WHOO this took a while to get out, but I wanted to do something for the season. Nothing xMAS related, I couldn't get that out in time now that I'm finally done with family time. But, this was almost done, so I sat down and got to it. Enjoy!

Part 29: The Birthday

Zim's antennae perked up, a fragment of a sentence catching his attention.

"-irthday, Dib."

"How old are you now?"

Zim glanced up to see Dib across the classroom, still in the process of dropping off his assignment to the teacher, where two of their female classmates were blocking his exit. Zim focused more on Dib's expression. He didn't seem to be in distress.

"Finally, eighteen!" he said. Rather proud of the fact. Zim cocked a nonexistent eyebrow. It was a number. A numerical piece of information. Zim sat straighter, straining to keep his antennae flattened under his wig but perked enough to hear the conversation.

"What are you doing for it? My mom took me to the tattoo parlor," one of the girls said, dropping her voice lower as if it were a loose secret. Zim was again confused.

"Um. Well, I have an idea." Dib admitted.

"Are you throwing a party?"

"No… I don't really do parties. Maybe some other year." Dib said, finally slipping past them to return to this seat. Zim stood up, casually sauntering over to Dib's desk, kneeling beside it. "Hey."

"What's a birthday?" Zim whispered. Dib smirked, flipping through homework for another class. Even when no one was bothering to listen Zim was cautious with what could be considered abnormal.

"It's a yearly celebration, basically to celebrate that you survived another year." Dib explained. Zim gave a gruff hum.

"Seems like a rather grim way to put it." Zim remarked. Dib snickered.

"How's that?" he asked. Zim tacked his finger on the end of Dib's pen, halting his writing. Dib let it drop to the desk, knowing he wouldn't be able to move it again with Zim's strength. "Most people celebrate it for that, they just say it differently. "Congrats, you're a year older!" they say, but the only real accomplishment is that you didn't die in that year. It's almost pointless to celebrate, in my opinion."

"Why?"

"Because it's just a year. Celebrate after a decade, that's an achievement," Dib grumbles. Zim paused and tapped his finger on the desk to rouse Dib's attention back to him.

"Did the Dib-stink's father not celebrate these events?" Zim asked. Dib blinked at him.

"That's oddly perceptive for you." Dib admitted.

"Zim is learning," Zim pronounced proudly. Dib smirked. It fell shortly after and Zim furrowed his brows. "Dib's father hasn't celebrated these yearly events? For either?"

"No. He doesn't really care for them. I'd say it's because he's got his own phobia of death and birthdays remind him it's getting closer every year, but… well, I'm pretty sure he'll manufacture a fountain of youth from science somehow one day. Maybe through that one jellyfish species."

"The one that reverts itself?" Zim questioned. Dib nodded absentmindedly. "That would be grossly irresponsible of him."

Dib looked up in shock. "Why?"

"How would he know when to start aging again? How could he start? Zim does not see that happening in his lifetime if the Empire hasn't been able to," Zim explained, his voice falling to a hushed whisper. Dib doubted anyone was bothering to listen. Dib chuckled regardless.

"Well, that seems to be pretty fair."

Zim watched him as Dib started to organize his things in preparation for the bell. He pursed his lips. "What would you like to do for your birthday?"

Dib paused, thinking. He usually just sat at home and did what he had every day. He hadn't thought of what he wanted to do, much less what he wanted to get. He had an idea for AFTER his birthday; but that was it. He found something embarrassing about his birthday being just another day; though, he wasn't sure why. He finished packing his things.

"I don't know. Something ridiculous, like mining an asteroid?" he said with a laugh.

He had meant it as a joke. He really had. But the look on Zim's face meant the intent had flown right over the Irken's head; because he looked rather excited. Zim stood as the bell rang, smiling wide. It was unsettling because of his teeth, but Dib had slowly become accustomed to it.

"Meet at Zim's house after school."

Dib watched as Zim darted out the door, weaving through their classmates. He didn't think anything of it; grabbing his things and moving to his next class. He found something strange about it when Zim wasn't in their last class they had together, and Dib found himself wondering what he was doing. He was happy to report that the curiosity wasn't rooted in the fear he was being nefarious. Dib was just genuinely curious as to what Zim was planning. Getting a gift from an alien could mean anything.

He walked to Zim's house with a strange mix of excitement and fear of the unknown. He was anxious. But anxious in the way one was anxious when they were about to jump out of an airplane when they were an adrenaline junkie. He walked into the house with no pause for the security system and Gir greeted him with a tackle. Dib was thankful he'd shut the door behind him; or he'd have fallen back into the yard.

"Master said it was your birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"Thanks, Gir. Where is he, anyway?" Dib asked, patting the robot on the head. He doubted Gir knew what a birthday was. That didn't mean that the robot's endless enthusiasm wasn't appreciated.

"Master is up in the launch pad!"

Dib thanked Gir, sneaking out a candy bar for him as a reward, before he climbed the stairs. He discarded his backpack at the top. Zim was with the Voot Cruiser, looking into the main engine compartment. Or, Dib assumed that he was looking at the engine compartment. He didn't know what it would be otherwise. Zim closed the hidden compartment door, catching Zim out of the corner of his eye and beaming.

"Dib-stink, get in!" he ordered. Dib paused. He figured if Zim accidently killed him with an alien gift, it was an alien gift regardless, and that was better than anything anyone else could give him.

He climbed into the Cruiser eagerly. Zim took him past the atmosphere, past Mars, until they were on the outskirts of the Asteroid Belt. Dib felt his excitement start to ebb into fear. He looked away from the window; having plastered himself to it again, still having not lost the fascination with flying. Zim veered smoothly to avoid an asteroid he caught in his peripheral. Dib inched up to him, standing just behind the pilot's seat.

"Zim, how are we going to land on one?"

"Tractor beams."

"…Aren't those to lift things up to the ship?"

"Zim does it both ways."

Dib watched Zim work on the panel. He couldn't read any of it. He'd been practicing reading the language in his free time, occasionally doing so when he and Zim did homework and Zim would idly correct him on something. Despite his practice, the language on the panels' screens were flying by too fast for his eyes to keep pace. He recognized letters, but not full words. He watched as a transparent beam shot out of the Cruiser and towards a rather large asteroid. The Cruiser adjusted, the bottom careening to match the surface of the asteroid as Zim kept them steady.

It hit the asteroid with a small thump. Dib heard something shoot out and into the asteroid's crust, figuring that Zim had anchored the Cruiser. Zim shimmied out of the pilot's seat and patted the back.

"Get in. You're going to mine." Zim announced. Dib balked at him for approximately half a second, if Zim's math was right, before vaulting over the back to land in the seat. He started to eagerly look over the controls. Zim leaned forward, pointing them out instead. "Pardon if Zim doesn't wish to be waiting for an hour."

"Dick."

"This is the drill," Zim said, ignoring him. He pointed to each control as he explained. "You pull it towards yourself to drill and let it return to the top to bring it back. This is the collector, you lower it at the same time; so, it can collect as much as possible. On a planet you'd do it second, but these asteroids lack the required gravity. The tractor beam should keep most of it within range."

"Alright, alright. And how do I turn it all off?" Dib asked, craning his head to see the asteroid. Zim pointed to a screen that had bars leading up.

"Drag your finger down this screen from top to bottom. It will power it down and bring it in."

"Got it. Let's do this."

Zim watched Dib work the drill and collector hesitantly at first. He felt a small need to let him know the Irken tech wouldn't be damaged. Just as Zim was about to when Dib's confidence seemed to return. Before Zim knew it, Dib was ecstatically going at the asteroid. It was less than five minutes before he was laughing as he worked; and less than seven before the ship gave a small chime. Dib slowly powered down the machinery, looking at the panel.

"What was that?"

"It means you found an expensive mineral. …In Earth terms," Zim explained, clacking a claw onto a screen off to the side. A hologram screen popped up. Dib read it over slowly, noting that he'd taken in the usual rock alongside iron, some longer names he couldn't read, and finally his eyes rested on the latest mineral.

Gold.

Dib beamed. "Zim, I struck gold!"

"Oh, so you have. About an ounce of it."

"Is that a Troy ounce?" Dib asked eagerly. Zim blinked at him.

"A what?"

"It's what humans use for precious metals, like gold. They're only a little more." Dib explained. He was looking over the weight, but quickly realized he had neither started on the Irken measurement system and couldn't read the numbers. He resigned to his defeat and returned to his mining while Zim tried to do the calculations in his head.

Zim furrowed his brow, sighing. He left the PAK to do the math. "About a troy ounce, yes," Zim concluded.

"Sweet, I just made a grand!"

Zim's antennae perked up. "A grand? Is gold that much to humans? Isn't it throughout your planet?"

Dib snorted, powering down the equipment quickly and having to compose himself. "Zim… hahahaha… Zim, we can't GET to most of it. It's in the magma!"

"…Oh. Right. Zim forgets what humans haven't accomplished." Zim admitted sheepishly.

Dib turned to look at him only to find Zim's gaze touring the asteroid belt. By God, he was embarrassed. Dib wished he had remembered his phone. It sat in his backpack back at Zim's house, forgotten in his excitement. He was kicking himself for that. But, he was more interested in the mining.

Zim sat at the bench by the window, waiting for Dib to tire himself out with the excitement. He was not expecting it to last for nearly an hour. Dib was incredibly energetic compared to most of his peers; as Zim had come to learn and begrudgingly accept. He'd grown accustomed to the more laid-back lifestyle that Dib tended to lead despite his energy levels. Watching Dib work for so long was started to make Zim feel exhausted himself. Finally, gratefully, Dib powered down the machinery and leaned back with a satisfied huff.

"Finally done?" Zim asked. Dib reached an arm back and groped the air until Zim grabbed hold of his arm. Dib wrapped his own hand around Zim's arm and let himself go lax with an exaggerated sigh.

"I'm beat. But I got a LOT of minerals. I can use some of that in my own lab. And I didn't even have to pay for any of it." Dib announced proudly. Zim smirked.

"If you'd rather do this instead of spending your own money, Zim would be happy to oblige. Getting off the planet for a while is something to do."

"And fun! Every single time."

"Yes, and fun. So." Zim dropped Dib's arm, much to Dib's dismay if his pout was anything to go on, and lifted him effortlessly out of the chair. Dib gave a yelp, more for the comedy of the sound than his own surprise; and was dropped by Zim onto the bench. "I am taking the reins again, and we are heading home. Zim can melt down the minerals for you and give them in a more… compact form."

"That'd be helpful. I can sell the gold if you put it in bars. Just look up what they look like."

"Yes, yes, Zim will do that." Zim agreed, waving him off as he detached them from the asteroid.

Dib turned his attention back to the space surrounding them. "Can we cruise on the way back? I want to watch the stars pass us."

"We can."