A/N: Meh...I don't want to hear any shit in your guys' reviews about how late this chapter is. For the record, both NGD and I have been VERY busy with school this past month so please keep your comments about how late this is to yourselves. I already KNOW how late it is. I don't need to be reminded of that fact. As for future updates, I should have a better handle on them now that I'm for the most part on summer break. So yeah. You guys can look forward to faster updates now. On another note, we are quickly approaching the one year anneversary of when we first started posting this story here on FF. So I just want to thank you all for your dedication to both reading and reviewing this story. I know you've had to put up with a lot, given my slow ass updates, but I want to let you guys know that NGD and I REALLY appreciate those of you who have stuck it out and kept up with us over this past year. Once we reach our year anneversary here, I may even consider trying to update twice a week so you guys aren't kept waiting so long. But once again, this is given I find the time said, I'll shut up now and let you guys all get to reading Chapter 42 of ZADR Orange. Much love to those of you who have faved or added the story to your story alert lists. And, as always, feedback be much appreciated. So we hope you all enjoy. ^^
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: Me
Beta: Notgonnadie
Smiling sadly at Dib for his kindness, Zim could only blush a tiny bit at the small gesture. "You always look out for me..." he said before reaching forward to take the muffin and unwrap it so he could take a large bite of it.
Smiling back at him, Dib went ahead and returned to his own food after a moment or two. "It's the least I can do considering everything you've done for me." he said, taking another bite of his food, chewing on it, and then swallowing before washing it down with his drink. "And besides...I think I'll be feeling better tomorrow. This sandwich doesn't seem to be upsetting my system nearly as much as all that junk food you were feeding me." he shuddered a bit.
Mouth full of muffin, crumbles on his cheeks, Zim smiled happily up at Dib as he enjoyed his sweet treat.
Unable to help but laugh at Zim's cute face in that moment, Dib leaned himself forward a bit to lick off a few crumbs from Zim's face. "Mmmmm...You're delicious..." he said, pulling back and licking his lips before finishing the rest of his sandwich and then sipping at his milk.
Grinning back at Dib, his eyelids half lidded, Zim blushed. "Not half as delicious as you are." he then purred out, remembering that one night several weeks ago.
Blushing himself at that comment, Dib instantly took to playing with his fingers while shyly looking down at the table. "Well...I'm not so sure about that..." he looked back up at Zim. "I've noticed over the past couple of weeks that your skin is really sweet. It's not salty like a human's would be. It tastes almost like you bathe in sugar or something. Is that normal, or am I just imagining it?" he asked, slightly curious now about the Irken's body chemistry.
Shaking his head, Zim smiled to himself. "No, you're not imagining that. I eat a lot of sweets. You've probably noticed that already. But most Irkens do...I personally like the taste of salt. But I need sugar...It's like human's with protein...I need it to be healthy. Most of my body is made up of sugary substances...Like...Uhh...humans with water...I guess that is kind of what I'm saying...Uh...Yeah..." he rubbed the back of his neck, hating having to explain things as they normally came out odd.
Lifting one of his hands to stare down at curiously, Dib tilted his head slightly to one side. "Oh, I get it...I think...So does that mean I need lots of sugar in my diet too since I'm part Irken now? Or will I be okay laying off the sugar for a while? Cause even though I didn't used to crave sweet things back when I was still a human, I find myself craving them more and more now that I'm part Irken." he said, placing his hand back down on the table.
"Your human half should allow you to eat whatever you want, but it might be good if you slipped in a few sweets every once in a while." Zim said, sitting back in his chair again to continue eating his muffin.
Still staring down at his hand, Dib nodded his head. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I can sneak in a small dessert every other night from now on. It's kind of weird though. I never used to like all too many sweet things when I was human. I very rarely ever ate or drank anything sweet. But now, everything's different. Rather than salting my food, I almost feel like sprinkling sugar all over it. And I mean over everything. Not just the already sweet things." he said, looking back up at Zim.
Chuckling to himself at Dib's words, Zim nodded his head in acknowledgment of that. "Yeah...I know how you feel. It's never quite sweet enough..." he leaned back even more in his chair, licking his lips as he thought of some of the sweet things he had eaten in the past.
Nodding his head in agreement, Dib returned his gaze back down to his milk. "My mom used to eat a lot of sweets. She said that they were practically all she ate when she was pregnant with me. So she was surprised that after I was born I didn't like them as much." he laughed to himself. "She thinks maybe I just got sick of them after nine months of the stuff. And the same thing happened with Gaz too." he said, recalling that his sister wasn't all that into sweets either.
Choking on the bite of muffin that was still in his mouth, Zim gasped simultaneously at that bit of information, hacking and coughing in an attempt to dislodge the piece of food.
Eyes wide and antennae perked, Dib jolted in his seat slightly at the sudden outburst. "Zim?" he reached over a hand to pat his back and rub it up and down in a soothing manner. "A-Are you alright?" he asked, a bit shaken by the Irken's sudden choking.
Wheezing where he sat, Zim struggled to swallow down the chunk of muffin in his throat before responding. "Oh..." he gasped. "I'm fine." he then panted. "Just went down the wrong way is all." he laughed nervously. "Anyway." he cleared his throat before continuing. "Just to make sure you're still functioning correctly, when did you start craving sweets?" he asked, afraid of what Dib's answer would be.
"Hmm? Two, maybe three, weeks ago, I guess. B-But I don't see what that has to do with whether I'm functioning correctly or not. You said it was normal, right?" Dib pointed out, throwing Zim even more off guard.
Eyes wide, Zim had to try very hard not to choke again. "Yes! Of course it's normal!" he wheezed out, eyes watering up now as he grinned up at Dib. "I was just making sure...Uhhh...Check ups are good, you know!" he threw in really quickly to cover up his nervousness on the issue.
Just continuing to stare back at him confused, Dib could only send Zim a strange look for his sudden nervousness. "Umm...Yeah...I know that...I think you better take a drink before you choke to death, Zim." he said, passing him his milk to wash down the rest of what was stuck in his throat.
Accepting the milk, Zim quickly went to chug some of it down, successfully freeing himself of the lodged muffin in the back of his throat. "Thank you." he thanked the other once he had caught his breath again, passing him back the milk carton.
Nodding his head in acknowledgment of the other, Dib then reached forward a hand to brush his fingers across Zim's cheek. "You need to learn to eat a little bit slower otherwise you're going to end up killing yourself one of these days, and I wouldn't want that to happen to you." he then leaned in to kiss him on the lips before pulling away and bringing back his hand to rest in his lap.
Smiling warmly at the small caress, Zim let his eyes slip back closed. "Yeah...I know..." he sat there quietly for a little while before opening his eyes again to stare back at Dib. "Say umm...Dib...Do you still feel the same way about...umm..." he began to ask rather awkwardly, blushing as he looked away "Do you still feel the way you did on our way back to Earth about...Uhh...sex w-with me?" he continued in a quiet whisper.
Face seeming to flare up also at Zim's question, Dib instantly tensed. "Wow...Umm...Well...I don't really know...I haven't given it all that much thought, I guess...Hmm..." he seemed to give it some thought while nervously playing with his fingers again. "Well, I guess you could say it has in some ways since then...I still want to have it with you when the time is right, if that's what you mean." his antennas seemed to twitch as he said this.
Blushing an even brighter color, Zim looked away to the side. "A-And when do you think that time might be?" he asked, knowing it was bad to be getting this close to the subject but really needing to know. He knew he couldn't hide this secret from Dib forever.
Tensing just a bit more at the question, Dib shifted about in his seat nervously, feeling rather uncomfortable now but not wanting to disappoint Zim, who had been so patient with him up until now. "Well...I don't really know...Soon, I hope..." he said, his face flushing even more. "Maybe even in a few hours, if you want to give it a try and if I'm feeling well enough..." he tried to sound convincing despite how uncomfortable he was feeling about the subject.
Looking down at the table now, Zim's blush couldn't be any darker as he knew Dib was lying. "So...Not for a while then..." 'Great...This just got harder.' he thought to himself after saying that.
Eyes wide, Dib snapped his head up to look at Zim. "No! Really, Zim...I-If you want to give it a try tonight a-and see how far we get, I-I guess I wouldn't mind too much..." he said, cheeks a bright cherry red as he wanted more than anything for Zim not to be disappointed with him and think that he just didn't want to be with the other.
"No, Dib. It's okay. I'm not trying to rush you. I was just curious is all." Zim said calmly, refusing to look back up at him.
"I-It's not you, you know! I-It's me...A-And I don't know why I get so nervous about the subject...B-But I do...M-Maybe it's because I never thought about it up until a few months ago...I never considered what my first time would be like let alone whether I'd even have a first time...S-So I just want to make sure that if I'm going to do anything with anyone, i-it's going to be perfect." Dib tried to get his thoughts and feelings better across to Zim.
Feeling even worse now, Zim could only whisper quietly under his breath to himself. "Oh, it was perfect..." he sighed heavily. 'I wish he remembered what happened that night...But I can't tell him...He won't believe me if I tell him he asked for it...' he thought, unsure now how he was going to explain any of this to Dib.
Having just barely caught Zim's words, Dib's antennas twitched, causing him to tilt his head to the side a bit. "Hm? What was that? Wh-What was perfect? Z-Zim...I-Is there something you're not telling me? You've been acting strange all afternoon." he couldn't help but ask the other about his strange behavior lately, getting the feeling that Zim really WAS keeping something from him.
"N-Nothing! I'm not hiding anything from you! Why would I need to? It's not like I've done anything bad, right?" Zim suddenly became very defensive, breathing a little heavier then he meant to.
A/N: And there you have it. Your weekly update of ZADR Orange. Ohohoho...You're digging your own grave, Zim. But anyways. We hope the update was worth the wait, you guys. So until next time~ Now let NGD and I respond to those of you reviewed last chapter. =3
To Dlbn: Lol. XD Indeed. The computer has nobody else to take its anger out on. After all, Zim is its master and Gir is, well...GIR! It's no fun for the computer if it doesn't elicit SOME kind of reaction out of its victim. Dib just happens to be the most emotionally unstable at the moment. XD And it doesn't really believe Dib can do anything about it like Zim can. XD So Dib is the perfect target to take its frustrations out on. But then again, Zim might do something to the computer if it doesn't leave Dib alone. Because we all know Zimmeh will do whatever it takes to protect his Dibbeh. That's why they're so cute together. ^.^ We're glad you're enjoying our story so much and look forward to hearing back from you soon. =3 Thanks for reading and reviewing! 8D
To Illisandria Carthain: Lol. XD Yes, more lies indeed. And many many more to come. XD As NGD puts it:
NGD: ZIM REFUSES TO GROW UP! 8D Oh, and yay! Names are good! Get yer entry in, man! As many as possible o3o We loooove entries.
And, yes. Three smeebies for Dibbeh. What fun we shall have with that. XD And it sounds like you're having fun with a new story. Hard to imagine Gaz as a slave though. XD She's too awesome to ever fall victim to the role of a slave. But I suppose so long as her capters are afraid of her, it's all good. XD For the sake of wrapping this response up, I'll let NGD finish by answering your question. =3
NGD: XD Well, PM comes back after much needed therapy for this bunch and you'll see Purple again in due time. XD
Much love to you as always for reviewing. So until next time~
To lilybean queen of the i ocean: Glad to hear it. XD
To heartofstone15: Lol. XD Well, whether your name is creative or not, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you found the club and joined. =3 And sometimes it's good to stick with the same username. Makes you much easier to find in the long run. =3 As for your impatience, I can't say whether that's a good attribute or not, given how slow I can be when updating this story though. XD So I hope the wait didn't kill you too horribly much. School has been absolute hell for me this past month, as it has been for NGD. But oh well. At least it's for the most part over with now. As for the Irken hermaphrodite idea, you'll find soon enough that it's not only interesting but actually spices up Zim's and Dib's sex life quite a bit. XD And it definitely explains the lack of females in Irken society. Lol. Poor Dibbles is going to be taking the brunt of that fact in this story. But before I get too ahead of myself, I'll allow NGD to respond to the last of your review.
NGD: Hehehe XD Well, I pity you, poor dear. There's gonna be some rabbitting here soon despite the rarity of Irken births. XD I guess Zim is just defective in a good way. Along with someone else. Hurrr~
As for when Zim plans on telling Dibbles, you'll just have to wait to find out. Don't worry though, we're getting close to it. XD And of course Dibbles is gonna take it bad. It wouldn't be interesting if he didn't. XD I don't think even Zim would be able to hold it in for THAT long, though I'm sure he wishes to. But anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing, as always, and we look forward to hearing from you again soon. =3
To IrkenInvaderKat: Well, hello there, new reviewer. =3 So nice of you to join us. Let me be the first to welcome you as NGD is quite busy at the moment.I was going to ask her to respond to you but seeing as how I'm already late to posting this next chapter, I suppose I'll have her catch you next time, given you respond again. Anyways, we're glad to hear you're enjoying our story and we hope you didn't read through it too quickly. It is a LOT to take in all at once and there's still so much more to be written in this story. As for Dib becoming pregnant, that was kind of a given if you know NGD and I. XD We are both two writers who enjoy the MPregness in the IZ universe. But anyways, We're also glad to hear your friend is enjoying the story as well. We've been known to convert quite a few ZADR haters with this story. In fact, some ZADR haters are even afraid to read this story BECAUSE of that fact. But oh well. I guess we (or at least NGD) has that effect on some people. ^^ As for your review, it was just fine. =3 Not bad at all. We thank you for taking the time to read and review. And we hope to hear back from you again in the future. ^^