Behind The Tube Glass
By alien freak And Xmimi89eR
story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language
rating: T
ZaDr/ZaDf
I was busy so my friend helped me a lot in this and the next chapter, thanks Mary :D
English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.
disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.
'CALL THE TALLEST?'
Y/N
CALLING THE ALMIGHTY TALLEST...
999999
It was morning again, the sunlight sneaked to his room, his alarm clock was making the most annoying sound any human was greeted by in the morning. There were some cars that drove by, some dog barking was heard, and then some cat hisses.
He groaned as he moved to the other side of the bed to turn off the alarm clock. It let out a 'click' sound, and stopped vibrating.
He shifted to the edge as always trying to gain his fall awakens so he won't trip-
His head felt heavy,
Dib stood up and put his glasses back on his face, he headed to the bathroom to take a shower...
999999
The first thing he did when he got there is to get a cup of coffee for his headache, he walked inside the shop, shifting his gloves in his hands. He gazed around, hoping he won't find the annoying man, but damn his luck, there, in the far corner he sat.
Even though he was wearing some goggles, Dib still could feel his eyes on him, watching every move he made, studying him, he swore he saw him grinning behind his lab coat collar.
This made Dib uncomfortable.
He walked to the cacher, the same tired looking teen boy with red hair, he leaned down to get the others attention, "hey, i want my usual," he said looking at the man from the corner of his eye,
The red-headed boy flinched as he saw Dib, he gazed from him to Dale, "you s- sure want espresso?..."
Dib rose an eyebrow, "yeah," he decided not to sit on the table so Dale won't bother him. The cacher went to make his coffee, which was... odd, don't they have other workers here? To make the coffee and other stuff?
He gazed at his black gloves, he hated them but had to wear them and the lab coat in front of the other scientists.
After five minutes, the red-headed teen came back, he looked again at the man.
Dib followed his gaze, he wouldn't be surprised if the man scared the other teen, "thank you." He said and walked out fast so Dale won't follow him.
999999
When he entered the lab, he was surprised to find the alien sleeping, he usually wakes up hours before Dib arrives, but now he was crawled as a small ball in the chair as he drowned in deep sleep. The TV was on, the same cartoon was showing, the volume was high, it made Dib want to block his ears at the childish noises the characters were making, laughing in a high pitched voice, giggling, saying 'ooooh!' Every now and then, and oh, a lot of friendship!
He walked into the table to put his half-empty cup and papers, he sat down on the chair and opened his laptop, still having a headache that won't go away.
He worked for a few minutes till he got too annoyed with the sounds, "Gir," he called but the SIR unit seemed in another world, he called again, nothing.
so he stood up and walked to the robot, "Gir would you keep it down??" He said as he put his hand on the robot's shoulder to gain his attention, (though he never knew if the robot could feel the touch, but he could eat and feel cold, so Dib wouldn't be amazed if he could feel his hands.)
"Hmm??" Gir finally looked towards him, he was blank for a second then started screaming happily when the 'big-headed boy' came as if he NOW just saw him.
"Mary, Mary i missed youuuu!" He said jumping to hug his forearm,
"Shh! Be quiet!, Zim is literally sleeping here," he hissed and tried to get the robot off of his hand, "and the sounds are annoying, I'm having a headache, could you lower the volume please?"
"Aww, okay!" He sat again beside the irken and lowered the noises,
Dib sighed and looked at the sleeping alien, his PAK was humming slightly as his chest went up and down with even breaths, his features were rather a little tight, as if something was bothering him instead of peaceful expressions.
The boy didn't think much of it and walked back to his chair to work.
Few minutes went by, he was almost done, he could hear 'hugging' cartoon noises come from the TV, and was surprised that Zim didn't wake up before because of them. Rubbing his face, he gazed at his coffee, the empty cup sat beside another empty one from yesterday, he forgot to clean it up.
He leaned back at the chair and scrolled through his phone, just a small break from his work, from cat memes to unread messages, then at some news, some about famous people and others about people claiming they've seen a vampire.
Then a noise caught his ears.
His head snapped to the TV, but it wasn't from it, then he looked at his phone, no it's not his phone...
His gaze traveled to the irken, he would have thought he imagined it but his eyes saw the alien's antenna twitch, and heard him whimper as he shifted around,
"Zim?" He asked, thinking the irken would answer him as usual, but he only heard him shift around more, antennae moving around in every direction, Gir didn't seem to notice as he watched the characters hug for the million times.
Confused, he stood again and walked slowly to the main chair, he stopped in front of the shaking irken, he moved a hand to tap the alien's shoulder just like he did to Gir to get his attention,
He tapped twice, but got nothing, so he sat beside him and shook him slightly, "wake up,"
Nothing.
Dib put both hands on his shoulders and shook him a little harder, "Zim," His voice slightly louder, "wake up!"
He almost yelled in fear when he felt something on his forearm, it was a sharp and tight grip, a groan escaped the alien's throat, his eyes snapped wide open.
gasped for air as he jerked forward, his hands traveled all over his body, from his chest to his legs, he kept touching as if looking for something, hands clumsy and shaking, eyes wide, mouth open as his lungs didn't get enough air, his antennae moving around, touching Dib's face, his clothes, the wire on his PAK, it tried touching anything and everything.
His body shaking badly, shuddering, he quickly held into the warmth he felt coming from the other chest, claws digging in the boy's flesh.
Dib hissed and leaned back, he rose his hands in the air when he felt the other lean too close to him, as if he was hugging him.
He kept shaking, murmuring words under his breath, "my spooch is in place, i'm not floating, i'm not bleeding..." he said to himself, holding tighter, eyes unblinkingly, he rested his head in the human's chest,
Dib gazed in confusion and worrying, his hands moving down to his sides as he slightly relaxed that the alien won't kill him,
"Zim?" The boy asked, but only received the same words as he repeated them over and over again, he seemed to be having a seizure. Hands finally leaned down on the irken's back, he hugged slightly in a comforting way, he felt the other shiver in his arms, "it's fine, i think it was just a dream," that all he could make out from Zim's behavior,
The words the irken was saying got slower and slower till it came to a part where Dib couldn't understand what he was saying, was that... irken language?
He tightened his grip, an attempt to gain the other attention and to calm him down.
Zim squeezed his glassy eyes, antennae finally stopped moving and leaned against his head, he got closer in the other's lap, holding tight. then he heard something, something he was desperate to hear again for a while, his antenna moved against the fabric of the shirt, listing, he could hear and feel the same lullaby, the human's heart, it beat in an even way, maybe a little faster this time.
His body calming down slightly, the grip loosened but still held to the shirt. It was a warm feeling, his mind felt like it was in another place, fear slowly fading, he breathed deeply, feeling cold.
"You okay?"
The question made his eyes reopen again, he shifted his head and looked up at the other's face, eyes wide in their natural way, he wore a fear expression, antennae twitching every now and then.
His mouth opened to form words but nothing came out, he just gazed with fear, looking at the shining amber ones.
Dib hesitated before he put a small kiss on the other's forehead.
It didn't mean much, just a thing he used to do to his sister till she was ten, saying she was an old girl now and no longer needed night kisses to keep the scary big monsters away from crawling into her room and eating her head off, Dib would leave the door open so the light would sneak inside, he was sure Gaz appreciated it since she didn't scream at him to close it.
But the look on the other face made him rethink the whole situation, of course, the alien didn't seem to know much of humans lecture, including 'kissing'
His face slightly became red as he realized his weird behavior, looking around the lab room, then back at the ruby big eyes as they gazed wide at him, but not with fear this time, rather... blank? Or confused, surprised? He couldn't quite put them together so his gaze went for the antennae, they were slightly Upwards, was that the natural pose? He didn't seem scared anymore...
Antenna twitching.
He couldn't help his hand as it sneaked from behind the irken and touched the end of the right antenna, his fingers stroked it as he studied it feeling, one eye wide than the other as he focused his gaze at it, it was breakable he could tell, it was soft, so very soft.
Zim flinched and almost drew back at the human's hand in his sensitive antenna, hands held tighter to the shirt,
Then his body relaxed and melted slowly in the boy's lap, his hands almost fall from their grip, eyes half-closed. Whatever was happening, his fear seemed to drain away from his body, everything that made him anxious faded away, his head leaned further in the fabric, he sighed.
The human boy seemed to notice the sudden weight in his lap, he gazed at the other who looked so calm and sleepy, his hand stopped for a second at the weird reaction, but continued stroking as he squeezed his eyes, his head was heavy and hurt a lot, the room was quiet if he didn't include the TV sound.
A headache.
His father kept having headaches for a few months before... dying.
The doctors said something about his brain, it kept overworking, so a huge electricity became a problem, it damaged a part of his brain, as if an explosion happened inside, which lead to a short coma, it didn't last long before his heart came to a point where it stopped, forever.
But why now? His dad wasn't too old to die like that, it didn't make sense.
But then...
What if the alien was the reason why...?
He came from another planet, though he didn't hold any harm to humanity, there was still a chance, right?
Maybe he could control minds? But that also didn't make sense...
If he had the ability, then he would order his dad to release him a long time ago.
Maybe humans were allergic to something in their breath? Skin?
Dib didn't seem sick before he let the irken out of the tube, maybe he caught the virus as well...?
Maybe it's something even Zim didn't know he can do,
And that means... was he also sick like his father? Was he going to die because of it? There's an alien in his lap, breathing the same air he's breathing.
"Maybe he was too smart his head exploded, lol." A comment he was tagged in on Twitter said, the account was abandoned and seemed new, the user didn't respond to their messages telling him to delete it or apologize.
When his sister knew about it, she swore she'll choke who did it.
And to be honest, Dib would do the same.
It wasn't funny, his dad died and they get hatred from one fucked up human, it was weird since everyone liked the professor, that dude seemed crazy.
He hissed slightly at the pain, it wasn't much, but he had it since two days ago, and couldn't stop it neither with pills or coffee.
And actually... he thought coffee made the matters worse.
The irken shifted.
What if it wasn't him, what it this 'sickness' was from his dad, or maybe that's how work feels like, some lack of sleep and stress, no wonder he'll get a headache.
He can't just blame him like that, right?
Even though he's an alien...
His father spent half a year exposed to the irken, but didn't get any headaches, unless he didn't tell anyone, but that wasn't like his father. His dad would tell them anything, every device he made, every idea, and news.
But he didn't say anything about finding an alien...
He wondered what will he do if he knew last year, he was still the same, but...
He might plead to see him, talk to him, touch him, and cut him open on a table.
Maybe...
What made it different now? It's been only a year, he can't change that much in one year.
Were they now... friends, if you could say that.
How weird did that sound, oh right, everything was weird now, he's not surprised.
His hand slowed.
He almost laugh at the image of someone walking in and seeing them like that. An alien sitting in his lap, hugging him, grabbing his shirt as the human stroked his antenna.
He blushed.
Now THAT was a weird idea.
Why did he even blush? He knew their position wasn't the greatest for someone to see, but that didn't mean anything of course. Just being nice, he guessed.
His head leaned back.
Was he falling for him...?
"No way..." he said under his breath, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to get the idea off, he stopped stroking the irken's antenna. A sigh left his mouth.
If the aline wasn't used to the human talking to himself, he would have been surprised if not confused. He shifted his head from the beautiful lullaby and looked at the other, face blank if not satisfied and calm. His thin arm moved to the boy's face, pressing his claw in the weird human thing they call a 'nose'.
And got the same reaction every time.
The boy flinched and blinked several times then gazed at the other big ruby eyes.
Oh he was falling!
His face turned red at the close gap between them and looked away, silence fill the room before he broke it, "wanna talk about it?..." he said as he lowered his hand, still not looking at the other, at the eyes that's full of wonder.
"Hm?" The irken said with the same blankness as last time,
Dib tried looking back at him, "you had a nightmare, right?"
The alien blinked, oh right, he did, was the warmth, lullaby, and the calming feeling he had made him forget that easily?
He looked down, almost shaking his head as a 'no' but caught himself, so instead, he shifted to move away from the other, making his bare feet touch the cold floor, balancing himself and waited for a minute to see if he'd fall, but thankfully didn't.
He looked back at the other and moved his hands in a 'gimme' motion, "i want to work on my voot," his said, gaining his personality back.
The boy could actually see a pink blush in the other but shrugged it off, he was too dazed to think.
He stared at Zim, then at the floor, was it always that hard to get up?
He sighed and pushed himself on his feet, almost collapsing, "let's go then." He said while walking to the room.
999999
Dib was surprised at how fast the irken had repaired his voot out of nothing, it wasn't perfect and it still couldn't fly, but it's been only a few weeks, and he was alone working on it since Dib had no knowledge to do anything, he would help with somethings, But not much.
"I think i'm almost done..." the irken murmured,
"With what?" Dib rose his head and walked to the irken who was sitting in the pilot chair, pressing keys after the other,
"The communications!" He said in a cheerful voice, "it SHOULD be working..."
"That's good, I guess," the boy leaned to look at him, noting how his antennae were high in the air.
He paused and murmured something in irken under his breath, then sighed, "let's see..."
He was happy to know he still remembers his tallest calling code, it was more like a phone number like humans called it, the tallest has the longest code so only people who were worth it would know, including Zim of course.
He typed the code.
The screen lit up red saying, 'calling the tallest...'
Dib watched in silence.
The call took too long, Zim held one of his hands as he waited,
'Blocked.'
Came the word harsh, the alien leaned forward again, "blocked??" His face was full of disappointment and worry, he typed more words,
'Calling the tallest...'
Silence...
'Blocked.'
Zim slammed his hands in the console, "w- w- what do you mean blocked?!" He shouted, there was NO WAY his beloved tallest would block him,
He thought for a second, did he know any code other than his tallest? Irkens don't chat with each other and usually never give the other their code, he almost gasped when he remembered, skoodge! His friend, he will answer, he should answer...
He tried to search in his PAK memory drive, some memories were actually broken...
And there, he found it and typed it.
The screen again said,
'Calling skoodge...'
They waited but not for long,
'Blocked.'
"AGH!" He snapped, how in irk was he BLOCKED!?
Another code— number came to his mind, just a test, to see if his ship was still broken, he typed the number,
Dib jerked when he heard his phone, he looked at the alien who gazed back at him, "answer it." He ordered,
Did got his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller, to his surprise, the number was a bunch of endless numbers of '9'. He rose an eyebrow at the irken, and answered it, "hello...?"
His voice echoed in the ship, it was working, his voot just called the human's number, and it wasn't even glitchy,
"So why..." Zim murmured under his breath, he heard the human end the call and gazed at him,
"It's not working?" The boy asked,
Zim just shook his head.
"Oh..."
Zim seemed still for a second before, just gazing at the screen, it reminded Dib of last time when his SIR unit didn't work, he thought the other would do the same and give up, but instead, he just sighed, "maybe because earth is far..." he knew that was never the reason, irken technology could call you wherever you are, so what was the deal?
"What other options do you have?" Dib asked him,
"I'm not sure, they all seem... impossible," he shrugged, even though he acted cool, it was obvious he was down.
"Give it a try."
"Well, i c- c- can fix my voot so it could fly and leave," he looked around at the burned ship, "... i can fix my PAK, so i could send them my location, a S.O.S as you call i- i- it," eyes met with the other, "i can fix my base, the drill, if i could, then i can set my base here, it have labs and rooms, And of course a c- c- computer to call the tallest,"
"A base?" Dib asked confused, how the hell could he build a whole base?? And what does this have anything to do with a drill?
Zim looked around at the ship floor, he saw it last time in the ground, he didn't care to move it,
He leaned down to take it in hand, a red-looking device like a drill in his hand, it was as small as a bottle of water, "this."
Dib pointed at it, mouth slightly open, he rosed his eyebrows, this? THIS? "What?..."
Zim sighed in annoyance, "this is my base, the one i use when i invade planets," he explained, but that only made the human eyebrow twitch, "irken technology, it keeps everything micro small, when i activate it, the base would go back to its normal size, it's an underground base."
The boy blinked, "wow..." that was MORE than just wow!
"Yeah but it's broken... it may take me a while to fix it. And also, where could i sit my base at? I'm stuck here, i'll have to fix my ship or my PAK,"
"You didn't work in your PAK though?"
Zim didn't answer, he even regretted telling the lab man that his PAK was his life source, maybe he was too out of it to think, "i can't," he whispered and looked away,
"Why is that?" His eyes on the shining metal,
"I can't reach it."
"I thought you could take it away, for a few minutes if i'm not wrong, or maybe you can't function right?"
"It's broken, Dib!" He hissed, "i fear if i tried working on it, it won't reattach to my body! I can't even s- s- speak and you want me to risk removing it?!"
The human jumped at the loud yell, he thought of it for a moment, he was right, it was too risky, like trying to remove a weak organ away, it may not work again... "want me to help?"
"No way!" He yelled without seconds thoughts, not even an irken is supposed to touch the other PAK, it was illegal.
"It's your only way, you know...?"
"You know nothing about PAKs, human." He hissed,
"And you could do nothing, i can follow your orders?" He insisted, working in an alien ship was fun, but in a small device that looked SO advanced, made him want to jump and beg for the other's permission,
"It's written in irken, you can't understand irken." He said with a cold tone.
"I can follow your orders." He said again,
Zim thought of it...
"No."
Dib just sighed, the alien was really stubborn.
Zim shifted, almost falling while he got out of the ship, and walked to the back. Holding some kind of a tool in his hand, he leaned and removed some metal in the surface, cutting wires and attaching the other, getting something out, then opened the smaller thing, he worked in its tiny wires, it looked like a chip at some point.
Dib gazed at him sheeplike, not knowing what to do, then the irken said, "hold this for me," not looking at the other.
The boy walked to him as he traced his hand in the metallic surface of the ship. Leaning down and doing everything the irken said.
No matter how stubborn the irken was,
He had to fix his PAK sooner or later.
END OF THIS CHAPTER!!
Alien freak: eh i dunno what to say, but i liked how things are going, both these boys needs to learn to trust each other, and i'll make sure of that *evil laughter!*
Thanks again for my friend!
This was alien freak, signing off.
