Hehehehehe in my midst of writing MHA in a fever pitch, I slipped on my IZ cap because I remembered this chapter was next PFFT. I'm hopping between about, and this is not an exaggeration because I've counted, almost twenty WIPs of chapters for fic already posted (like this and Zuko Gets Adopted) and unposted one shots and multi-chapter fics. So. I clearly do not know how to manage my time ahaha
Warning for slight homophobic behavior. It's quick and gone fast enough, but fair warning.
Enjoy!
Part 68: Urban Exploration: Take Two
Dib eyed Skoodge a little warily. It had been a good few hours now, and aside from Dib grabbing himself a snack in place of lunch, he hadn't done much to get to know Skoodge more. Part of it was because he was too busy focusing on trying to translate all the Irken Skoodge and Zim were exchanging as they caught up. Zim wasn't trying to speak slowly for Dib's benefit and so he was getting lost amongst the clicks and hissing that encompassed the conversation. Part of it was also that he was trying desperately to keep from interrogating Skoodge himself.
He had so many questions. So many "Zim before he came to Earth" questions. So many "give me embarrassing stories to use against him" questions. And Zim would never let him ask if he could help it, so he had to be stealthy and patient. Patience was his virtue only about half the time. His impulse control destroyed it the other half of the time. With Zim out of commission with Skoodge Dib had been forced to call in Impulse Control Plan B.
He really hoped Gaz didn't murder him for calling her to the house out of the blue.
Zim was in the midst of retelling Skoodge the haunted house story—Dib had to use context clues mostly, but he had been able to piece together enough to know Zim was at the part where they had fought over the lighter—when Gaz kicked open the front door. Dib's immediate reaction was to jump five feet into the air off the couch. Zim's was to harshly smack the PAK laser from Skoodge's PAK so the beam hit the floor instead of Gaz's head. Zim looked over at her, giving her a once over just to be sure that she was fine, only to find that she looked ready to murder.
"Wait, don't," Zim said quickly. Gaz stomped over, ignoring the Pak laser as it twitched up towards her. Zim shoved it to the side, hissing at Skoodge until the PAK had drawn the laser back in.
"GAZ WAIT DON'T HE DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE COMING!" Dib shouted. Zim rounded on him, sticking his own leg out to stop Gaz's advancement.
"I DIDN'T KNOW EITHER, ASSHOLE!" he screams. Gaz slammed his foot on the table. "OW!"
"I get one punch!" she demanded, vaulting over the table. Her fist hit Skoodge's jaw before anyone could respond. Skoodge blinked, holding his jaw and staring at her. She had instantly seemed to calm down—if you didn't catch the rage in her eyes—and was readjusting her jacket as she stepped off the coffee table.
Her punch had nearly broken his jaw.
He wondered if she'd just broken her fingers. She didn't look phased. Skoodge turned to Zim, bewildered. "Are you sure that they're not Irkens?" he asks.
Gaz whipped around, smacking him upside the head this time. "I'm right here!"
"That was your fault," Zim says. He turned away from Skoodge when he turned to him for any kind of support. Dib could only offer an apologetic smile and a shrug.
"I-I didn't think she'd kick down the door…" he admitted. He turned to her, a pleading look in his eyes. "Why did you kick down the door?"
"You text me that there's another Irken in the house, did not explain, and you think I'm not storming this place?" Gaz asks. Dib opened his mouth and Gaz shot him a withering glare. "Tak was the last Irken here. Do the math."
"This is very déjà vu," Zim said, eyeing Dib. Dib shot him an unimpressed look.
"This is not the same."
"Isn't it?"
"On what planet?!" Dib asked. "Do not actually answer that."
"But, I could—"
"Christ, please, no," Dib begged. Gaz ignored them, turning to Skoodge. He was watching them questioningly. She had a pretty good idea as to why and took a shot.
"The first day they met they ran each other into traffic and got each other attacked by a dog," she says flatly. Skoodge blinked at her and then stared disbelievingly at the two again. "How'd you and Zim meet?"
"How did you and Zim meet?" Skoodge parroted.
"He used me as a goddamn umbrella and I almost killed him," Gaz answered easily. She would not elaborate. Zim's antennae had twitched in her direction.
"It was raining!"
"So?"
"I was literally burning!"
"No excuse. You could have taken the umbrella I had, dipshit," Gaz said. She kicked the coffee table into his shins. For the first time in the last few hours Skoodge saw Zim's claws, as they dug into the table, come out and then, curiously, retract when he addressed Gaz again.
"It's not like I knew what that was! I panicked."
"You're a moron."
"How was I to know the waterwas deadly?!" Zim shrieked.
"What." Skoodge looked at Dib before glancing back at Zim. "Like… all water?"
"Yes, all the water," Zim said, brushing off the flakes of wood his claws had dug out.
"You… you offered me a glass," Skoodge says, pointedly looking at Dib.
Zim turned to Dib slowly. Dib felt sweat on his brow and smiled nervously. He chuckled, tugging at his shirt collar, feeling very warm suddenly. "I was just… trying to figure out if he was Irken or not…"
"What if I had said yes?!" Skoodge asked. Dib floundered with his words a moment, waving his arms, and then sighed loudly.
"I wouldn't have let you! I'd have dropped it, or something, I don't know!"
"You have the water gun on you, don't you?" Zim asked slyly.
"It was purely for self-defense."
"Dib."
"Murder was not on the table—Zim, Jesus Christ, stop looking at me like that," Dib whined. Zim's smile only widened.
"Like what?"
"Like you're proud!"
"Dib, holy shit," Gaz wheezed. Dib's face flushed deep crimson as he shot up.
"Hey, you kicked down the door!"
"I thought you were dead, you asshole, you didn't return my texts!"
"I was trying to translate their Irken, I was focused—"
Zim sighed heavily, ignoring the two. The smile was still planted firmly on his face as he leaned back into the couch. It was still an unnerving smile to see—mostly because being subject of a proud Zim was rarely for any good reason—despite how long it had been since Skoodge had seen it last. He turned to Skoodge, slipping back into Irken as easily as if he spoke it every day.
"This is typical. Ignore them. They'll tire themselves out," he says.
Skoodge just nodded numbly. Gaz had Dib in a headlock. Zim looked just as unconcerned as before. Perhaps this was normal behavior on this planet. He certainly wouldn't know. He wanted to, however. He wanted to learn quite a bit about it. He looked between the two others, he had so many questions. "Zim post coming to Earth" questions. "How did you make friends with the Irken intent on taking over the planet" questions. "Did anything he tried actually work because you're clearly still here" questions. "Tell me embarrassing stories" questions.
Questions Zim would never give him answers to.
Finally, Zim seemed to deem it time to break apart the duo because he shoved his foot between Dib's face and Gaz, ordering her to let him go. She had snapped back something about being a bug—what was considered a bug on this planet?—but she did eventually let Dib go. The boy fell to the ground with a thud and a groan. Zim stood straight again and stretched, stuffing his hands into the pockets of the hoodie.
"Since you're here, Gazlene—"
"Die."
"—pick where we go. I want to go outside."
"Seriously? First this dipshit wastes my time and now you want me to pick where we go and hang out for the day?"
"Would you rather Dib pick?" Zim challenges.
Gaz paused, glancing down at Dib. He would pick a museum, or some educational center, or perhaps the zoo. While she could find some entertainment in showing Skoodge the deadlier fauna of the planet, she had no doubt, she didn't feel like dragging Dib around a large swathe of area as he ranted endlessly to the new "alien buddy" he was going to force friendship upon. Nor did she want to go hoofing it in the woods, as Zim was more than likely to suggest, when she wasn't wearing her typical hiking boots. She'd opted for the more heel-esque boots today, and she didn't want to try and risk twisting an ankle. Not today. She sighed, pinching her brow.
"Fine. I want to go to your campus quad. It has a coffee shop, right?" she asks. Dib grunted from the ground.
"You just want to flirt with the barista girl again," he groaned. Gaz kicked his shoulder. "Ow. Am I wrong?"
"You're paying," Gaz declared, spinning on her heel. "C'mon, Zim, Dib is treating."
"You only get one dessert!" Dib shouted, shooting up to stand and point at the alien in question, before Zim could even speak. Zim gaped at him, offended.
"What if it's just a cookie? Can I get more than one, then?"
"… only if they have the packets left," Dib concedes.
"Deal," Zim said quickly, rushing past him to the door where Gaz was waiting, leaned against the frame. His hologram disguise flickered on before he'd exited the house. Skoodge hesitantly followed him, his disguise flickering on as well, and Dib locked the door behind them.
"What is a "quad" in this context?" Skoodge asks. Dib guided them to the car, slipping into the driver's seat. Zim took up the front seat before Gaz could even reach for the handle, sticking his tongue out at her as she glared through the window.
"Think of it like a very relaxing place humans gather to hang out," Gaz says curtly, climbing into the back seat. Skoodge hesitantly took up last seat, copying Gaz's motions to buckle himself in.
Throughout the drive, Dib was pointing out random buildings that Skoodge was certain had a purpose, but he was still enraptured by Zim. A Zim that was being calm.
This planet really tamed the most chaotic Irken I've ever met in the Empire, Skoodge thought. Zim had slipped down the seat, feet on the dashboard, just sticking his tongue out at Dib when the boy tried to smack his feet off the dashboard. Before this assignment he would have clawed the offending hand and arm to shreds for daring to even touch him. Or he'd seethe silently, without trying to hide it if he didn't feel the need, and simply create something to do the killing for him.
This is very strange.
Zim laughed at something Dib said.
What is happening.
Skoodge never got the answer to the increasingly prevalent question as they pulled up into a parking spot and he was ushered out of the car by Dib. He looked around the quad curiously. Several humans were roaming the pathways. A few were tossing either a disc or some sort of ball around. In the center was a small structure that he assumed was the "coffee shop", and a decent amount of tables. Surrounding the entire quad were larger buildings that the humans were entering or exiting. He followed the trio as they made their way to the coffee shop and Dib sat the two aliens down at a table. Gaz had wasted no time going up to the counter to place an order.
"I see the chocolate muffins—" Zim began.
"You get one," Dib repeated, leaving to get the snack.
Skoodge watched his back until he reached the counter before turning to Zim. He was scrolling through a cellphone aimlessly while they waited. It wasn't long before Dib had returned with a coffee and two muffins. Zim perked up immediately. Dib shoved the one muffin towards him.
"This one is yours. This one is mine," Dib said, taking a bite from his own muffin without breaking eye contact.
Zim gave a growl, but that was it, and took the single muffin he had been bribed with. Skoodge could hardly believe that was really all that it had taken to get Zim to back down. By the time Gaz had sat down, he was already halfway done. Skoodge wasn't sure what was happening, but it felt incredibly… domestic. Skoodge let his PAK listen to Dib's ramblings about the school while he kept observing. Before long Zim was basking in the sunlight—and frankly, Skoodge had to admit the sunlight was delightful—and seemed utterly content. Dib had taken a moment to catch his breath and was watching Gaz play on her Game Slave (he had never heard of a gaming console before, but it sounded amazing). This was… so strange. So very, very strange.
It had been roughly an hour by the time Skoodge had learned about as much casual information about Earth as he could stand to hear. He didn't blame Dib for being enthusiastic. He'd come across a few aliens in his travels between planets to conquer who had been enthusiastic meeting an Irken. Whether that enthusiasm was the kind that led to a fight or an interview was often a coin toss. An Irken that was "friendly" was uncommon. An Irken that was willing to put up with a myriad of questions was rare. No Irken, who was still solidly part of the Empire, in their right mind would ever answer half the questions others asked. But, Skoodge had answered mundane questions plenty of times for aliens who seemed genuinely curious. Ones who just wanted to satiate their own curiosity when it came to The Empire and Irkens in general.
But never before had he met anyone with the same voracity for questions as Dib. Very few aliens had the metaphorical balls to ask these many questions in such a rapid-fire sequence. And Zim was sat between them looking like this was an everyday occurrence. Skoodge was heavily inclined to believe that it was, and he was immune to this kind of behavior by now.
Sometime in the oddly cordial interrogation—because despite what Zim might argue later that is exactly what this was—Zim had slowly inched his chair closer to Dib's. Skoodge couldn't really see, but it appeared like their hands were linked, hanging between them, hidden by the table. Skoodge tried to ignore it. He'd had enough of the strange behavior already. It was so far from the typical Zim behavior he'd grown used to at the Academy. It was jarring. He was almost grateful that Gaz had garnered his attention around that point.
"Hey, secondary bug boy."
"Skoodge."
"I don't respect you enough to use your name yet," Gaz said, continuing before Skoodge could even retort to that, "When you leave this planet, am I going to have to shoot your ship down?"
"…wh..?" Skoodge wasn't sure how to respond. He wasn't sure what he should have been more intimidated by. The fact she'd just made that threat, or the fact that she had said it so nonchalantly.
"Because I want one for myself since Dib ruined the other one," Gaz says, just as nonchalant, still playing her game.
"Wh—your ship was destroyed?!" Skoodge asked, whirling on Zim. Zim looked up from his phone.
"Eh?! No! I'm not some incompetent smeet!" Zim roared. Ah, there was a part of the Zim he remembered. Zim pointed accusingly to Dib. "This idiot ruined a different, perfectly good, Irken ship on his own!"
"It wasn't even yours, why do you care?!" Dib whispered.
"I could have used more parts than what I've salvaged," Zim shoots back. Skoodge gaped at him. Gaz kicked him lightly under the table to get his attention back on her.
"Answer my question, bug boy," Gaz demanded, glaring at him from under her bangs. It was shockingly terrifying and left him stuttering for a response. Unbeknownst to Skoodge, Dib gave Zim's hand a small squeeze before he got up to get a coffee refill.
Skoodge caught movement from the corner of his eye. A trio of humans were walking past them, sending Zim in particular dirty looks. Skoodge wouldn't be surprised if Zim had a few or more enemies on the planet. It was almost a talent of his. Gaz caught sight of the looks as well, apparently, because she sat up in her seat.
"Spit it out, dickwads," she spat at the trio. One of the boys, the taller of the entire pack, sneered at her.
"What? Just looking at a bunch of fa—" That was about as far as he got before Gaz shot up and threw her chair. The kids scattered, the chair clattering on the sidewalk and into the grass. "What the fuck?!"
"Say that word and I won't miss next time!" Gaz shouted, grabbing the top rim of Dib's chair next. Dib himself turned from the coffee shop counter, his face going pale and wide eyed at the sight. The kids scrambled up, two of them sprinting away down the quad.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" the initial speaker asked.
"Do you want to find out?!" Gaz shouted, hefting the chair up. The boy sprinted away after his friends.
Skoodge watched him go, frozen in his seat, and slowly turned back to Gaz. The girl dropped the chair back into its original spot and waltzed away to retrieve her own chair. Zim was watching her too, looking just as perplexed at the outburst as Skoodge was feeling. Dib came back, coffee in hand, gaping at his sister with a look of exhaustion and exasperation.
"What the hell was that?" he asked. Gaz leveled her gaze with him, dropping her chair into place.
"They deserved it," she said.
"What, exactly, was that one about to say?" Zim asks. He pocketed his phone, already knowing that they would probably have to vacate the area thanks to her outburst. The theory was further proven when Gaz motioned for Skoodge to get up and be ready to leave. Dib looked ready to take a long nap.
"He was about to call you and Dib a slur," Gaz says. She clicked her tongue. "Wasn't having any of that."
"A what?" Zim asks.
"Like a swear, but way worse," Dib sighed, already having an idea which slur it was. He nodded towards the car. Zim reluctantly stood with a groan, following the group.
"If that's the case, I should have gotten a chance to swing at him," Zim says.
"You'd have broken his jaw," Dib says.
"He'd have broken his neck," Gaz corrects. "At least if my method had hit the first time, I probably wouldn't have done more than fracture something."
"You realize that Dad won't let you intern if you have a police record."
"I've gotten away with it before!"
"What?!"
"What?"
Zim laughed loudly, doubling over into Dib's side. Dib glowered at him, unimpressed, and shoved him off to unlock the car. Skoodge slid easily back into the backseat, waiting patiently for the car to start. As much as he wanted to leave the subject be, Zim wasn't as ready to do that. He slid into the passenger front seat and turned to Dib immediately, still chuckling.
"It's a slur for gay people," Dib eventually says. He ran his hands through his hair. "Not the best first impression of a planet…"
"You're the first impression of the planet, and you've done quite well," Zim says. Dib flushed bright red, hiding his face at the steering wheel and pulling his coat collar up. Zim smirked, sliding down in his seat to return his heels to the dashboard.
"You don't know what a slur is? You don't have those on your almighty home planet?" Gaz asks flatly. She paused and looked up next. "Do you guys even have a word for things like gay Irkens?"
"What's gay mean?" Skoodge asks. Gaz turns to him, eyebrow raised.
"Are you serious?"
"Gender and sexuality aren't discussed because Irkens don't naturally reproduce—end of discussion," Zim cuts in curtly. "So, no. We hardly bother with proper pronoun use. In a human context, anyway."
"…You used human pronouns pretty fine pretty instantly when you got here," Gaz says.
"Assimilating the local language is vital to invasion," Zim says smoothly. He waved his hand. "It's basic Invader training. Lowers the risk of being discovered. The PAK does all the translation. Your internet system is very helpful for learning as many languages as possible."
"Of course, you googled it," Dib laughed. He looked over at Zim, noting the furrow in his brow, and tsked. "Hey, I have an idea."
"Hng?"
"How about…" Dib drummed on the wheel and turned to smile at Zim. "…we go on a bit of an adventure? I know a place."
"We're not going to the fucking woods," Gaz cuts in quickly.
"No, no," Dib says, shaking his hands, but looking rather excited. "I was thinking an abandoned location. Zim, you can climb!"
"I can climb what?" Zim asks.
"The buildings. I won't stop you. It's abandoned, so no one cares," Dib says. At the prospect Zim was already perking up again.
"You don't say."
"I do say," Dib says, starting the car and pulling out of the spot. Once they were on the road, Zim started to look a little more restless.
"Where exactly?" he asks. "Another school?"
"No, I had another idea in mind," Dib admits. He got a smirk on his face. "So, there's this water park—"
Dib stopped when he heard the window starting to roll down. He glanced over only to see Zim trying to climb out the window. Gaz had reached around the seat and clasped Zim's hood to hold him down nonchalantly, so he wasn't just throwing himself out of a moving car. Dib yanked him back inside.
"IT'S ABANDONED! IT'S BONE DRY UNLESS IT RAINS!" Dib shouted.
"LIES!" Zim screeched, trying to swat at Gaz's hands. It was difficult with the seat in the way, and he refused to use his PAK legs and risk skewering her, so he was stuck with lightly swatting her forearms and the seat's headrest. "Release Zim!"
"It's not a lie, for fuck's sake, put your damn seat belt on!" Dib shouted, rolling the window up on his side. Zim shot his hand out, stopping the window. Dib could hear the gear mechanism snap somewhere in the door. He sat gaping out the front windshield.
"I don't need a seatbelt like you fleshy humans—!"
"Did you just break the window?" Dib asks suddenly, incredulously. Zim paused, staring between Dib and the window. He slowly sat still in the seat.
"…No."
Gaz snorted behind him, stifling her laugh. "You're so dead."
"I can fix it—"
"You'll use the seatbelt if you don't want Gaz strangling you in a chokehold instead," Dib threatened.
To Skoodge's shock, Zim quickly buckled himself in. Really, he shouldn't have been that surprised. He was slowly getting used to seeing Zim act completely out of character (from his memory, anyway) and he had seen Gaz on the found footage of the Space Market multiple times now. He wouldn't want to enact her rage, either. Not without a body shield of some kind.
"Good," Dib says. He sighed heavily, deflating in his seat. "The window has to stay open now…"
"…Again, I can fix it."
"You will be," Dib says sternly. "Now, as I was saying before. The water park is abandoned. So, there's no actual water there."
"You're certain?" Zim asks.
"Zim, I wouldn't bring you anywhere near a waterpark before you can have one of your paste showers. Yes, I'm sure."
Zim grumbled, sinking into the seat. Skoodge opted to wait patiently until they'd reached the waterpark to speak again unless one of them prompted him. Gaz was actually the first to regard him. She mostly kept him engaged by asking him about the graphics of the holograms in his ship compared to Zim's. To Skoodge's knowledge, Zim's ship was… stolen, and had already been outdated. So, yes, his ship had better hologram graphics. He doubted he had better graphics than Zim's lab, however. If there was one thing that Zim made consistent across all the labs he'd ever worked in for any extended time it was that it was going to be up to his standard. And Zim had a high standard. He'd upgraded the labs on Irk, for Irk's Sake. Far as Skoodge was aware, they hadn't taken his upgrades down, either. They were still incredibly useful.
He hadn't even noticed, between Zim silently preening at the praise of what Skoodge could only speculate and reminiscence on for his labs and being caught in the conversation with Gaz, that they'd reached the water park within an hour. Dib had stopped the car and the jolt had shaken Skoodge out of his focus on the conversation. He took a look around them, noting that they were surrounded by overgrown field and forestry. The road itself was even cracked and had plant life growing all over it. The gates they were sat in front of had a single bolt and chain holding them in place that was incredibly rusted at this point.
Dib slipped out first, headed to the trunk immediately and popping it. Skoodge got out next, followed by Gaz. Zim stayed in the car, glaring at the water park, but Skoodge could tell that he was considering something. Gaz peered through the window.
"Are you going to keep moping or are you getting out any time soon?" she asks. Zim slunk further down. Gaz sighed, setting her forehead on the car for a moment. Dib came up behind her, bolt cutters in hand.
"Is he pouting?" he asks.
"I am not pouting!" Zim screeched.
"Oh, so you're just scared," Dib says with a smile. Skoodge almost laughed himself, turning away to hide his face as Zim screamed at Dib. It got him to climb out of the car, though. He was screaming expletives and calling Dib an idiot, but he was out of the car.
Zim climbed over the gate with his PAK while Dib cut the chain. He propped the bolt cutters against the car once Gaz and he had pulled the chain off the gate and left it on the ground. Skoodge took Zim's route, climbing right over the gate instead. Gaz slipped in first with Dib following behind, pulling the gate shut again behind him. The last thing he wanted was to let any wild animals in by his own laziness.
He turned to face the park, already seeing Zim vibrating as the other three waited for him. He wasn't sure if it was from nerves or excitement. He sauntered over to them, confident and excited himself. "Okay," he started, clapping his hands. "We're going to just explore for now, okay?"
Dib waited until both aliens had voiced their understanding before starting off towards one of the slides. Some of the concrete was overtaken by plants, with the cracks rather substantial, but it was nothing that they couldn't navigate. The slide he was leading them to first was one of the taller sets that he could see in the entire park, with four different slides all tangling among each other. The actual pool that visitors would land in was drained and being overgrown itself, but that hardly mattered. The moment Dib had stopped them at the edge of the pool, Zim's PAK was shooting out the spider legs and he was scuttling away.
Dib watched him, laughing and wheezing, as Zim scuttled through the pool towards the slides. It was like he'd led him to a giant jungle gym. Gaz watched him, a little envious. She was definitely coming back once they had their own PAKs. She turned to Skoodge.
"You gonna join him?" she asks. Skoodge jerked at her voice.
"Oh! Um, well, no. I was really more interested in mapping the park out…" Skoodge admitted sheepishly.
"C'mon, then, second-rate bug boy," Gaz says, motioning him away.
Skoodge hesitantly followed her at first. Dib waved him off, just now collecting himself. Dib caught sight of Zim hanging from the slides, swinging on two of the PAK legs, looking like he was having the time of his life with a new area to climb. Gaz watched the spectacle herself for a moment before grabbing Skoodge's collar and dragging him with her. She was saying something about mapping it the park out from the top of one of the slides, at their platforms.
Dib turned to see them leaving. He felt some anxiety watching Gaz walk away with Skoodge. Logically, based on what Zim had told him of Skoodge and spending the day so far with him, he doubted Skoodge would raise a hand to Gaz. He should be more worried about Gaz braining the alien than the alien attacking Gaz under any capacity. Zim's cackle drew him back to looking at him instead. He was currently dangling from a hole in one of the slides, grinning madly. He dropped down, landing on the concrete and sending up a cloud of dust, before sprinting towards Dib.
"Hi?" Dib said as Zim closed the distance. He hoisted him up bridle style, snorting at Dib's yelp, and his PAK hoisted them both up. "Hello?"
"Yes, greetings, where do you want to go first?" Zim asked. Dib buried his face in one hand, wrapping his arm around Zim's neck and shoulders to feel more secure and jerked his head in the direction Gaz and Skoodge had disappeared to.
"G-Gaz and Skoodge when that way…"
"This way, then," Zim concludes, turning around on the PAK legs.
They scuttled towards the slides, the PAK legs piercing the plastic enough to keep them balanced as Zim climbed over them. Dib couldn't help but laugh giddily as he surveyed the park below them. The rise and drop of butterflies in his stomach as they moved up and down amongst the park rides didn't help matters. It only served to make him laugh more every time they descended, no matter how far. Zim paused at the top of one of the slides.
"Why are you laughing so much?" he asks.
"I can't help it," Dib manages to get out. "Butterflies in my stomach every time we drop. Like roller coasters."
Zim hummed, readjusting him and nodding outward. "Pick a location."
Dib looked out over the park. Aside from the large variety of waterslides and old stalls Dib could see a bowl ride in the distance, a funnel, an old larger pool that was likely once a wave pool, a lazy river, and tunnels. He pointed to the tunnels.
"One of those! It would be like walking through a weird cave," Dib said. Zim smirked, starting off down the slide until they hit concrete with a thud. Dib grunted, lightly smacking Zim on the neck for the rough landing, but Zim ignored him.
He was carried all the way to the nearest tunnel, which also happened to be the biggest. It wasn't until they were at the edge of the tunnel's U-piping that usually held the water that Zim set him down. Dib tried to ignore the flush of his cheeks that had been present since Zim first picked him up and tried to find an easy way down. There weren't any ladders or stairs, so he was likely going to have to slide down on his heels. Zim was the first one down, using his PAK legs to lower himself. Dib followed closely after, sliding on the heels of his shoes, until he skid to a stop at the bottom. Some of the foliage growing out of the cracks in the concrete helped slow him down enough that he didn't fall on his butt. He brushed himself off as he stood. Zim's PAK produced a limb with a light on the end, shining it into the tunnel. The plants didn't go the entire way into the tunnel, stopping short where they were choked out without enough sunlight. The entrance was thick with plants, enough that Dib doubted that he could easily walk through it. Zim, the secret powerhouse that he was, could probably just force his way through. Luckily for himself, he always had the pocketknife on him.
Dib flicked the pocketknife out, dragging it down across any tangled plants that were in the way of his legs. Zim, as predicted, just walked beside him. Dib could hear the plants tearing apart and out of the cracks as he did so, completely unperturbed. Dib was a stumbling mess, almost tripping more than once, aided mostly by the sunlight behind him until they got deeper into the tunnel where the plants were less thick. He stumbled out of the main cluster of plants, hopping as he kicked his leg to try and free it of a snag, and pocketed the knife.
He looked around the tunnel. Zim sidled up next to him and Dib grabbed the light, shining it around at the walls so he could see them more clearly. Graffiti was strewn across the tunnel walls, the ceiling (he wasn't even sure how they got up there if they hadn't brought ladders or sat on shoulders), and the floor. He ignored the more "satanic" looking graffiti in favor of trying to read the stylized words instead. He couldn't make sense of any of the more complicated stylizations. Zim pressed against his shoulder, looking over to examine some of the words.
"This is all nonsense," Zim muttered.
"Usually it's an inside joke or reference, I think," Dib says. "But I don't really know, I don't graffiti."
"You should, you'd make better looking graffiti than this."
Dib smiled warmly, letting the flashlight go so that Zim could point it down onto the concrete floor. Zim was first to move, pulling Dib aside by linking their arms. As far as Dib could see, the plants were staying confined more to the crevices of where the wall met the floor, where water had leaked down from cracks in the archway. There was a surprising amount of bushes and clumps that were larger than he'd have given them credit for, but clearly they got enough latent sunlight. He was about to turn to Zim, ask if they really needed the flashlight, when something darted away from them.
He would say his reaction was at least forgivable. Forgivable? Yes. Immediate and on reflex? Yes. Embarrassing? Definitely; yes. His scream was one part deafening as it rebounded off the archway, one part humiliating, and one part hilarious (he was sure) to Zim. Zim had, thankfully, caught him when he'd jumped towards him, back in the bridle style. He was cackling into Dib's ear now. Dib shoved his face into the curve of Zim's shoulder and neck with a groan.
"It was a cat, wasn't it…?" Dib asked lowly. Zim snorted, shaking now as he laughed, and nodded. "Goddamnit…. I'm a cliché…"
"HAHAHAHA!" Zim collapsed against the wall. Dib tightened his grip at the sudden lurch in motion.
"HEY! HEY! HEY!"
"I can't stand," Zim laughed. "Cliché."
"Shut up."
"You're blushing."
"Shut the hell up."
"It was just a cat, Dib-stink, no need to fear a cat," Zim teased. Dib groaned, letting himself slump in Zim's lap. "And here I thought that was just in human entertainment!"
"OH, SHUT IT ALREADY!"
"Make me, coward."
Oh, he was asking for it.
Gaz scrolled through her phone absently. She didn't have anything to really scroll through, per se, but it was better than blatantly staring at Skoodge. She wasn't letting him out of her sight, but that didn't mean she had to let him know she was tracking his every move in her peripheral. Presently, he was busy actually mapping out the area.
She thought he'd been joking, or perhaps trying to make some sort of excuse to ditch her, when he'd said that was his intention. No, he had actually been serious, and was more than thankful when she'd led him to the highest slide she could find. She'd opted for the stairs rather than have him carry her with his PAK. She'd be able to do that herself soon enough, she hoped.
She may never verbally admit it, but she had never been more excited for anything before. And Zim was modifying it to be a skull.
If he happened to finish them for Christmas, she wasn't sure anything anyone else got her could top that in the next century. If Zim was as good at invention as he claimed to be, she'd have more than enough of a chance to actually experience that claim. She couldn't wait to see all the games that would come out in that time.
Pushing that thought away before she got too excited, Gaz glanced up to where Skoodge was modifying a hologram version of the park. She fiddled with the phone in her hands.
"So, like… you really just like mapping stuff out?" she asks. Skoodge glanced her way a second before turning back to the hologram. He smiled, nodding.
"Before entering the Academy for Invasion, I wanted to be a Scout. I like to recreate places," he says.
"So, why Invading, then?"
"Well, it's a highly coveted position…" Skoodge said slowly, adjusting something absently on the hologram. "…and I wanted to impress My Tallest. But they don't really like me…"
"And?" Gaz pressed.
"And I try hard. I was actually first to complete my Invasion in Operation Impending Doom II."
Gaz hummed, pretending to scroll again. "You almost done?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, almost. Thanks, by the way," Skoodge says, saving the hologram setting. It disappeared back into the PAK limb that had projected it and retreated to his PAK. Gaz watched it, thinking of all the videogames she could play live like that already. Zim could probably work something out for that.
"Don't mention it," Gaz says. She turned on her heel to go back down the stairs. She could hear Skoodge following after her. "Those two idiots are probably bored already. Getting dark anyway."
"Are we leaving?" Skoodge asked, sounding a little defeated. Gaz shrugged.
"Probably. Don't mope. You can come back later."
"Oh… is that an invitation to visit again?" SKoodge asked hopefully. Gaz shrugged again, hopping over a missing step.
"Ask the boys. It's not just up to me."
"Right…"
Gaz let them walk in silence until they hit the bottom of the stairs. She made sure to listen to Skoodge as he walked behind her. Granted, she couldn't do much if he decided to suddenly jump her. She didn't have her bat or any other weapon. The most she could do was probably try and gouge his eye out. A morbid victory to be sure, but one she'd go down achieving.
She let them walk in silence until they had started to reach the gate. She glanced up from her phone to see Dib and Zim headed their way as well. She focused in on Dib rather than Zim's smug face.
Why did he look so flushed?
Gaz stopped that line of thought immediately, shoving her phone into her pocket. She regarded both boys with a bored stare. She wasn't going to press it, but she had to have just one jab in.
"Have fun?" she asks, raising a brow. Dib flushed immediately, but Zim just smirked at her.
"Dib was frightened by a cat," he says. Dib elbowed him harshly in the arm, earning a grunt from the other. Zim absently rubbed his sore arm. He wanted to shoot Dib a glare but he could muster the anger necessary, too wrapped up in the teasing. "A small one."
"Don't rub it in!" Dib hissed.
"Oh, so you comforted my baby of a brother?" Gaz asks, smirking herself. Dib stomped to the gate, pulling his jacket collar up high on his cheeks.
"Okay, we're leaving!" he announced.
Gaz was smirking as she followed him first. Skoodge walked beside Zim instead. "What was that?" he asks. Zim shrugged.
"Humans. Just accept it," he says. "They're weird."
"…Okay…"
Skoodge slid into the back seat again, joined this time by Zim. Gaz was still ruthlessly teasing Dib, having abandoned any previous convention to leave the boy be, even as the threatened to ditch her on the side of the road. SKoodge decided, instead of trying to figure out if he were being serious or not, to turn his attention to Zim. He was currently staring out the window, sliding down in the seat until his PAK was set in the angle comfortably.
"Zim?"
"Hm?"
"Um… could I… come visit again?" Skoodge asked tentatively. Zim flicked his gaze over to him. Skoodge kicked his legs a little, staring at his knees. "I mean… I can't stay, I have to leave once we're back, but… well, I'd like to visit again soon? After I'm done mapping this solar system."
"You're still doing that, hm?"
"I like it…" Skoodge said quietly, almost a whine. "Gaz and I mapped out the whole park."
"Of course that's what you decided to do with your time," Zim sighed, shaking his head. "Well, at least you didn't anger her and die, so that's a success, at least."
"W-w-would… would she have really…?"
"You saw the footage," Zim said absently, looking back out the window. Skoodge looked like he was having a crisis when Dib checked the rearview mirror.
"Zim, don't threaten your friend," Dib sighed.
"I did no such thing."
"Uh huh."
"I did no such thing!" Zim claimed again.
Skoodge let the three take up the time with talking. It was interesting to observe their behaviors. Irkens didn't interact like this. Was this typical behavior on Earth? He'd have to observe more humans before coming to that conclusion. Once they were at the house again, and all had piled out of the car, he turned to Dib and Zim.
"So… can I come back?" he asked. Zim regarded him a moment before realization donned at the same instant Dib answered.
"Of course!"
"Oh right you asked me that."
Dib turned to Zim, incredulous. "How could you already forget that?"
"I don't care," Zim said flatly. Skoodge sighed, but nodded.
Yeah, that sounded like Zim.