Behind The Tube Glass
By alien freak And Xmimi89eR
story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language
rating: T
ZaDr/ZaDf
English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.
disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.
WARNING!
PAK ALERTS (2):
-LEAKING FUNCTIONING SERUM (X8) IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: L66, L56, AND E29.
-DISCONNECTING NERVES.
PAK MAY STOP FUNCTIONING, PLEASE HOLD STILL AND CALL THE NEAREST MEDICAL CENTER.
999999
"Why are you mad?"
"I'm n- n- not, why?"
"You've been screaming at your robot since morning,"
"I'm not mad."
Dib shifted slightly to look at the said mad alien atop of him. "What?" Zim asked, looking back at the human. Dib frowned a bit before a thought crossed his mind.
"You know," he started. "I never thanked you for saving me," the boy said, "so, thank you... a lot." A small smile danced on his lips as he wrapped his other hand on the Irken, taking him in a hug.
Zim squeaked at the sudden affection before calming again. "Yes, yes, the o- o- only 'thank you' I'll accept is you not dying." He said as he put a sharp claw on the boy's nose.
"I'll try." He smirked and took the alien's antennae in his hand, playing with it, knowing it will calm the paranoid irken. Zim flinched slightly, eyes shot to the human, he was about to stop him, not really wanting to go through the control brain's shocks but the sensation was too beautiful to be let down. He sighed and nuzzled his cheek against the boy's jacket, mind clouded with calmness.
After about an hour of just watching TV, Dib shifted again and tried sitting up, alarming Zim as he did so. "What are doing?" He asked.
"I need to take a shower..." The other mumbled under his breath. Zim sat up from his chest and helped Dib to a sitting position. "Can... can you help me go upstairs?..."
"You're not gonna get hurt in t- t- there or anything?"
"Um, no? I'll try not to," Dib said.
Zim sighed and stood up, sliding his arm under the human shoulder and helped him walk. Dib couldn't help but laugh. "What?" Zim asked.
"N- nothing really, just how ironic this is," he said between laughs. "It was you who can't walk, now it's my turn."
The other smirked, "Don't laugh like that, stink-beast," he mocked.
"Hey! I'm not THAT dirty!"
"Yes you are," Said Zim, still smirking at him. They walked upstairs with Dib trembling all the way there; they arrived and Zim help Dib sit on the closed toilet. "What now?" He asked.
Dib looked around to see if his towels were there, thankfully they were. "Just wait for me downstairs, I'll finish quickly,"
"Fine," Zim said, not liking the whole 'a room just for water' thing. He walked away and downstairs, going back to the couch and waiting patiently in there.
Dib sighed and started to take his clothes off slowly over his oily hair, he took the jacket, white shirt, then with his jeans and boxers. The tub was already full so he stepped inside and laid there heavily, resting his head on the edge against the wall, he stayed in there just enjoying the warmth of the water as his thoughts began to seek again in his overtired brain.
I wanna kiss him again...
Was the very first thought that came to him which made his face go red, he brushed his hair with his wet fingers and closed his eyes.
Damn, that's all I want, huh? I am insane...
He knew these thoughts will only creep more so he did what always did; drowned himself. Just a few seconds under water will get his mind clean of unwanted thoughts.
After a moment of just thinking and fighting in his head under the warm water, he decided to raise his head again and wash his hair with shampoo then his body, letting the blood color the water as he stood up, washing the soap away. Then he got out with a towel around his hips and decided he needed to shave, a habit both he and his father liked. It didn't take long before Dib got out and headed to his room for new clothes, another towel on his hair with his glasses back on his face. Dib searched his closet and got out blue sweatpants, a white shirt, and a black turtle-nick sweater atop of it.
He wore his boxers then the sweatpants and was about to get his white shirt on before a wave of another dizziness crept in and he leaned against the wall, feeling his head so light and his body so high. His hair towel fell as he tried reaching for the bed edge to hang on, wanting to vomit but found nothing in his stomach to do so, it burned and ached and felt like his stomach wanted to escape his torso. He stayed like this for about five minutes, just breathing heavily with a clouded mind and a bare cold chest. His forehead began to sweat as his hands began to shake, eyes tearing as his mind tried to put everything in place again.
"Dib?" Came Zim's voice as he entered the room, Dib was taking too long so he decided to check on him. He found the boy on the floor in a cold mess as he panted and whimpered in pain.
"It fucking hurts..." Dib murmured when he felt Zim lean near to him, he realized that his skin was still dampened and pushed himself away from the irken. "Don't get close, you'll get burned," He said in a shaky whisper, unable to look up from dizziness and at how heavy his head was.
"Dib, what's wrong??" Zim asked, ignoring the boy's mumbles and got closer, well aware of the water that was dripping from Dib's raven-colored hair. His bandaged hand went to touch his forehead to find it overheated again, the alien started to panic. "Gir!" he called his SIR unit.
Gir came fast and run into the room.
"Get me the medicine!"
"What medi?" The SIR unit asked, smiling with his tongue out.
"The medicine, Gir! The one in the blue box!"
"Oooh!" He giggled. "Oki Doki!" Then went running downstairs.
"It's hot in here..." Dib mumbled again, feeling his insides on fire. "I'm on fire, make it stop- take the jacket away...!" He said, hands aimlessly wandering on his bare chest, trying uselessly to get the 'jacket' off.
"There's no jacket, you're n- n- not wearing anything," The irken tried to reassure the human, holding his hands in place so he won't hurt himself with it. Zim hissed as few water drips hit his skin but ignored it all. "Stay awake, okay? T- T- That's all you have to do."
Suddenly, Dib leaned and took the other in a hug, nuzzling his face in the other's neck. Zim yelped as the boy's hair touched his cheek. "Ow! Dib! Get off," He said and tried pushing the other, however, Dib was strangely strong and didn't obey.
"Why let go? You're soft," He mumbled, feeling all sleepy again. "What was your name again...?" Amber eyes shot to look at Zim's green face, studying him, trying to remember.
"Oh, irk..." Zim whispered, not liking the sound of this at all. Before he could say anything more, Gir came running with the box in his tiny hands.
"Here ya go!!" He cheered, handing the medicine to his master. Zim snatched it and quickly opened the blue box, trying his hardest to keep his face away from the dampened hair of the human. He got out the small bag and tossed the box away.
"Dib, I need you to look at me..." He said slowly, hands shaky, one holding the bag and the other gently pushing the boy with it. Dib didn't seem to want to, he mumbled something against the irken's skin that he couldn't catch then went limp slightly. "Dib! Don't sleep, stay w- w- with me!"
The human was quiet for a moment then he chuckled slightly as he rose his head, his pupils were wide, a lazy smug on his face. "Do I know you?" He asked, head falling to the side, eyes half-lidded as his smug grew to show his teeth.
"I am Zim! And yes you know me! now hold still-" The irken began but was cut off as Dib placed a finger on his lips.
"You're bein' too loud, we don't wanna 'em to hear us, right?" He said, eyes unfocused. "Well, Zimmy, sorry, but I hate butterflies," He laughed making the finger on Zim's lips fall beside him.
"What does this have to d- d- do with 'butterflies'?" The irken asked, a bit surprised at the weird remark.
"Gahh, my sis will kill me if she knew I date an alien, toooo bad that I'm just a chair," Dib laughed again, coughing slightly in the process.
Zim shook his head in disbelief, looking at the human in a what-the-fuck look, mouth hanging open. "You're drunk," he said, seeming to remember that day when he acted weird; and as Gir put it: Drunk. Whatever that means.
"I don't drink," Dib said, head hanging on the other side. "Jee, I feel hot, are we in the oven? Are we being cooked like cereal?"
"Just hold still!" Zim snapped, holding his face with one hand as he moved the opened bag close to Dib's face. The human flinched and tried to move away.
"I don't do drugs! No! Lemme gooo, I just wanna sleep," His clumsy hands tried to push the alien away, however, he wasn't strong enough. Zim tightened his grip on the bag, he was losing his patience.
"It's not d- d- drugs! It'll help you! And NO, you can't sleep, you just woke up!" The irken snapped again, taking Dib by surprise. The boy went quiet, blinking multiple times as if trying to understand something. Zim sighed and tried again, cupping Dib's face. "Do you know who Zim is?" He asked slowly.
Dib stared at him dumbfounded, he was still, only his shallow breathing could be heard. Then he nodded.
"Who is he?..."
"Someone I love?" He answered and rose an eyebrow, asking himself more than answering.
"Wha- uh, yeah... c- c- close enough..." Zim stated, frowning in confusion. "So if this Zim you 'love' tells you something, you'll trust him, right?"
Dib nodded.
"Then he tells you to take the medicine." He said finally, nodding his head as well slowly, waiting for a reaction. Dib frowned and looked at his lap, after a moment he nodded again.
"Fine..." He said, looking back up, however, his gaze was unfocused. "It won't kill me, right...?"
"It will kill you if you d- d- didn't take it."
"Oh," Before he could say anything else, the powder in the bag was tossed in front of him, with a surprised gasp, he inhaled the medicine and started coughing.
Zim took a step back, not wanting more burns from the human's hair.
Dib coughed into his hand harshly which led to some blood sneaking from his nose, after a moment he stopped and started breathing heavily, swallowing every five seconds. Then with a push of his shaky hands, he tossed himself against the wall again and away from the irken, eyes closed as he tried gaining his breath again, a shaky hand shifted to touch his face, hiding his eyes as he didn't feel his glasses there.
"Dib?..." Called Zim, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Amber eyes shot at him from behind the human's fingers. The boy squeezed his eyes when he saw the green and red blob in front of him, his eyebrows frowned in confusion which made Zim a bit worried that the medicine didn't work. Dib looked at the floor to see his glasses reflecting the light, with some difficulties he managed to hold them and got them on his face, but even with said glasses on, everything was a bit blurry, fuzzy. However, his eyes landed on the new green burns.
"What happened to y- you?" He asked, voice low from screaming a few minutes ago.
Zim folded his skinny arms, not replying.
The raven-haired boy studied the burns for a bit, seeing most of it on Zim's cheek and neck, his clothes were slightly dampened on the shoulder. Dib hesitated. "I... I haven't tried doing something stupid, have I?..." He laughed anxiously, how did he have the urge to kiss Zim in the lab was beyond him; maybe the vents had some drugs in there- now, however, he began feeling more... shy? Maybe just anxious, time wasn't their best friend right now anyway.
"Except from hugging me with your watery hair? No. But you d- d- did say stupid things," Zim said, glaring at the human, before Dib could say anything, the alien spoke again. "Besides, you said you won't die you liar."
"I said I'll try..." Dib mumbled, folding his arms on his bare chest, feeling a bit embarrassed. His eyes landed on the 'drugs'. "What are those?"
The irken anger expressions turned blank. "Eh, something so y- y- you won't die."
Dib frowned at how many times the alien seemed to repeat 'die'. "I don't remember having any of these," He said in a low tone, still feeling lightheaded.
"Oh, I bought 'em." He shrugged.
Dib went blank too. Blinking at the green alien and his pinky dress. "You bought them...?" He asked slowly.
"Yes."
Silence...
"You mean you went out...?"
"Yes."
"Still injured and with a fucked up disguise that may vanish at any moment?"
"Yes...?" The irken got a bit confused, titling his head to the right.
"...For me?"
This made Zim narrow his magenta-colored eyes. "Yes, don't your glasses work??" He snapped, pouting at how stupid the boy had gotten.
"Huh..." That was all he could say, cheeks slightly red with a blank, almost surprised face. The feeling of having someone who cares besides his sister... was amazing. As if still 'drunk' he crawled slowly close to the irken and placed a loving kiss on his unburned cheek, smiling at the fantasy finally coming true and him not being hesitant and shy. "That's a 'Thank you' for saving me..." He said close to the alien's face before leaning away to slid his arm under the bed to get the medical kit out. "And that's a 'Sorry' for burning you." Dib said, opening the white kit.
Zim bit the inside of his cheek, refusing to smile at the beautiful sensation that kiss got inside of him, his hands held his sweater's edge; Dib noticed. "You should put these on the washing machine for the blood, I can give you another one," He said pointing at both the irken's uniform and the yellow sweater. Zim for the first time didn't complain and nodded his head, he slid the sweater off, taking his time so his PAK would transform itself above, then took his pink uniform-like dress off.
Dib sighed as he saw the burns on Zim's shoulder and neck much clearer now, feeling a bang of embarrassment. "Just-... Just lay here on your front, I'll get the blood off first," He pointed at his bed, eyes looking back at the kit to see if there's anything he can use to get the dried blood away without harming the alien. Zim laid on his stomach near the edge, one arm under his cheek as the other arm hanging from the bed edge, he watched with boredom as the human searched for something, completely forgetting his own problem.
After a minute, Dib finally got the stuff he needs out and turned a bit heavily towards his bed which wasn't far. His eyes widened a bit at the pink dried blood on Zim's back, all covering his PAK with an odd blue-colored liquid coming from the PAK's broken slit and falling down on his back, the blood sweet smell was almost sickening at some point. Dib shifted on his shaky knees and started to get the blood away, he can sense the irken's glare at him, however, before he could say anything, Zim spoke. "I'm the o- o- one that should get you fixed." He said, pouting like a pissed child.
"Well, too bad." Dib replied, giving a smug towards the alien. "Jee, that's a lot of blood, you sure you're okay?"
"Yes." Zim said, his anger disappeared and all he felt now was sleepiness, just having someone 'massaging' your back was good enough.
Dib sighed, "What's that blue stuff anyway?"
"What blue stuff?" Zim asked, eyes half-lidded, he was losing more energy than usual and the fact there wasn't suitable food was making it worse.
The boy drew a finger on the blue liquid and showed it to Zim. "This,"
The alien's eyes widened, he sat on his elbow and examined it more, then cursed.
"What is that?"
Zim hesitated. "How did this break? It's not supposed t- t- to leak,"
"Is it bad?" Dib asked, pausing his work. The alien didn't respond. "It is bad..." The boy conformed, his stare softened.
"Is there too much of it?"
"Not really, kinda..."
Zim laid back on his face with a huff, "irk," He muffled. "I n- n- need to fix it..."
"Well," Dib started, getting back on whipping the blood first, taking his time to continue. "You can't do it yourself, so you need to learn to accept help." His amber eyes shot Zim a glare.
Zim didn't respond again, silence fell on them as the human continued his work, he got most of it away and started with the blue liquid, cleaning around Zim's PAK on its shining metal. He finished and started to remove the old bandage off of Zim's waist where he got shot and tossed it aside, moving to clean and bandage the new burns on Zim's shoulder and cheek.
He was done with the shoulder, wrapping the white bandage on it after putting some medicine, moving the bandage to cover his burned neck as well, when Dib was satisfied with it he moved to the alien's cheek.
Dib couldn't take the silence when he was face to face with the irken. "Zim listen, I might be sick and all but I also care, stop being a baby and let me see it, I'm sure I can help somehow, I mean, you've done a lot for me, and don't forget the truce we had; the promise."
"Hm," Was all Zim said as he sat back up, giving more access to Dib, he looked down at his lap, knowing exactly that his situation was bad and Dib's words were true.
Dib stayed quiet as he put the medicine gently on Zim's burned cheek, his eyes locked with the irken's magenta ones. After he put a bandage on his cheek he tapped it and looked back at Zim with a serious face. "Look at me,"
Zim frowned, closing his eyes for a moment before looking at Dib.
"That medicine you got is helping me, so I'm okay for now, I need to make sure you're okay," He leaned closer. "Just trust me with it,"
The alien broke their gaze. "Fine, fine..." He sighed, "I'll let you see it tomorrow,"
Dib smiled, his face was too close he decided his luck and leaned to place yet another kiss on Zim's unharmed cheek, making sure to put it as close as he dared to the alien's lips, smirking at his dirty mind.
"You humans and your strange affection," Zim murmured on purpose to hide his blush.
"Well, you don't seem to hate it, if anything, I think you even like it," Dib said with a toothy smirk.
"Keep talking l- l- like that and I'll strap you to the bed and give you -u -u more of that ammonia-thingy medicine." The irken replied sharply, his tongue pointing out with a stubborn, childish face.
Dib laughed. "This has a double meaning, but okay, I'll stop, let me get you a sweater," He said, moving away towards his closet. He opened it and began searching for something, his hands grabbed a brown sweater that was actually a part of an old uniform, it had the NASA mark on its left side. Some memories of middle school flushed in, in ninth-grade term vacation was a trip to NASA to the students with high grades from his school and others, it was cold so they got them matching sweaters to wear on that trip, and when he says 'trip' he literally means a month long learning trip in NASA place. Dib can't say It wasn't amazing to be in such a place, he was just disappointed at the fact that he hacked into it a long time ago. Not that strong now, huh, NASA?
"Here," He said, giving Zim the sweater as he sat on the bed edge, deciding that was fun enough and he needed to wear something as well, being half-naked isn't his mood right now. As Dib wore his white shirt then the black sweater, Zim wore the brown uniform sweater, he liked the thin white lines around the neck and the hems of the brown sweater.
Dib got the medicine with him, making sure to keep it close from now on. "Take your clothes so I'll wash them," He said.
"Let's go to the couch, your room is boring," Zim said, standing up as he brushed his new sweater and grabbed his clothes from the floor, then walked close to the human to make sure he won't fall. Or worse; die. Somehow...
"As if the couch isn't boring," Dib laughed.
"Well at less there's a TV in there, and you really need to watch over Gir, he m- m- may destroy your 'kitchen'."
Dib snored. "I'm already screwed up." He said, actually meaning it.
At less, he'd be able to play with some irken technology...
END OF CHAPTER TWENTY ONE!
AF: God, sorry for this wait, Mary was sick and all. Anyhow! Here ya go, we'll try to put more plot in the next chapters.
Mary: This story is becoming more and more fluffy at some point. Oh and yes, I updated the cover, it's a remake of the old one. :D
This was Alien Freak, signing off.
