A/N: ALRIGHT! Before I begin, let me first apologize for the super, long-ass wait there. I did NOT mean to keep you all waiting so long for this next chapter, but I don't want to hear any complaining about its lateness. For the record, I was very, very, VERY ill for a long time, and updating just had to be put on hold until I was feeling well enough to post again. But finally, my fever has broken and I can return to updating. So you can all dance around like giddy little school-girls now. Anyways. It doesn't seem I got many reviews for that last chapter, which was a bit surprising to me. But before any of you review today, let me tell you what I DON'T want to hear in your reviews. I do NOT want to get a bunch of, "Where the hell of Chapter 34?" reviews. If you guys followed my instructions in both Chapter 33 AND on my profile, then it should have been easy enough to find on your own. With that said, let me now present you all with Chapter 35 of ZADR Orange. Much love to those of you who faved or added the story to your story alert lists, as always. And remember that feedback be much appreciated. So we hope you all enjoy this next installment of ZADR Orange. =3
Warnings: Extreme OOCness
Rating: M for later chapters
Disclaimer: We do not own Invader Zim, nor any of the characters from it. We do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Zim: Notgonnadie
Dib/Gir: Me
Beta: Notgonnadie
It wasn't until about 4 hours later that Gir came shooting through the door to Zim's bedroom, giggling, the mission assigned to him by Zim to wake the other up every morning for school. "Mastah! Mastah!" he crawled up onto the bed to jump up and down, stopping when the Irken didn't respond. "Mastah?" he crawled up closer to where Zim was sleeping under the covers and lifted them, reaching forward to peel back one of his eyelids. "Mastah?" he asked one last time, tilting his head to side confusedly.
Too tuckered out from the night before to budge, Zim simply grumbled and cuddled up closer to Dib.
Shuddering at the sudden closeness, Dib pulled away somewhat, having reacted to Gir's jumping up and down on the bed more than Zim had. "Ow..." he peeked his eyes open to look around, bringing a hand up to hold his head. "Wh-What happened last night...?" he asked himself, sitting up slowly just to let out another pained noise when a sharp pain ripped through his abdomen and an area of his loins that he had never expected to feel pain in. Wrapping his arms around himself, he doubled over somewhat. "Ouch! Why does my body hurt so much?" he yelped out, the pain like nothing he had ever experienced in his life.
"Mmm..." Zim felt around for Dib groggily.
Not wanting to be touched, Dib shifted away from the arm grabbing out towards him just to realize that he was completely naked. "What the-? Why am I naked?" he exclaimed, having completely forgotten about the night before, his mind having been in a complete haze due to the drugs he had been on.
Shivering, Zim finally cracked his eyes open a bit at the chill from the missing blanket and the absence of his Dib. "Dib?" he sat up a little, the blanket falling down more on him.
His eyes wide with fear, Dib look back at Zim. "Why am I naked? Wh-Where are my pants?" he asked a second time, panicking even more now.
About to say exactly what had happened, Zim quickly second guessed it seeing the state Dib was in and figuring it would be best if he didn't know. After all, what he didn't know couldn't really hurt him. "They are in the wash...Your senses were going haywire and the blood on your pants was making you squeamish..." he lied, not going into anymore detail about the previous night's events.
Still seeming rather shaken, Dib rubbed his hands up and down his sides, as though trying to sooth the pain racking his body. "Wh-What happened last night? Wh-Why am I in so much pain?" he asked, wanting to know what had happened between the time he had arrived at Zim's base and that following morning.
"You were hurting when you went to sleep too. The medicine must have worn off overnight..." Zim explained.
Sitting there looking rather confused, Dib could only blink at Zim's words, not remembering anything about last night. "I was?" he dropped his gaze down to the covers surrounding him. "Oh...I don't remember...But..." his eyes snapped wide open again. "But what about school?" he had completely forgotten about Gaz back at the school.
Yawning, Zim turned back over. "What about it?" he asked before noticing Gir. "OH! That's why you were bugging us..." he sighed, having forgotten that it was already Monday again.
"I left last night without telling Gaz where I was going. I need to make sure she's still okay. I think I accidentally left her with Tak at the school." Dib said, slowly pushing himself up out of the bed to search for his bag, in serious need of a new change of clothes now. "Ow!" he hugged himself tightly again, sinking down to his knees and squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he felt as though his insides had been pounded in last night.
Slipping out of bed in a panic now, Zim made his way over to Dib's side. "Dib, are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down beside him and wrapping his arms around him. "You need to lay down." he said going to pick Dib back up.
But Dib merely shook his head. "No...No...No...I can't...I have to get dressed and make sure Gaz is okay..." he said, struggling to pull away from Zim so he could stand back up himself and continue searching for his bag, his breathing heavy.
Standing up, more demanding now, Zim reached out to stop him. "No, Dib. You're going to rest HERE. I will go check on Gaz." he wasn't about to just let Dib leave in his current condition.
Shaking his head even more, Dib struggled yet again to pull away. "No! No, no, no! I don't want you two to fight anymore!" he finally found his bag and pulled out a new pair of pants and shirt to pull on before shuffling towards the elevator.
Growling at Dib's stubbornness, Zim followed after him. "Then I'm coming with you!" he declared, not wanting him to go alone knowing Tak was on the prowl.
Stopping right outside the elevator, Dib then turned back to face Zim, eying the Irken up and down. "You're still naked..." his voice came out quieter now.
"Wha-?" Zim looked down at himself and blushed. "O-Oh...Uhh...One second." he ran back into the bedroom to slip into some fresh clothes before then running back to meet Dib. "Okay. NOW I'm coming with you." he said upon returning.
His eyelids slipping halfway shut, Dib could only sigh at that. "Okay...Just please...Don't fight with her..." he pleaded with the other to control his anger.
Taking Dib around the waist, Zim nodded his head in agreement. "Whatever you say." he said, pulling the hybrid close.
Wincing a bit at the feel of Zim wrapping an arm around his waist but otherwise not pulling away, not wanting the other to worry about him, Dib allowed Zim to lead him into the elevator to take them up to the house level of the base so they could head for school despite how tired they both still were. Looking back at him just as they were about to leave the house, Dib just then seemed to notice that Zim had yet to dawn his disguise. "You forgot your disguise..." he pointed out to the other as though the alien didn't already know.
Zim, however, could only roll his eyes before sighing. "Forget it. It's not like anyone will notice." he shrugged it off, heading for the door.
Shaking his head, Dib pulled away to head over to the couch and pick up the wig and contacts laying there. "Please...Just wear them for me..." he held them out to the other, not wanting Zim to take any chances. "I just don't want to lose you again...Please..." he looked up at the other pleadingly.
Sighing again, Zim then smiled at Dib. "Okay...But only for you." he agreed, putting on the itchy wig and scratchy contacts. "Shall we go now?" he asked once he was fully disguised.
Nodding his head, Dib went ahead and headed out the door ahead of Zim, walking towards the school.
Following closely behind Dib, Zim kept his arm laced around his waist loosely as they walked.
His own arms remaining wrapped around his abdomen, Dib shuddered again, unable to keep his posture straight at this point.
Looking at Dib concerned all the while, Zim moved in closer to him. "You can lean on me if you need to..." he offered, able to tell Dib was still in a lot of pain.
Shifting his eyes over to look at Zim for a moment, Dib nodded his head after a moment and pressed himself close to Zim as they walked, letting the Irken support the majority of his weight. "I-I just don't get it...Wh-Why does everything hurt so much? I kn-know that I was in some pain last night...A lot of pain...B-But it somehow feels different from then..." he squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
Blushing at Dib's words, Zim swallowed thickly. "M-Maybe you're just going through recovery pains now..." he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation that Dib would believe.
Dib could only groan at Zim's words though. "It doesn't feel like I'm recovering...I-It really hurts to walk..." he leaned even more of his weight against Zim, causing them to both have to walk slower and inevitably making them even later for school than they already were.
Worried about what REALLY happened but afraid to tell Dib, Zim looked away from him.
Looking rather sick now, Dib looked back over at Zim after a moment. "Are you sure nothing else happened last night after I came to the base?" he asked, wondering whether he may have hurt himself somehow last night without even knowing it.
His eyes wide, Zim looked back up at him at the question. "I'm positive! You came in, woke me up, we had a small argument about Tak, then you went into shock and your senses went haywire, so I gave you some painkillers and brought you down to bed, tossing your pants in the wash to clean off the blood!" he said in one quick breath.
"I remember everything up until the part where you gave me the painkillers, but between then and waking up, everything's a blur...Heh...I did have one crazy dream last night though...At least...I think I did..." Dib said, looking down at the ground as though trying to concentrate.
Eyes remaining wide open, Zim blushed but avoided letting Dib see it as he pretended to be watching out for cars that might hit the puddles on the side of the road. "Yeah? Wh-What was it about?" he asked, curious as to whether the other may have actually remembered the previous night's events.
"I only really remember bits and pieces of it...But we were in bed together...And you were on top of me, kissing me and...and..." Dib began telling Zim what he remembered of his 'dream.'
"...And what?" Zim looked up at Dib a bit more curiously now.
Smirking back at the other a bit, Dib could only shake his head at the question. "Never mind...I'd rather not give you any ideas..." he said jokingly, not realizing that his so-called dream had in fact been reality.
A/N: And there you have it. Your weekly update of ZADR Orange. I shall definitely try to get us back on track with this story now that I'm feeling better. So we hope you guys will look forward to that. And remember, do NOT ask me where Chapter 34 is in your reviews this week. I stated very clearly in Chapter 33 how you guys were to go about getting to that chapter so do NOT expect me to be repeating myself on this point next chapter. This isn't to be mean, but if you guys can't follow directions, then it's your own problem. That said, let me now respond to those of you reviewed last chapter. =3
To Noop237: Well, hello there, new reviewer. =3 So nice of you to join us. ^^ We're very happy to hear you're enjoying our story so much, and let me apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I was quite sick for a while there but now I can get back on track with updating this story. =3 So we hope you'll enjoy this quick update and the multitude of updates we have to come in the near future. As for the ending, I wouldn't worry too much if I were you about this story ending anytime soon. This is, in fact, a VERY long story. We're actually in the process of working our way towards the record for the longest chapter fic posted here on FF. We may even reach well over 200 chapters by the time we're finished writing it. Who knows. But I will say we are approaching the 100th chapter now as we speak and we look forward to the day we can post that chapter here. But for now, we'll work through one chapter at a time. And our ending will more than likely be a happy one. Perhaps bittersweet for one of our characters but a happy ending nonetheless. So fear not. We wouldn't dream of leaving off such a story on a sad note, regardless of how sad it is throughout. =3
To Neutral747: Well, hello there. =3 Let me be the first to welcome you. We thank you for taking the time to leave a review here on our story. =3 Indeed, Dib is finally getting a bit of what he needs. But as you can see in this chapter, it sort of backfired on him in the end. XD We do torment them oh so much in this story. But it just makes for a far more interesting story in the end if I do say so myself. As for the TAGR, I'm afraid you'll just have to keep on reading to find out. =3 I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone. And, no. Bothering us will not make us update any faster, though it was a nice try. But I was very ill for a long time and having people bug me about when this story will be updated only makes me move that much slower. So just be patient like everybody else and I'll get to updating chapters when I get to them. This was a rare instance in which I went longer than planned without updating and the chances of it happening again any time soon are slim to please just keep the story in your story alert list and you'll be notified as to when new updates arrive. That said, we thank you once again for reviewing, and we hope to hear from you again soon. =3
AND BECAUSE IT -IS- A HOLIDAY, LET ME JUST WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TODAY! 8D I HOPE YOUR DAYS WERE FILLED WITH LOTS OF LOVE!