Behind The Tube Glass
By alien freak And Xmimi89eR
story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language
rating: T
ZaDr/ZaDf
Another chapter! Enjoy!! :D
Please read the note at the end of this chapter!
Oh and i had to put Mary's name as the writer as well, she deserves it!
English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.
disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.
CREATING DESKTOP FILE...
SAVING...
THE FILE HAS BEEN SAVED.
FILE: ???
Zim slowly opened his eyes, he blinked making the blur leave his vision. Sitting up, he patted his antennae slightly, wishing he hadn't sleep on them-
He looked at the big screen, still showing:
REPLAY?
Y/N
Zim snapped and looked at the bottom of the screen, at the clock, hoping Dib wasn't here yet. Sighing softly, it was still five in the morning, Dib would be here in an hour, he didn't ruin his chance of getting out, not by human emotions-
Or maybe, maybe he didn't want to hurt the other-
Maybe... maybe not.
He shook his head and leaned down, shifting a hand to close the window, to close every window he opened and return to the desktop, he kept it liked that, knowing he won't do any good if he tried to search the 'TV mood' again, he wasn't ready for more shocking things...
Why was he shocked anyway?
Zim sighed again and huffed back into the chair, moving the useless towel over his lap, he was still tired, he knew that the power his PAK was receiving was low, which meant he needed longer sleep hours, which was annoying.
But before he could complain, his eyes began to close again, not noticing how tired he was...
999999
His arms shifted around, antennae picking a lot of noises, he hissed and shifted again, not ready to wake up.
A small hand tapped his shoulder, "master?..." His SIR unit whispered, though his voice still a high-pitched one... "You awake?"
Zim gritted his teeth and shoved the small hand away, then slowly opening his eyes,
How much did he sleep?
He looked around to see that the computer was back on the 'TV mood' thingy.
Zim rubbed his eyes, then suddenly sneezed-
He heard a small gasp from the other side of the room, "I didn't know irkens can sneeze..." came the boy's voice. Zim shifted to look at him from behind the chair top, only his eyes glaring at the human, "how is that even possible? You don't have a nose- or do you?-..."
Dib caught his eyes with the other, he drank more of his cold coffee, his eyes went to the towel on the floor, he ignored the weird situation and looked back at his laptop, "i brought donuts with me, by the way. also, you've been sleeping for two hours now since i came,"
The irken blinked at him, he could smell some sugar in the room, yes.
He got up and walked to the human, it wasn't the first time the boy decided to get donuts, but it was uncommon. Dib stared at him, then at his wound, the irken was barely walking- but he seemed better than yesterday,
Zim sat down next to him, he grabbed the bag and got out a donut, smelled it, then bite from it. He stared at what the human was typing, not sure what to say, what he saw yesterday wasn't the best, and he didn't know if Dib knew about it, so he decided to start with a small sentence, "irk is the only race that uses cloning."
Dib snapped his head slowly at the alien, not sure how this came out of the blue, "huh?"
"Earth doesn't clone, right?"
"Uhm, no? That's impossible," He drank the last sip of his coffee, and tossed the cup aside.
"Oh."
The boy stayed quiet for a second, "You're a clone?"
"Yeah, we're born in tubes." He pointed at himself as he finished his donut, then leaned to take another one,
Dib was about to say something when Zim cut him off again, "would you like it if you were a clone?" He feared he was too obvious, so he added: "if earth was all cloned?"
Dib thought for a moment, "i don't think i'd like it. It's gonna be missed up," he answered, leaning down to rest his arms on the table,
"But-... i'm a clone, and i'm fine,"
The boy blinked at the weird sentence, eyebrow frowned as he tried to get the hint, "you are fine, I guess..."
"I don't think it's this bad to be a clone."
"Um..." he looked to the side, "i don't know..." then shrugged,
"Never mind." He finally gave up, surely, the human seems against this idea, not liking it at all.
And surely, he had no idea that he was actually a clone...
He didn't realize he stopped chewing, only staring at the human, his antennae leaned over his head, the donut in his hand was at the edge of falling,
"Zim?..."
The irken blinked, then frowned, he stared even more at the boy, after a moment, he looked back at his donut, almost not feeling hungry- almost.
He sniffed, not liking how cold the room was, and why he had one of these 'cold' illness as humans called it, he was an irken soldier, not any human baby, he wasn't supposed to get sick from something as ridiculous as this.
"You're having a cold?" Dib asked, curious, he tossed his laptop aside to look at the irken, who was slightly shivering- how didn't he see that before...?
"Nonsense." Zim replied flatly, not looking at the human, he took another slow bite from his donut,
Dib, not really feeling to get in an argument about something stupid, decided to shrug it off. He played with his black/blue color faded sleeve, then he remembered, "Hey, i found something that may suit you,"
The alien stared at him for a moment, not answering, he really was shaking, "you're stubborn, i said i don't need it." He huffed.
"First of all, i'm not the stubborn one here. Second, yes, you DO need it," he rose an eyebrow, and now he was calling him stubborn?? How amusing.
"I'm n- n- not stubborn!" He snapped,
Dib almost forgot about this whole 'PAK glitching' thing, it made Zim's voice sound like a robot whenever he glitch, it always surprises him, he looked at the half-eaten donut in the irken sharp claws, "you literally thought i put poison on those..." he gave him an unimpressed look, pointing at the donut, then leaned down on his chair.
"Well-... i had to make sure!"
Dib looked at him for a longer moment, almost laughing at how weird the irken was. His gaze went to his pack that was tossed aside on the ground, he shifted his hand and leaned down to grab it.
"I got a sweater, i had it years ago, i'm sure it will fit you," said Dib as he searched the pack, finally catching the yellow sweater in hand and got it out.
"Here." He held it in front of the other with one hand as the other zipped the pack close, he kept it like that for a second then moved it to the right to look at the irken, Zim was folding his arms over his chest, giving the human a hard glare, "c'mon, you said you trust me," he smirked,
"I said no such thing."
"Oh, but you did," he pointed at Zim's torso, at the thick bandages on his spooch, only now realizing the weird drawings on them, "who drew that?" He asked, forgetting he was mocking the alien,
"Gir. He ruined the TV mood and kept drawing on me all night," he sighed, looking at the bandages that were sucked in ink and slight blood. Dib looked at it, lowering the sweater as he stood up and walked to the drawers, opened one of them and got out a new roll, then walked back,
"You need to change them anyway," he shrugged and handed the irken the roll, knowing very well that Zim won't let him do it, or help him.
This time, the alien took it without hesitation and put it on the table, he put his donut on the bag, then started to undone his bandages, hissing at how sticky his blood was. His hand were moving left to right as he took them off, feeling how badly and deeply the bullet got inside of his sensitive spooch, making him flinch harder when he got closer to his own flesh, one eye closed, antennae slightly shaking.
"You should sit straight..." Dib pointed out, flinching as well with every hiss the irken made.
Zim glared at him, he stared hard and long as if saying: do i look like i can?. But of course, he'll never say that- he's too full of himself.
"You want help over there, space boy?" He smirked, liking the nickname he gave the alien, guess he'll stick with it,
"No." Came the answer from the hissing irken, not looking at the boy, enduring what he was doing; he was an invader not a damn smeet- how many times does he have to think about that?? It was humiliating and maybe even embarrassing.
Zim finished undoing his bandages, he threw them on the floor and got the new ones, trying to follow the tip the human gave him, to sit straight, but irk, that was hard enough, he could feel his spooch burning. He finally finished, sighed, and leaned to take back his half-eaten donut.
"Aren't your cuts healed? I mean it's been more than two weeks, I guess..." Dib pointed out at the bandages on the irken's wrist and hands, they were the ones he put when Zim uncaringly climbed on broken glass, they were wrapped from his elbow to his elbow to his fingers, covering half of them, he touched them, feeling the texture of it, "it reminds me of my gloves," Zim said, he didn't seem like taking them off at all; and taking a look at them, they had some blood on them from when the alien was shot.
"Oh. Then you may have to change them," he pointed at the pink blood. Zim noticed what he meant and started taking them off.
After he was done, he tossed the roll and flexed his hands, feeling better at the new ones- he really miss his gloves, though, now he wasn't wearing them, he had the chance to feel the texture of a lot of things, some were weird, and some were strangely soft; maybe living without gloves wasn't this bad, maybe.
Zim leaned back in the chair, already finishing his donut.
"Here." Dib said again, putting the sweater on the alien's lap, Zim jumped slightly, then relaxed,
"I told I didn't want-"
"The sweater is not poisoned, Zim," Dib caught him off, rolling his eyes then glanced at his laptop again, ignoring the stubborn irken, just like he did with the 'donuts' situation, "it's freezing in here, and I truly don't want to clean any vomit," he knew the small cleaning robots did the job for him, cleaned the vomit last time, and the blood; he hoped Zim didn't know about them,
"You didn't clean it. The round-looking robots did." He folded his arms, raising both an eyebrow and his antenna,
Damn his luck. Dib tensed, blushing slightly, never looking at the alien, so he decided to stay quiet.
Zim didn't like being ignored, but he shrugged it off and analyzed the fabric of clothes in his lap. It was soft and obviously warm; the feeling of how soft it was made him grab it tight in his hands, so soft, so warm.
Better than a damn towel.
Unplugging the heavy wire, Zim flipped it and slid his arms on the sleeves, then carefully because of his sensitive antennae, slid his head inside.
The boy turned around to stare at the irken, seeing if the clothes would fit, a slight thought crossed his mind, "you'll have to take it off at night for the charger," he pointed out,
The clothes were halfway through the alien's body when he stopped to look at the human, giving him a questioning stare, he blinked when he knew what the boy meant and turned around, making his PAK face the other.
Dib rose an eyebrow at this before his mouth hang open.
Instead of the clothes being awkwardly above the PAK, the PAK began to 'melt' the clothes itself, making something like a perfect hole in the clothes, but it wasn't what he thought, the sweater wasn't ruined or melting, the PAK was more like an invisible thing, something like a ghost when it runs to a wall and walk through it. Zim's PAK did the same- even with the fact that it was solid.
"Our PAKs can transform itself through clothings. How do you think we wear our uniforms?" Zim said, conforming what Dib was wondering about.
"That's impressive..." he murmured, still looking at the alien's back, as if the clothes were made for his PAK.
And speaking of the clothes, Zim turned around to straighten his sweater, sighing how comfy it was. It did fit him, but still, it was slightly bigger and loose, making it look like an oversized sweater, the neck collar exposed one of his shoulders while the other awkwardly hidden underneath the fabric; it was also big enough that it hanged to his thighs almost to his knees. If Dib wasn't having these headaches, and feeling dizzy, he would have slapped himself for thinking that the alien looked adorable in them-
Maybe he should slap himself.
"It looks good!" He couldn't help but say, a small smile came to his face, fighting a blush (at how small the irken was) from showing.
Zim didn't say anything, he kept touching the fabric, analyzing it, liking it.
He smiled, A pink strange-looking blush formed on his face, but he kept looking down at the sweater, not wanting it to be shown, playing it as if he didn't feel the blush at all, but Dib noticed.
"I told you it wasn't poison," he grinned, leaning closer,
But the alien only let out a 'huh...' and still not looking back at the human.
Dib shrugged, still smiling, he turned around to face his laptop, and continued to solve math in a cure one of his co-workers is working on.
"I think yours look good too..." Zim murmured all out of the sudden, pointing his finger, making the boy tense slightly, he turned slowly, looking at the irken from the corner of his wide eyes, his face was probably red,
"uh- t- thanks," he couldn't look eye to eye with the alien, but he could see how blank the other was, even with the pink blush.
"I've heard about this 'NASA' people," Zim added, pointing at the hoodie.
"Huh. From the TV right?"
"Yes. It's stupid how humans reveal everything about themselves on a screen where any invader could easily download and use it against them." Zim explained professionally,
"Well, they don't believe in any 'invaders' let alone aliens," he slowly rolled his eyes, funny to talk to an alien about such a thing.
"Don't NASA have spaceships?"
"Yeah, they do."
"If you're the ruler- the next ruler, can't you ask them for a ship, then give it to me?"
Dib went quiet for a second, he tried millions of times before to convince the little alien that he was not the ruler, and even if he looked like one, and had the power, everyone still remembers him as the crazy, insane kid, nothing more.
He looked down, "i still have a few months before i will be twenty, and even if i was twenty, they'll give me no shit," he forced a dry laugh out of his throat, not meeting the irken's gaze, smirking while hiding the hurt in his eyes.
"Why not, they're supposed to worship you, obey yo-"
"Because they think i'm insane!" The human hissed, leaning down to rest his head on his arms on the table, and sighed heavily, "I'll always be the insane one."
Zim watched him, speechless, what a weird, stupid, and disrespectful race, no matter what their ruler believes in, they'll believe in too! And these 'paranormal ' as humans call them, aren't all not real, here he was, an 'alien', alive and breathing, he was something real, something Dib believed in, why were they so blind??
The sight of the other didn't seem to be the best, a heavy silence fell on them, he could see Dib drawing random shapes with his finger on the table surface, drowning in his thoughts.
He always thinks, he'll never stop.
"If i fixed my ship, then maybe we could take a ride in space," Zim suggested, hopeful this would cheer the moody human, and with the fact that Dib hated the whole 'clone' thing, and didn't seem to be able to buy it, or believe it might be true, making this whole situation that much awkward for Zim. A bugging feeling rose in his chest, he didn't like this sight, he wanted the boy to be happy- maybe?
Dib slowly rose his head to stare at the alien, he rose an eyebrow, not sure if he heard him right, "what?..."
"I can take you to space in my voot,"
The boy gazed deep into the ruby eyes before him, he searched in them, feeling his heart slightly lighting up, "you would do that?" He finally asked,
Zim nodded, "and because it's rude- SOvery rude to think that i don't exist- that MY race don't exist, i'll make sure humans know about our empire, they'll fear us! Fear us, irkens!" hissing angrily, He lifted his hands into fists in the air, "of course, i'll say nothing about you knowing i was here, but maybe i'll say how they needed to respect their ruler." Nodding to himself, he remembered about the donuts and sneaked a hand to get another one, not realizing how the human was looking at him.
Dib knew he was blushing, he felt a smile sneak to his pale face, and couldn't hold the small laugh that escaped him, "thank you...this means a lot to me," he whispered, knowing well that the irken could hear it.
What a weird feeling, being comfort by an alien and never by his people, he felt abandoned, ignored, and somehow, betrayed.
He didn't only have a friend- an alien friend, but also... someone who he felt comfortable with, who he'd tell his secrets to, talk and laugh with, never being ignored. Zim and Gaz were the closest people to him now; is that weird?
Maybe.
he didn't want anything more... maybe his father- but that's another story. And if he thought deep into it, he'd have to admit, he did find the irken as a good friend. though, making him sit in his lap is more than just friends- but he didn't want to think like that. He's talking about an alien, yes, they might be friends at some point, but something more? No way.
He did still have a theory about how his father died, and he was trying to connect the dots. His dad died after months of breathing the same air as Zim, maybe that was why he got sick.
And now it was his turn. He was having a lot of headaches, the same his father had before dying. His father spent months before catching this illness or whatever it is, so why is he now having it? Shouldn't it take much longer to affect him? Or was his father just pretending to be okay for months before he mentioned any headaches?
but still...
Still, he can't blame the irken now, right? That wouldn't be fair, right? It would be selfish.
He'll need to think much deeper, he needed to find a solution, an explanation AND information. The second thing that came to his mind was coffee, the coffee he drinks every day, it didn't taste weird but his headache did get worst whenever he drinks it, he can't be allergic right?
" you s- sure want espresso?..."
The red-headed boy's words came like a rock in the head. Right! That wasn't normal, not at all, and then...
'Be careful, I don't think coffee is your best choice :('
That message was so unpleasant.
He kept thinking about it that night, and now that he was here, he felt like something was definitely wrong with this. So very wrong.
Yet AGAIN-
"Stop thinking." The irken stated, poking the human's nose, then got his tongue out childishly and teasingly at the human- which he never knew would change the boy's face color to RED. "Hey your face can change color too, i thought only human females can do that,"
Dib knew he was blushing, Zim just looked too innocent and adorable that way, and he was holding the urge to hold the irken's cheeks-
"I'm not blushing!-" he snapped, looking everywhere but at the alien, "...and why do you think only females can blush?"
Zim just shrugged, still keeping his slender tongue out, giving a blank face.
Then after what felt forever, Zim asked, "what's a blush anyway?..." half to himself but he could see the human shift before him, he seemed uncomfortable.
How in the world is he going to explain this? Maybe not the way everyone would think of, yes, he'll explain it scientifically, "... blushing is a... reaction of the sympathetic nervous system and part of our 'fight or flight' response. It releases adrenaline, which speeds up our heart rate and dilating our blood vessels to improve the blood flow and oxygen delivery,
" a- and because blood vessels in our cheeks are wider and closer to the surface, therefore creating the reddened appearance." he answered, satisfied by his reply that even his face began to go normal again, maybe these 'scientific explanations' weren't as useless as he thought.
Zim stared, listening to the long explanation that sounded like horrible ranting, he was almost amused by this fact, humans ARE weird "Why? Are you sick?" He asked however,
Why?? He can't answer that.
"No, i'm not sick."
Zim stared more, waiting for the boy to continue, but Dib never did, he just shoved the question aside- ignored it.
"I love this show!" Gir screamed from where he sat, making Zim forget about the chat itself and just continued to eat his remaining donut. Not noticing the relief that was written on the boy's face.
Dib sighed, happy that this conversation ended.
What was wrong with him??
But he shoved this aside and turned again to his laptop, created a new file and named it:
'???'
Why this name? Well... because he didn't even know what he was doing or going to do. Trying to find a reason why he's having headaches; is the alien involved? or is it all because of the coffee? Was his father aware of this? Why didn't he mention anything about it or took some tests to see the problem? Did he know that the irken had nothing to do with it? Or was he too late to think twice? Was he going to die too? Was his father killed?...
Right, that's the reason why he named the file '???' Because he had a lot of questions, all too hard to find anything about, all giving him a headache.
He'll see what he's driving into, he'll find the truth.
And maybe he should stop thinking about how adorable Zim is.
END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN!
Mary: my god I didn't realize how boring this chapter is, sorry!
I was reading a cute story about invader Zim days ago, and found that long friendship before the relationship is kinda... boring- yeah i'll have to admit that.
But sadly Dib is struggling with headaches and the theories that maybe Zim was why his father died, so give him some room to breathe!
Alien freak: don't worry though, we'll get to the ZaDr parts, but let me tell you something-
Me and Mary won't write lemon chapters.
Sorry about that, but there will be kisses and cuddles ;)
Oh and please review, it makes us happy- SO very happy!
See you next time!
This was alien freak, signing off.
