A/N: Ahaha! I am on time this week to update! Not much to say this week except that I hope you guys all enjoy reading this next installment of ZADR Orange. =3 Chapter 36 for those of you keeping track. ^^ As always, we extend much love to those of you who have faved or added this story to your story alert lists, and we just hope you all enjoy. =3 And remember, feedback be much appreciated. ^^
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/Zita/Letter M/Brian: Notgonnadie
Dib/Random Teacher/Miss Bitters: Me
Beta: Notgonnadie
Giggling at Dib's teasing, Zim merely nudged Dib lightly. "Awww, come on. It can't be that bad." he urged Dib to tell him the rest of his dream.
Giggling himself at the small nudge, Dib finally sighed out lightly. "Alright... Well, to tell the truth, I don't remember exactly what you were doing to me in my dream, but whatever it was, you seemed to be enjoying yourself...a LOT...I figure you were finally having your way with me. Heh...But I could be wrong...Because...You promised you'd wait until I was ready, and I have a hard time imagining that you would go against your word...Even if only in a dream..." he smiled to himself, a small blush gracing his cheeks as he told Zim all this.
Sighing to himself, Zim looked away at that answer. "Yeah...I wouldn't want to lose your trust..." his voice came out in a whisper as he was slowly beginning to wake up all the way, just then realizing the enormity of what he had done. He then shuddered thinking about it. He had never wanted to do that before, to ANYONE, but Dib...He just couldn't help wanting him so badly that it hurt.
Just then seeming to notice Zim's sudden silence, Dib looked back at Zim somewhat confusedly. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked as they were drawing closer to the school.
Nodding mechanically, Zim's gaze remained fixed on the ground as they walked. "Yes...Zim is fine..." he lied, afraid Dib would be able to read what he had done just by looking at his face.
"O-Oh...Alright..." Dib looked back ahead of them as they approached the school, climbing the stairs in front to enter through the double doors. "Hmmm? Nobody's here..." he said, looking about the empty hallway, pulling away from Zim after a second to check a few of the other hallways, one arm remaining wrapped around his abdomen. "That's strange. If Tak didn't head straight for your base last night, then I assume she stayed here. But I would have thought she might have done some damage to the school, unless-" he got cut short as somebody grabbed his shoulder from behind.
"Hey! What are you two doing out here? Class started 15 minutes ago! Now get to class before I send you both to the principal's office!" a random teacher ordered, grabbing hold of Zim's shoulder as well so he could push the both of them in the direction of their classroom.
Eeping a bit at being caught off guard, Zim turned to glare back at the teacher. "We were just on our way there!" he moodily jerked out of the man's grip. "Now if you DON'T mind, we can walk on our own. Come on, Dib." he said, grabbing hold of the boy so he could lead him away from the teacher.
Pulling away from the teacher also and remaining close to Zim as they walked, Dib waited until they were out of earshot to whisper something into Zim's antennas. "D-Do you think Tak has disguised herself as a new student again and is waiting for us to show up to class?" he asked, afraid she might jump them the second they entered the classroom.
Shaking his head, Zim merely continued to lead him towards their classroom. "I think she'll probably be using the exact same disguise as before. She has no reason to change it." he whispered back so nobody would hear them.
"Unless she's trying to keep herself hidden from us. I'm more convinced now, since she didn't go straight to your base last night, that she's going to wait until your guard is down. Then strike when you're most vulnerable." Dib didn't think she would give herself away that easily by using a disguise Zim would already recognize.
Stopping in the middle of hallway and looking back at Dib, Zim nodded, knowing the other was probably right. "I agree. That's more her style anyways...So...Maybe...Should we look for her?" he asked, wanting to be the one who caught HER off guard rather than vice versa.
Looking back behind them, Dib could still see the teacher that had caught them watching them from down the hallway, making sure they went to class like they were supposed to. "Err...Maybe we should wait until lunch to look for her." he said as they approached their classroom door. "I don't think we'd get away with sneaking through the halls during class time. And besides, if she IS in class, then we should be able to tell. Just look for anybody new in our class." he told the other as they stood outside the door for a moment.
Glancing back at the teacher momentarily as well, Zim narrowed his eyes on him a bit from his spot. "Good idea..." he said before looking back at Dib. "You sure you'll be okay?" he asked, still a little concerned about Dib's current state.
Pulling away from Zim, Dib merely straightened himself out the best he could. "Y-Yeah...But if she is in there, we can't let her see us together. Not like this, at least. She doesn't realize that anything's going on between us. So act like you still hate me. I don't want her trying to get to you through me." he said, not realizing Gaz had already told her everything going on between him and Zim.
Nodding sadly, Zim stepped forward to give Dib a quick hug before pulling away. "I will try my best." he said, still sending Dib a fairly sad look.
Blushing slightly at the hug, Dib blinked wide eyes at the other before smiling. "I'm sure you'll do just fine." he reassured the other, looking around quickly to make sure nobody else was looking before leaning in to brush a gentle kiss to the Irken's lips.
"After all, you spent the last 5 years hating me, so it shouldn't be that hard to fake." he reminded the other before taking a few steps back away from the other to then glare at him, putting on his best act so nobody would be able to tell that they were no longer enemies.
Chuckling at the glare he received, Zim then put on the most smug expression he could muster. "WELL, DIB-BEAST! It seems I, ZIM, have once again defeated you!" he proclaimed loudly as he yanked open the classroom door and marched inside.
Grimacing at Zim's words, Dib followed Zim inside with a loud growl, all the while shifting his gaze to the rows of students in class, scanning through them for anybody new. But upon realizing that all the students in there were the same ones who had been in their class since the beginning of the school year, he took a double take to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
"Zim! Dib! You're late! Take your seats! Now!" Their teacher pointed to the two empty seats in the classroom.
Seeing as his and Dib's old chairs were the only ones open, Zim merely slid into his regular seat at the command.
Meanwhile, Dib could only flash Zim a slightly worried look at the fact that Tak didn't seem to be anywhere among the other students in their class before heading for his seat, otherwise not letting his guard down for even a second. Then, looking back up towards the front of the class where the teacher was lecturing, he cringed, knowing that this was going to be a long class period before they were allowed to go free.
Kicking back in his chair, already used to this routine by now, Zim acted as though nothing were wrong. He had been doing this for a LOT longer then Dib knew, at least, the part about PRETENDING to hate him anyways.
Turning his attention away from Zim AND the teacher to stare up at the clock in the classroom, Dib fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat as he watched the minutes tick away excruciatingly slow, one at a time as he only turned every couple of minutes to send Zim another glare, if just to keep up the act as best he could in case Tak just happened to be watching from some secret hiding spot.
"Heyyy..." Zita then spoke up, poking the letter M. "Does Dib look funny to you?" she asked, sending him odd glances.
Lifting his head to stare at Dib momentarily, he then returned his cheek to his hand in boredom. "Hmmm...No funnier then usual. Why?" he asked, not really caring however.
Zita shrugged. "I don't know...Something just seems off about him is all." she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was but knew something was different.
Staring over at him again, the letter M seemed to give it some thought. "Hey, you're right...Hmmm, but I don't know what." he shrugged himself.
Antennae twitching slightly, Dib found to his surprise that he could pick up on their conversation from his spot across the classroom, as well as a few other students' conversations, causing everything to mesh together in an uncomfortable fashion as he let his antennae droop just a bit, making him feel even more uncomfortable.
Picking up on the conversation behind him as well, Zim pricked his antennae up only slightly beneath the wig as he wondered whether they were talking about Dib being a hybrid or the fact that he seemed a lot less stressed out then usual.
Pushing his antennae back as much as physically possible, plastering them to his head and squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he tried to block out all the talking around him, Dib shifted about in his seat, trying to get comfortable but finding it impossible.
Noticing this, Zim glared at the clock angrily, ordering it in his mind to move faster so all the stupid students would stop talking about Dib. But it was no use.
"I think it's cause he isn't yelling like a lunatic." Brian joined the conversation.
"Heyyy. You're right. He's not." she said before turning to jab Zim in the back of the head. "Hey, why aren't the two of you yelling at each other? Huh?" she probed Zim for answers.
Antennae perking at hearing one of the students ask Zim that question, Dib shifted his gaze over to look at the disguised Irken as though waiting to hear his response.
Turning to glare at Zita, Zim quickly responded with the best excuse he could come up with off the top of his head. "The DIB-BEAST and I are at a compromise for the moment. We have decided to only fight AFTER school, you see." he explained as though it were obvious.
"Well, I guess that makes sense." Zita said before turning back to talk with the others about something else.
A slight blush gracing his cheeks as he tried to just ignore the rest of what the other students had to say about him, Dib shifted his gaze back down to stare at his desktop before any of them could notice him looking their way.
Letting out a relieved sigh when after what felt like YEARS the bell for lunch finally rang, Zim waited until the rest of the class filed out before rushing over to where Dib sat, still in his desk. "Are you okay?" he asked, not having meant for Dib to ever have to hear all that.
A/N: And there you have it. Your weekly update of ZADR Orange. Poor Dibbles. He just now found out what the downside to having antennae is. XD But don't worry. The upside far outweighs the downside in this story, if you all know what I mean. X3 That said, let me now respond to those of you reviewed last chapter. =3
To ClockwerkOrange: Well, thank you. =3 (Huggles)
To Vithian: Hmm? ?_? You don't have to apologize. You're one of my regular reviewers. And it's not like I've updated recently. So don't even worry about it. I understand that you have a life outside of reading and reviewing this story just like I have a life outside of working on and updating this story. I didn't think you had given up on me. So just relax. I know you'll continue to review as this story progresses. =3 And I got your review on chapter 31. I just responded to it over on FA when I posted Chapter 34. But anyways, there really are some huge asses here on FF. But in most cases, it's best just to ignore them. Don't buy into those flames. The real problem with people here on FF is the fact that most of them don't know how to properly give constructive criticism. So I wouldn't take those kinds of comments all too seriously if I were you. Flamers usually don't know shit about what they're talking about. As for Christmas, we celebrate on my mom's side because they're the only side that lives near us. My dad's family is all spread out and nowhere near where we live, whereas my mom's side lives anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes away from us. You might have already said something about this. I can't really remember. Our conversation seems to have grown too complex. And it's hard to say what we've said already and what we haven't. For all we know, we could be just going around in circles, saying the same stuff over and over again to each other. XD But anyways, I don't even usually go out to social gatherings. Too many happy-go-lucky people around. My friends literally have to drag me out of my house if they want me to do anything with them that's social. Of course, they're not very social either. Why would we be? Like I've said before, it's cold here. We'd much rather stay indoors with a good meal and some video games to pass the time. I don't even think I know where my flute is any longer. About the only instrument I CAN find in my house is the piano, just because nobody's going to be moving it around. As for Pokemon, the series is pretty dead. I still enjoy the movies, of course. But otherwise, I prefer the older episodes over newer ones. Same with television shows. Not a big fan of Digimon or even Sailor Moon, but Hamtaro was always a plus in my book as was Card Captor Sakura. Robotnik was awesome at the time he still dominated the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, and I agree Eggman's not as awesome. But I can't say I hate Eggman overall. He's still a pretty awesome character despite. And Metal Sonic I always had mixed feelings towards. He's awesome but I don't think he got as much attention as he should have given he was one of the more successful creations of Dr. Robotnik. I DO have the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie though that introduces Metal Sonic. Knuckles was always my absolute favorite character though. I don't really know why. I just liked him a LOT. Perhaps it's because of his complex nature. In the chao world however, I have to admit, my favorite always has been and always will be Dr. Evil, even though he no longer exists. He was my baby. I just couldn't help but love him. Are you sure that was a virus you had? Sounds more like it might have been a problem with your power cord rather than a virus. I've never heard of a virus being able to cause something like that. But power cord I could understand in that situation. I guess it doesn't really matter if you got a new laptop though. I got one too. Not a new, new one. But a new, old one. And it works ten times better than my last one. One of my dad's karate students actually gave it to me, no charge. So I'm pretty happy I didn't have to pay money for a new one like I thought I'd have to. =3 I couldn't stand being sick again though. DX I couldn't even sit up enough to get on the internet at first. I came down with that stupid flu again only it was ten times worse than the last time. I want to say it's stress related because of school just starting up again, but I can't be sure yet. I guess I'll just have to see how I fare through the school semester. If I get sick a third time though, I'm definitely pulling out of one of my classes. The teacher's kind of a jerk and I just can't deal with him again this semester, especially if I'm sick and he lowers my grade for being sick. Perhaps some people can see a plus side to being sick, but honestly, I couldn't this time around. I was literally hanging over a bucket the entire time. I had a 104.0 degree F fever, my body hurt like hell, I was SO nauseous, headachey, and to put things simply, I just felt like crap. I couldn't even eat, sleep, or drink anything at all for nearly an entire week. That's how bad it was. And I lost weight like crazy. If I caught this flu again, I swear, I'd rather kill myself than go through all that shit a third time. I even still have phlegm trapped in my lungs from last week, which makes it a little painful to breath. I'm currently trying to cough it up so it doesn't build up again. *Shudder* I'm going to try and take it easy though for the next few months, just so I can get through the semester. I'm not going to let myself worry about school or anything like that. Because honestly, I just couldn't handle getting sick again. So anyways. that was indeed another long review. And here be my long reply back. But somehow it seems shorter than the last review and comment back. So I guess that's a good thing. 8D And we're glad to hear you're still finding our story awesome. (Hug) You're awesome for keeping up with it and reviewing. Thanks again and we look forward to hearing back from you next chapter. Until then~
To lilybean queen of the i ocean: We're glad to hear it. ^_^
To Watermelondrea: Oh, yes. That too. ^^
To Amerilia Lily Lotus: I'm glad I'm feeling better too. =3 And thank you for not complaining. We're glad to hear you enjoyed that last chapter. And we look forward to hearing back from you on this next chapter. ^^
To Neutral747: You're quite welcome. =3 We're always thrilled to see new faces here. Poor Dibbles was so drugged up on painkillers, there was no way he'd remember the night before save for in his dreams. And as for your question, I'd have to say it's a little bit of both. He's in pain because it's his first time, but you must remember, he DID just have his body cut into and organs taken out less than 48 hours before. So he IS still recovering from that change. Also, Zim kind of pounded into him fairly roughly. XD I think anybody would be in at least a little bit of pain after that. XD Thank you for being patient and don't worry. We'll keep this story updated fairly regularly so you don't go insane waiting for it. Just hang in there and we'll have a new chapter posted each and every week. And also, thank you for the well wishes. I'm already beginning to feel better now that my fever has broken. Lol. XD I actually didn't get much chocolate this Valentine's Day. I got pizza instead. =3
To Dlbn: Well, hello there. I don't believe we've met yet. Allow me to welcome you here, new reviewer. =3 Lol. Indeed poor Dibbles is in pain. But I think anybody would be after going a round with Zim. XD Not that he remembers. He was too drugged up on painkillers in our story for him to remember. And you'll be told much later on in the story what kind of painkiller it was. XD We're glad to hear you're enjoying the story. And we hope to hear from you again soon. =3 So until next time~
To Alec: Hello. Please keep in mind that this really isn't the place to be asking that as we have not even reached that chapter here on FF. For the record, however, there is nowhere else to go. Here and on that website are the only two places left to read the story. And seeing as how you can't find anymore chapters there, it should be obvious enough that we just haven't updated the story any more than that. The story will continue to be updated when we have chapters ready to be posted. But you'll just have to keep your eyes open for further updates from now on. We do not make announcements about when those updates are made. It's up to you readers to keep track of that yourselves. So please take the time to bookmark that page and subscribe to the website. And also, if you're not reading the story here, please keep your comments over there on the other website. We DO have a forum for people to leave comments on there. But here on FF, we'd prefer only receiving comments if you're actually reading the story here. For future reference, please contact us in a PM here rather than in a comment. Thank you.
To heartofstone15: Lol. XD Your horrible French spelling is excused as I'm sure it's ten times better than the horrible English spelling I receive from the majority of my friends. XD But anyways, thank you for the comment. We're glad you enjoyed that last chapter as well as poor Dibbles' torment. XD As for Zim, he'll get around to telling Dib the truth...EVENTUALLY. But in the meantime, we must leave poor Dibbles to wonder about that night. XD And, yes. To answer your question, yes, there will be more sex scenes later on in the story. XD Unfortunately, I can't say there will be any in the near future however. The next actual sex scene doesn't arise until we reach Chapter 86 in this story. So you've got a long wait ahead of you. However, to be fair, we do have at least two chapters between then that contain a little solo action. Not big scenes in the story, but still. It's at least something to hold you guys over. You'll just have to keep your eyes open for them. We will be posting two versions of those chapters. A PG-13 version for here and an adult version you'll be able to find on FA. So be sure to pay close attention to my authors notes. =3