Man, who knew taking on like a dozen writing projects (sequel to a book and most of the others fanfics, among other things) would take so much of my free time! Sarcasm, there, obviously; but we're getting close to getting Tak into this fic. And I'm excited to get there, mostly for that one spoiler-y comic I posted on tumblr a while ago ( .com for those curious (heh) )

Enjoy!

Part 69: Bridge Or No Bridge

Dib turned over in bed, only just waking up enough to register that it was light outside. He mumbled to himself, rubbing his tired eyes, and harshly throwing his hand around on his bedside dresser until he could turn his alarm off and find his glasses. The glasses came first. He slipped them on, blindly hitting the alarm. He could hear Gir spinning in his desk chair and found that he couldn't help but thank the universe that Gir couldn't actually get motion sick. He stretched, popping his back with abandon since Zim seemed to be elsewhere. Gir stopped spinning and looked up at him.

"Mary! You're hurting yourself!" Gir screamed. Dib sighed.

"Gir, I'm not hurting—" he could hear feet storming down the hallway, his doorway busting open to Zim, staring daggers right at his back immediately. "—myself… Morning, Zim."

"Dib-stink, I said to stop that!" Zim roared. Dib looked at him, plain-faced, and twisted his back to pop it again. He wasn't entirely sure that it would pop again, and the sheer fact that it had made the slight pain worth it to see the look on Zim's face. "DISGUSTING! REVOLTING!"

"Drama queen," Dib giggled. Zim grabbed the discarded shirt on his desk chair (how it hadn't been tossed in Gir's spinning he would never know) and threw it at his head. Dib tore it off quickly, slipping off the bed to grab an actually clean shirt instead.

Zim grumbled something as he left, his antennae flicking erratically. Dib rushed out after him, hopping while he pulled his jeans on. Zim watched him curiously as he jogged to the front door and started to slip on his shoes. He continued to watch him, silently, as he grabbed food, brushed his hair and teeth, and even when he started to pack his backpack with snacks and water. Dib hefted it over his shoulder and finally met Zim's gaze.

"Are you ever going to ask?" he asks. Zim clicked his tongue, crossing his arms. Gir was climbing up his side "stealthily". Dib was positive that Zim knew exactly what Gir was doing, but he was humoring the little robot. "…Are… are you going to ask?"

"Do I need my disguise?" Zim asks.

"Well, for the drive, maybe—"

"Then I don't need to know until we are there," Zim says plainly. Gir yelped and fell off him as his disguise fazed into existence.

"Do you want to bring Gir?"

"Will he be a nuisance?"

"I don't think so," Dib says slowly. "Hey, Gir. Want to go on a hike with us?"

"YEEEEAH!"

Gir flew into the room, latching around Dib's arm like a koala. He glanced up at Zim to find the alien with a rather excited, and poorly concealed, expression. He smiled wide, hefting the bag over his shoulder again. Zim tugged at his sweatshirt for a moment and hummed. He started off towards the linen closet. Dib followed him, readjusting the backpack to fit Gir between it and his shoulders, the little robot bopping along to a tune softly on his head.

"Do you need to have a paste bath first?" he asks.

"I had one a few days ago when it was meant to rain," Zim says. "But, it might seem odd for another human to see me in a sweatshirt on such an unusually warm day."

Dib cocked his head at him as the elevator took them down. He'd been planning to snatch his coat on his way out the door. "How warm?"

"You will regret grabbing your coat," Zim says simply.

He stepped out once the elevator had stopped, dragging Dib with him, until they'd reached the closet room. Zim sifted through the shirts, and Dib could see he still had a few of his own shirts in the mix, until he grabbed a sleeveless one and slipped it on. Dib's eyes caught some color on Zim's arm and he laughed.

"I forgot about your tattoo! You added it to the hologram?"

"I didn't see any reason not to," Zim admitted. Dib snorted, backpedaling to the elevator.

"What would Skoodge have said?"

"AH…" Zim looked down at the tattoo uncertainly. "He'd… have been surprised. Perhaps disapproving."

"It could get you in trouble, couldn't it?"

"Yes. However, he's agreed not to speak of me to any other Irken, so perhaps he'd keep this secret as well," Zim muses. He shrugged, stepping back into the hallway once they'd reached the top. "It does not matter, regardless."

"Are you going to get another one?" Dib asks somewhat eagerly. "I'm saving for another. I'm thinking of getting it on my shoulder."

Zim, at the mention, stopped and pulled the collar of Dib's shirt down to look at the tattoo. It'd faded slightly in color by now, but he could still make out all the detail the artist had made sure to include based on Dib's drawing. He hadn't bothered to really look closely at it for a long while—not since it had healed, anyway—and held his own arm up to compare. The ink on his own mark hadn't faded much at all. He furrowed his brow.

"Why is it fading?" he asks. Dib snorted, pulling his collar back into position, trying to smooth out the stretched fabric.

"It's not fading off, really. It's because humans shed our skin. I'll have to get a touch up eventually, but that's years down the line. I might just have the PAK do that," Dib explained. "It's not going anywhere anytime soon."

"This fade, is this why you said it was "quasi" permanent?" Zim asks curiously. He glanced at his own again. "My mark has not been affected like this."

"Do Irkens shed their skin?"

"No."

"Well there you go! C'mon, we're picking Gaz up," Dib says.

He stopped at the door and dug through a bench that doubled as a trunk. It was an addition he'd gotten to hide the more unconventional things they might need on their way out some days. He pulled out Gir's disguise, lifting it so the little bot could put it on. Gir hopped down onto the floor to change, posing proudly until Dib clapped. With a little squeal he climbed Dib again to reposition himself back between the backpack and Dib's neck, his legs hanging over his shoulders.

Gaz blinked at the sight. Dib was slumped further down in his seat than usual. Not so much he couldn't drive, but it was at least slightly uncomfortable. Gir was swinging his legs, his head hitting the top of the car, as he sang a little song, drumming Dib's head lightly. Zim was smirking in the passenger seat.

"Dib, what the—"

"He wouldn't get down," Dib said quickly. He deflated a little more in his seat. Gaz leaned down to see him better.

"Whipped."

"I am not!" Dib shouted. Zim started to laugh. Gaz opened the back door to throw her bag into the back.

"That's what you get for letting him do it in the first place," Zim said. He rested his elbow on the window edge, smirking smugly at Dib. Dib shot him a glare. Gaz climbed in, turning to Zim and stopping.

"Did you add that?" she asks, pointing to the tattoo.

"I have it, so yes, of course—"

Gaz thrust herself between the two, snatching Zim's arm and pulling it close. "IT'S REAL?! WHEN DID YOU GET THIS?!"

"Unhand me, I don't know where you've been!" Zim roared, trying to shove her off. She ignored him, slapping his free hand away.

"Did you draw it?"

"Yes!"

"Wait, is this everywhere you've been? You're missing a few places."

"No, it's where I've been with Dib," Zim clarified. Gaz let his arm go, raising a brow at him.

"Now, that's gay."

"Okay, we're leaving," Dib declared.

"No, really, that's romantic. This space bug can be romantic, Dib," Gaz went on, ignoring Dib's red face, even as she poked him in the arm. Zim gave a huff, slinking into his seat.

"Another thing I'm better at, hm?" he teases. Dib groaned loudly, peeling out the driveway.

He resolutely tuned them out as he drove towards the park he had in mind. Gir was still tapping away at his head, oblivious to everything else in the car, completely caught up in the beat he was making. It was oddly similar to "Wheels on the Bus", in Dib's opinion, but then again Gir often channel surfed and that seemed like the exact song the bot would get stuck in its head. Zim and Gaz had started discussing how to get games onto her PAK. They'd started to settle on having a built-in handheld console, a retractable VR headset, and VR gloves. Gloves that would be designed as gauntlets, of course, by the time he'd parked the car.

"Aaaaaand we're here!" Dib declared, jumping out of the car. Gir dropped from his shoulders onto the gravel with an excited squeal. Gaz left the back seat, throwing Dib's bag towards him and shrugging on her own. Zim took in the parking lot and turned to the siblings.

"This is not our usual spot."

"It isn't," Gaz says, smiling deviously. "It's a bigger park. One with actual hiking trails."

"I do not understand. Why do we need trails if we're going to be in the trees?"

"Because we're not going to be in the trees, dumbass, we're going to go on an actual hike," Gaz says. "Did you think that every time we went to the park to climb trees it was a hike?"

"That is not what it was?"

"No!" Dib laughed. "C'mon. You can choose the trail, they're colored by difficulty."

Dib dragged him to the map at the end of the parking lot. Zim looked around at the floor of rotting leaves, the slowly rotting wooden frames that clearly needed replaced, and the trash bins not far from them and took a step back. He could smell the trash from there. It was strong enough that his antennae flattened back against his skull, and he wrinkled his face in disgust. Gaz dragged him right back.

"Don't be such a baby," Gaz says. She shoved her shoulder to his, gesturing to the map. "Faster you pick the faster you can get away from the smell and onto a trail."

Zim groaned, looking over the map quickly. Within three seconds he'd narrowed it down to a trail marked as "raised"—no chance of getting himself covered in mud—that was marked as intermediate level difficulty. He pointed to it, his claw scratching the glass inadvertently. Dib recoiled at the noise.

"That one," Zim says. Dib looked it over and nodded, looking pleased.

"That's a pretty good first trail," he says. "We even pass over a river."

"I changed my mind—"

"No take backs!" Gaz shouted, hooking Dib's arm with hers and yanking him towards the trail entrance. Zim flailed his free arm, turning to Dib.

"I CHANGED MY MIND!" Zim roared.

"We'll keep you safe from the bad, bad water," Gaz says. She let him go once they'd stepped onto the trail, turning to him. "It's a bridge, you're not even near it."

"If you get hit with water, you have the paste on, and you can slug Gaz and me in the jaw, how about that?" Dib offers.

"OI, I DIDN'T AGREE TO THAT!" Gaz shouted. A few stray hikers entering and exiting other trails glanced their direction. Dib hastily shushed Gaz, earning a glare himself.

"Deal," Zim deadpans. Gaz gaped at him. Gir giggled, climbing up Zim's back until he was hanging off the back of the PAK.

"You unequivocal bitch."

"…How is that the most eloquent thing I've heard you say?" Zim asks. Gaz kicked him harshly in the shin. "Ow! How is it that you can kick so hard?!"

"Spite," Gaz spat, crossing her arms as she watched him clutch his leg. Gir swayed on the PAK, laughing with the motion, and letting his legs swing a little.

"Okaaaaay, can we get this hike going before it gets too late? I had a place in mind for lunch, too," Dib says, gently pushing the two down the trail. Gaz shook him off, marching to the front of the pack.

"Why the sudden urge to take me on a 'real' hike?" Zim asks, after a few minutes on the wood-laden trail. Dib shrugged, readjusting his backpack as he did. Gir had readjusted to be resting over Zim's head, looking like he was ruffling up the hologram's hair.

"Well, we only go to the parks to climb trees, and I thought you'd like to see the variety in scenery from a hike. Plus, it's good exercise," Dib explains. Gaz swung her backpack around, digging around inside it and pulling out a jar to present to the alien.

"I wanted a spider."

Zim stared at her, almost tripping up on the path. "A spider."

"Yep. It's got a pattern on the back that looks like a skull."

"And you want it because…?" Zim prompted, eyeing the jar suspiciously. Gaz put it back into her bag.

"For occult club, obviously."

"For—you worship those hell beasts?!" Zim screeched. Gir screeched as well, hoping off Zim's head and zipping down the trail. "Gir, do not go far!"

"Yes, sirree!"

Zim sighed, pinching his brow. "He's going to get lost."

"He can track you back to the car, it's okay," Dib assured him.

They made their way through the trail on their own time. Far as Dib was aware, no one else had taken the trail after them and they weren't catching up to anyone else, since he couldn't hear anyone behind or ahead of them. The trail was sporting thick roots breaking up the otherwise packed down dirt on either side of the wooden slats. Gir would swing from the lower hanging branches like a monkey, moving in and out of the range of the trio as he traversed the trail at his own speed. Once or twice, they'd had to kick a stray branch out of the way of the path.

It wasn't long before Zim heard the running water of the river, and his shoulders were prickling. It was quite a few minutes more before Dib or Gaz picked up on the sound. Gaz had glanced back at him once it had registered in her brain what the noise was. Dib had hooked their arms together and given his forearm a reassuring squeeze. Zim ignored the sound of the water in favor of carrying on whatever random conversation either sibling brought on and taking in the seemingly endless range of forestry around them. He couldn't hear the sounds of the cars in the parking lot, and hadn't been hearing them for a while, so he was met only with the sound of the river, the surrounding animal life, and the siblings.

Once they came upon the river itself, the sound of the water wasn't nearly as loud as Zim would have bet it to be. He couldn't even feel the spray of the water. Though, there weren't many rocks sticking out of the water to cause much of a spray to begin with. The bridge was high above the river, granting a grand overlook, and keeping anyone passing over it more than dry. The trio stopped at the edge of the river, their path blocked by a sign.

'BRIDGE CLOSED DUE TO REPAIRS'

"Well. There go my plans," Gaz sighs. She looked past the sign towards the bridge. "It looks fine."

"Maybe the sign is old, or it's something we can't see," Dib offered. Zim snorted, brushing off his sleeves.

"This is easy to resolve," he says, walking briskly up to Gaz. She turned around in time for him to wrap his arms around her and hoist her up. Gaz clutched her arms around his neck, bringing her fist down on his shoulder.

"What the hell?!"

"Do you want your spiders or not?" Zim clipped back. Gaz sneered at him. She set her chin on his shoulder with a gruff sigh.

"Drop me and I'll haunt you."

"Not going to happen—what?" Zim looked at her incredulously. Dib sighed, sitting on a nearby boulder.

"She can't swim, so if you drop her and she drowns, she'll haunt you," he says. He then smiled at the two. "If I don't kill you for dropping her in the first place, that is."

"Then I'll just haunt you," both say.

Dib snorted, laughing at the look the two shot each other. Zim readjusted his hold on Gaz, his PAK legs hoisting them both up. The legs extended, keeping the two well above the river as they crossed parallel to the bridge. Gaz's grip tightened almost painfully around Zim's neck and shoulders.

"Do not drop me," she stresses. Zim hummed. He stuck his tongue out, elongating it until Gaz finally tore her eyes away from the river below them and towards the tongue in her peripheral. She smirked, making a faux disgusted face.

"Ew," she says, sticking her own tongue out. Zim drew his tongue back in, setting Gaz down on the solid ground again. Gaz brushed herself off, sighing contently. Zim's PAK carried him back across the river to where Dib was assessing the water.

"Do not even consider it," Zim warned him. Dib glanced up at him with a jump.

"I wasn't… ok, I was," Dib admitted. Zim gestured him over. Dib clasped his hand, letting Zim hoist him up into his hold. "It's so unfair how easy this is for you."

"Soon enough for you," Zim assured him. They had crossed the river within moments, joining Gaz on the other side.

"I'm doing that so often when I have one," Gaz says, leading them down the path.

Gaz eventually took the jar from her bag, uncapping it. With the lid in one hand and the jar in the other she started pausing frequently along the trail, scrutinizing every bush, branch, and tree trunk. Zim's PAK deposited a snack into his hand. He started to chew it idly, watching Gaz alongside Dib as she meticulously searched the foliage. He hadn't seen this much concentration in her eyes and form outside of video games.

"She's determined."

"She's been wanting one ever since she found out they were semi-local," Dib explained.

Gaz suddenly paused, staring intently at a spider's web. She raised the jar slowly, only then to suddenly clamp it down at the center of the web. She held for a second, staring intently into the jar. She smiled, straightening up and turning, holding up the jar with a gleam in her eyes.

"Got one!" she declared. Both boys leaned in closer to look into the jar. Sure enough, a spider with a skull on its back was skittering around inside.

"Unnerving," Zim says.

"Amazing," Dib breathed. Zim shot him a concerned look. Dib glanced his direction, smirking. "What? You look like that all the time with the PAK's legs."

"…Fair."

"He looks cool, you mean," Gaz says, gazing into the jar. "I'm keeping him next to my monitor."

"Of course, you are," Zim sighed. Dib chuckled, crossing his arms.

"Are you surprised?" he asks.

"I can't be," Zim admitted.

He looked around the forest, eating the last of the snack. They could go a little longer in their hike. He hooked his arm in Dib's, pulling the boy with him as they started down the path again. Dib looked down at Zim's arm, where the tattoo sat. He lightly jostled Zim's arm, getting his attention.

"Are you going to add the Space Market to the map?" Dib asks, sounding eager. Zim nodded, looking down at the tattoo.

"Off to the side a little, but yes."

"I'm thinking of drawing an approximation of it," Dib admitted. "Maybe make that my next one."

"Make them matching," Gaz says over her shoulder. "Couple goals."

Dib sighed heavily, hanging his head. Zim smirked, shooting him a glance.

"I can draw up the design," he offers. Dib snapped his head towards him.

"Wait, what."

"You heard him!" Gaz shouted. "Space bug here knows how to do it right. Ironically."

"Hey—"

"Get on his level, idiot," Gaz snapped, sticking her tongue out at Dib. She turned back around, kicking a branch off the path. Dib's face turned red. He rubbed at his forehead, pinching his brow.

"D-do you care that she keeps teasing like that?" he asks. Zim shrugged.

"Why would I?" he asks. "She's not entirely wrong."

Dib faltered, almost tripping over the trail. Zim kept him up, holding him up by his arm. Gaz turned, shooting him a knowing smirk, before returning her attention to the trail.

"Wh—really? Do you know what dating is?" Dib asks.

"I had internet at the base," Zim says flatly. "And all the other Earth Pigs in class couldn't shut up about it, either. Of course, I know what it is."

"Never had a date before," Gaz pointed out.

"Like I would have ever dated any of those monkeys!"

"Neither of you have ever dated anyone else before, moron," Gaz clarified. Zim scoffed, kicking the dirt so it hit her calves. Gaz shot him a glare.

"And you have?" Zim asks. Gaz raised a brow at him. "Wait, you have?!"

"When did you ever go on a date?!" Dib shouted.

"You seriously think I'd call them dates with Dad or those stupid nanny-bots in the house? Please," Gaz snorted, turning back around with a wave of her hand. "It's as easy as "I'm going out with friends" and bam, you're home free as long you're home before midnight."

"Wh—who?!" Dib asks.

"Hell no. I'm not spilling that, idiot. I'm not seeing you go 'big brother' on me anytime soon," Gaz spat. Zim unlatched from a gaping Dib to catch up to Gaz, leaning over her shoulder.

"But you can tell me, yes?" Zim asks. Gaz shot him a glance. She smirked.

"Double no."

"Why?!"

"Because you have plasma guns," Gaz says plainly.

"Your point?"

"No killing my dating partners," Gaz says, flicking him in the forehead. Zim hissed, rubbing at the sore spot. "Unless I say to, anyway."

"God help anyone who breaks your heart," Dib grumbled. He hooked his arm around Zim's again as he passed by him, dragging the alien along with him. Zim huffed, falling in step with Dib.

"Doubtful they would be any help," Zim grumbled. Dib snorted. Gaz gave the two a thumbs up, leading to Dib bursting out laughing. "See? Even she is aware."

"Damn straight," Gaz says. She stopped at a look-out point, taking the resting point to rearrange her bag and slip the spider's jar inside. "And if you lug-heads break each other's hearts, that'll be a mess for me to deal with."

"Hmph. No worries there," Zim says. His PAK lifted him up to sit on the railing. He swung his legs, looking out over the forestry. It was a wide expanse of view, granting him more of a view than simply climbing any tree would have. "You were right. This is better."

"And no threat of the Voot being seen or knocked out of the sky," Dib explained, leaning against the railing. "And it's good exercise to get up to these lookouts. On nice days. I think I'd still prefer to be in the Voot during winter."

"What does it look like in winter?"

"Mostly dead," Gaz says flatly. At Zim's deflating shoulders she shrugged. "If it snows, that's a different story. You've heard of winter wonderlands, right?"

"I have… seen photos and the set ups during your holidays."

"We'll have to take the Voot out after a snowfall, then," Dib says.

Zim hummed, looking back over the forestry. He'd have to take them to an icy planet one of these days, if only so that Dib could study the creatures that thrive in the massive glaciers. Gaz could grab the equivalent of a local spider, perhaps, to start a collection.

As they continued to walk, Zim's antennae picked up the sounds of water over rock. He grimaced, waiting until the two could hear it as well. Gaz started to look around minutes later. Dib did the same, looking down each side of the path until finally they spotted the section of river not far from the path. It was close enough to the path that one could climb down some rocks and reach the equally rocky shoreline. Gaz shrugged off her bag. She set it against a tree, hopping from rock to rock.

"Sweet!" she exclaimed. Zim groaned, hanging back as Dib followed Gaz down to the rocky shore river. Dib turned back to him, hand offered.

"Want to come down?" he asks.

Zim shot the river a dirty look. Granted, the speed of the water was nowhere near fast enough to either splash or spray him, or drag any of them away, but he wasn't keen on getting any water on any part of him. His boots and gloves perhaps, if only because the water wouldn't be able to seep through the material.

"It's okay, the water won't rise in the time we're here," Dib assures him.

"I'm not worried about the water rising," Zim grumbled. He took Dib's hand, letting him steady his footing while he climbed down the rocks. "It's the slip of the rocks."

"Just stay on the obviously dry ones," Gaz says. "The lighter ones."

Zim glanced up to see she'd already hopped rock to rock until she was almost halfway across the river, stopping at a rather large boulder that was sticking out of the water. She'd taken a seat at it, swinging her legs. She was patting the space beside her, just big enough to fit both boys if one of them faced the shore instead of the river. Zim gave her a 'tsk', his PAK legs carrying him slowly over the rocks until he'd reached her. He sat beside her, claiming the seat with the most space. Dib reached them moments later, huffing and shooting Zim an annoyed look.

"Don't carry me over, or anything, I'm fine."

"Indeed, you are," Zim said with a smirk. "And you don't burn from this filthy polluted water. You can slip into it and be fine."

"If you fully purified the water, would you be able to take a real shower?" Dib asks, readjusting so he could sit, his feet propped on the rock to keep him from slipping down. "Or build a pool in the base?"

"…Hm. The paste had been an adequate alternative; I haven't taken the time to try," Zim admitted.

"Things to spend the time you're skipping class for," Gaz teased.

"You ass."

"I'm passing."

"You suck." Dib stuck his tongue out at him. He turned away with a smile, sighing contently. "...Where did Gir go?"

Zim groaned loudly, his forehead hitting his knees.