inspect them in the water similarly to how he had on the dock. Gaz watched as he experimentally lowered it up and down through the water, dunking his head to look through them, raising them to the clouds and along the shoreline.

Gaz loosened up a little, sitting more casually as she watched the pair. Dib seemed to be resting, fighting off sleep. She had to admit herself, it was warm enough out that she could take a nap right there in the sand if it weren't for the oceanic monstrosity before her. As if Zim could read her mind, or perhaps because the universe liked to fuck with their entire lineage, Zim clawed his way halfway up the dock's pole and grabbed the treats bag with his tongue. His tongue shot out, curling around the bag and pulling it off the edge of the dock.

"Whoa!" Dib splashed away, laughing. Gaz could only gape.

Zim's jaw unhinged next, like a snake, and the bag almost completely disappeared into his mouth as he clamped his jaws around it. Portions of the bag stuck out between his teeth as he turned to him, an antenna flicking upward curiously. He chewed on the bag, until the entire thing was gone into his gullet.

"What the fuck," Gaz whispered.

"I have so many questions—" Dib began, eyes already shining.

"Save them for later," Zim cut in.

"Is that like an Angler Fish? Can you move your bottom jaw like a Goblin Shark?" Dib asks. Zim recoiled, gagging in disgust.

"Do no compare me to those disgusting things," Zim grumbled. Gaz snorted, drawing circles in the sand with a stray stick.

"Not a fan of the deep, dark ocean, Flipper?" she asks. Zim growled lowly, his fins flicking a little against the water. Dib cleared his throat, shifting to sit between them to block their views of each other.

"Hey, Zim, did you want to see inside the house?" Dib asks. There was a beat of silence.

"What—"

A small rock beamed the back of Dib's head. "OW!" Dib whipped around to see Gaz reeling her arm back with another small rock.

"You're letting it inside?!" she screamed.

"He won't do anything!" Dib shouted back. He turned back to Zim. "Right, you're not going to do anything, right?"

Zim stared at him, dumbfounded. He eventually did move, to flick Dib on the forehead with the knuckle of his finger. "You would bring an unknown being into your base, with so little regard?"

"…Well, when you both put it like that… I guess, no?"

"Why is that even something you have to think about?!" Gaz shouted. "No! Obviously!"

"B-But—Zim, you can't do much in the house, anyway!" Dib says. Zim raised an antenna curiously at him. Dib ignored Gaz's loud huff behind him. "The house isn't full of water like the ocean. You can't move around a lot in it—" Zim turned around to move into deeper water. Dib shot out to grab at his arm.

"No, no, no, wait!" Dib pleaded. When he didn't let go at one shake from Zim, he turned on him, hissing loudly. Dib recoiled, his hands up in defense. "You're not going to be trapped, of course! I wouldn't do that to you!"

"Liar."

"No, really!"

"LIAR!"

"The hell would I do that for, anyway?!" Dib asks, slapping the water. "I want to keep talking to you but it gets too cold at night in the water, and I have to sleep, and I can't just float into the middle of the ocean, besides I thought you'd like to see inside the house, you've never been inside, right? And you could leave any time you want, I don't doubt you could just crawl out of the house—you dragged me all the way to shore—"

"You are exceptionally light—" Zim says.

"DO YOU WANT TO STAY IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT OR NOT?!"

Zim flicked his antennae, studying Dib. He didn't seem to be lying about anything he'd been spewing. IF humans lied the same as anyone in the Empire did, that is. He was certain that Dib wouldn't jeopardize his only connection to a new, sapient species. His sister, however, Zim was less enthused to believe wouldn't try to kill him during the night. He flicked his gaze her direction only to see she was holding a much bigger rock now, and glaring daggers at him.

"I will concede to one night," Zim says.

"Really?!"

"But, I am not hunting my dinner if I'm staying in your base," Zim says, crossing his arms.

"That's fine! I can make you something!" Dib says excitedly. He bolted up from the water, dashing past Gaz and forgoing his sandals entirely. "I'll be right back!"

Zim watched him race towards the house, hopping halfway there as he stepped on a rock. Gaz stared after him, too, with her mouth slightly agape. She groaned, rubbing at her temple. She knew he'd go overboard the second he saw anything remotely paranormal—or what she'd assumed was going to be something completely natural that he entirely misinterpreted. She wished she could explain away mermaids, but that wish was slaughtered the moment she'd come to the dock.

Gaz stood, holding the rock tightly in her hand. Zim settled in the water, letting the waves reach up to his shoulders. He cocked an antennae at her. She tapped her foot, glaring down at him. She tossed the rock behind her into the forest and took a step closer to the edge of the water. Zim smirked, showcasing the visible front row of serrated teeth. Gaz stopped shore of entering the water.

"Here's the deal, and it's the only one you're going to get," Gaz started. Zim hummed, swaying his tail in the water. "I won't come for your head if you don't hurt Dib. Fair enough?"

"Hm.. Yes, fair… enough?" Zim says.

He turned to watch the house, trailing off. Dib was racing down the beach with a blanket wafting behind him. He stopped short of the water, draping the blanket across the sand.

"Can you get on this?" Dib asks. Zim blinked at it.

"You're joking," Zim says. Dib shuffled nervously on the sand, rubbing his neck.

"Um… well, no… I couldn't find anything else that would make it easier."

Zim sighed, dipping down into the water fully for a moment. Maybe be could just walk on his hands until he reached the house. Or sleep under the dock. He wanted to see the inside for once, though. Zim groaned, splashing out of the water and shaking off the excess liquid. He clawed his way onto the beach, rolling onto the blanket. Gaz pinched her brow.

"This is the best you could come up with?" she asks.

"I mean if you want to help—"

"Pass."

Gaz sauntered past them, grabbing their sandals on her way past. Zim snickered, getting comfortable on the blanket. Dib grabbed the edges of the blanket and pulled. He had to tug on it a few times to get enough of a start to glide it across the sand. Zim gripped the edges of the blanket and pulled himself up. The house came nearer to him with each step Dib took. He could see far more detail the closer they got—closer than the edge of the shoreline ever granted him. He could see the extent of the overgrown foliage around the foundation under the back deck, the detail of the wood and brick that made up the siding far better than he could from the water, and even the light fixtures of the ground floor at this new angle.

Dib paused at the back deck's stairs. He looked over to the side of the house, where there was a hill, but at a steep incline. He hummed to himself, mulling over dragging Zim around the steep hill and through the garage or right up the back deck and onto the primary landing. He'd have to go up a flight of stairs either way to get him to the tub. The bathroom with the largest one available was the main floor's master bath, sporting the biggest jacuzzi tub Dib had still ever seen, regardless of how many hotels and rentals they'd stayed in over the years.

If nothing else, he determined, the sliding back door was easier to open than the handles of the garage entrance. Dib released the edge of the blanket, squatting down to be eye level with Zim.

"Okay, I think I'm going to have to carry you the rest of the way," Dib says nervously. Thank Einstein he doesn't have shark scales…

"WHAT."

"I have to carry you up the stairs, unless you want me to drag you past every step," Dib says flatly, gesturing to the steps behind him. Zim's antennae lowered steadily until they shot up again.

"Fine! But do not drop me, or you'll be losing a foot!" Zim snapped.

"Trust me, I'll probably break my back if I drop you on these things," Dib grumbled.

He grabbed Zim's arm, hooking it around his neck before Zim could think of protesting. He kept a steady grip around Zim's arm, careful not to press too harshly into the fins there; and hoisted him up back to chest. He hooked his other arm under Zim's tail, having to settle for the area at the lower half where the back fin wasn't in the way of his grip. Zim wrapped his other arm around Dib's shoulders when Dib stumbled, trying to gain some balance.

"I got you," Dib assured him with a laugh. He had to admit, though, that Zim was much heavier than he looked. Dib grunted, taking the first few steps up the stairs. "You're nothing but muscle, aren't you…"

"What else would I be?" Zim asks.

"I don't know, blubber?!" Dib says, struggling only halfway up. Zim made a chuffing noise.

"No. The volcanic vents keep the Empire plenty warm."

"The what?" Dib asks, pausing on the stairs.

He quickly kept moving, his arms growing sore already, and he was not about to risk actually losing his foot if he dropped Zim now. He could ask later. Once he'd reached the deck, Dib sighed in relief. It was a flat walk from there to the tub and he couldn't be more grateful of that. He tried to walk quickly to the back door. Gaz stood on the other side, slowly sliding it open as she watched them, brow raised in disbelief, as Dib waddled inside.

"You're kidding…" she breathed.

She slammed the door shut behind them. She went ahead to the back where the master bedroom was. Gaz paused in the bedroom doorway, noting that the blanket on the bed was missing. She turned on her heel right back out the back door, nearly toppling Dib on her way by, ignoring his and Zim's shouting as Dib stumbled sideways into the wall. She rushed down the deck, snatching the blanket out of the sand with a groan.

"DIB, WHAT THE HELL?!" she screamed, slamming the sliding door behind her once more and tossing the blanket onto the floor.

"It was the biggest one we had!" Dib shouted back.

He waddled into the master bathroom, finally setting Zim down on the edge of the jacuzzi tub. He sighed heavily, rubbing at his sore arms. Zim crawled into the tub, sitting at one end with his tail hanging out the other, over the edge. Dib started the water, settling for lukewarm to start.

"Okay," he breathed, letting his arms dangle at his sides. "If you want to wash off the sand, do it now. And you can just press this knob here to plug the drain and fill the tub with water. Just don't flood the bathroom."

"I believe I can manage."

"Okay, great, because I am going to my room and taking a steaming hot shower," Dib says. "I'll be back in a minute."

Zim hummed. He waited until Dib had disappeared before he looked at the tub's faucet. He wasn't entirely certain where the water was coming from, but he was at least grateful it was temperature controlled. He could only stand the icy cold water of the depths for so long; and soaking in it sounded like a nightmare. He plugged the drain, settling back into the tub as it filled with water. Once it had reached his shoulders, he turned the handle the opposite way he'd watched Dib turn it until the water shut off completely. It was slightly murky due to the sand, but it would settle soon enough.

He looked around the bathroom. This… was nothing like the Empire. He glanced around at the sheer amount of white that plastered every inch of the bathroom, only broke up by the mild greys and stark blacks that accented everything. He noted the abundance of surface area on the counters, a secondary faucet area in one of them, and the area immediately surrounding the tub. He could fit a decent amount of his own tools on the edges between the tub and the wall. There was a window at one wall, giving him not a view of the ocean but of the forest. He could see the ocean through the master bedrooms window if he leaned forward far enough, cut off halfway through that window's frame by more forestry.

Zim frowned, readjusting in the tub until he was on the other side, water sloshing over the sides and onto the floor. He shimmied down the tub's side, readjusting until his fins weren't pinned anywhere and his tail could lop lazily over the side of the tub. Dib came back in not long after with a towel over his shoulders and sporting his pajamas with a UFO plastered on the front. He paused in the doorway, looking at the soaked floor.

"….Seriously?"

"What?"