ZADR Orange Chapter 103

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

Enjoy. =3

Reading through some of the information the computer had brought up for him about marriage, Zim groaned as he was already becoming confused with it all. "Uhh...Is it really that complicated?" he said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Is what that complicated?" Purple asked, walking into the kitchen and stifling a yawn. "What are you looking at?" he asked, coming up behind Zim to have a look for himself, dressed in a white and purple robe.

"I'm not sure if you should know. You're not good at keeping secrets."

"Whaaat?" Purple whined, taking hold of Zim's arm and shaking it a bit. "Awww, come on, Zim! I can keep a secret! Tell me what you're looking at! If it's a secret you're keeping from your mate, it's not like we've really talked all that much since I've been here! Come on! Tell me! I promise not to say anything to him! I don't even think he likes me that much to begin with! Come ooooon! Pleeeeeaaaaseeeee!" he begged.

Zim groaned. "Alright, FINE! But you BETTER not tell him ANYTHING!" he said before looking back at the screen. "I'm looking up information for an Earth ritual called marriage." he said.

"Hmmm? Marriage? What's that? Some kind of mating ritual these humans perform? Or perhaps something they do after conceiving a smeet? And why is it a secret if you're both supposed to take part in it?"

"I want to surprise him with the offer. That's part of the ritual too...I have to do something special to get his attention and then get on my knees and offer a ring. If he takes it, we can finish the ritual later on. From what I can figure though, it is what humans do when they REALLY love someone and want the rest of the planet to know that they are mates and can belong to no one else."

"Oooh! So it's a planetary thing! Does that mean these humans have some place special on this planet that they all meet when two mates take part in this ritual? Or do they travel to a completely different planet to perform it? Like how we travel to Conventia whenever we have a planetary event?"

"I don't really know...I hope not..." Zim shuddered. "Dib would die with that many eyes on him at once..." he said.

"Hmm? He doesn't like the attention? Well, what about those two humans who were over here? You know, his parental units. Have you asked them about it? They seemed mated to me. They must know about what you're planning to do. Why not just ask them if you don't know the specifics of this ritual?"

"I've gotten a little information from them already. But I have to wait until after dinner tonight before I can get more."

"Dinner? What dinner? Are they coming back over here again tonight? Do they come over here every night?"

"No, we're going over to their house. Jack said you could come too."

"Oh...Okay..." Purple said before falling silent and sinking into a chair to play with his fingers nervously, his gaze fixed on them. "Do you want me to go?" he then asked.

"...If you want to go...I don't want you to be stuck in my house with Gir..."

"Okay...If you and your mate don't mind...I'll try not to get in your way too much..."

Zim smiled. "You're not in the way now."

Lifting his gaze up, Purple looked at Zim. "I'm...not...? But I thought my being here was getting on both your nerves..."

"You just got here, Pur."

"Well, you didn't look very happy about it yesterday...And I don't need your mate to tell me he doesn't like me to know he doesn't...I can tell just by the look on his face whenever I walk into the room. Not that I can blame him when Red's the one who can't get over our past relationship."

Not knowing what to say, Zim sighed.

"Your mate hates me, Red acts like he hates me, and you...I don't really know what you think of me now...You have to know it wasn't easy for me to come here though...Not when I know full well there's a chance that you may hate me too..."

"I don't hate you, Purple...I couldn't."

"If you don't hate me, then what do you think of me now?" Purple's gaze turned serious as he stared back at Zim. He was afraid to hear the other's answer but knew he wouldn't be able to leave without knowing.

"..." Zim sighed. "You're a friend. You watch out for me...I love you like a brother...But nothing more than that...I'm sorry..."

"Don't be...That's all I wanted...I just...wanted to know that at least SOMEBODY cared...When I thought you had stopped caring, that's when I started really wanting to try for a smeet..."

"I never stopped caring..."

"I wish I could say the same thing about Red..." Purple said, his antennae drooping.

Shaking his head, Zim sighed. "Red's not going to care about anything until he knows I'm dead..."

Purple sighed also. "...And so I question why I've stayed with him for so long..."

"You love him."

"I must be crazy to love somebody who doesn't show his love back to me..."

"No, not really...I liked Dib before all this happened...And I think he liked me..."

"But there's no way for me to tell whether Red loves me back...He says he does but then goes off and does stupid things that make me upset...Words don't mean anything if you can't show it in your actions..."

Zim nodded. "I know...Well, there is an old Earth saying...Absence makes the heart grow fonder...Maybe he'll miss you."

"If he even realizes I'm gone...Ever since he stopped talking to me, we haven't seen much of each other on the Massive...For all I know, he may think I'm just avoiding him..."

"Oh, don't say that..."

"But it's true! He knows I'm mad at him for ignoring me! And the Massive is a huge ship! For all he knows, I could just be hiding out in a room somewhere on it!...And he wouldn't even care..."

"He WILL care, Pur..."

Purple sighed out heavily. "I'll believe that when I see it..."

"I hope you see it soon..."

"Is it even worth it to hope...? To put so much faith in a relationship that went wrong long ago?"

"It's always worth it, Pur..." Zim stood up in his chair to pat Purple on the head.

Purple sighed. "Okay...I'll give him until I've returned to the Massive. But if things haven't changed by then, then we're over and I'm moving on with my life."

Zim sighed. "Alright then."

"Zim, if he's not willing to change then I can't spend the rest of my life chasing after him..."

"Then don't...He's losing more than he realizes."

Purple sighed. "I just wish I could convince myself that he's losing more than I am..." his antennae drooped.

"Oh, come on, Pur. He's a worthless bastard if he can't realize how amazing you are."

"He wasn't always like this though!" Purple broke into tears, wiping at his eyes. "So I have to assume it must have been something -I- did to make him this way!" he exclaimed.

"No! No, it wasn't you...I-It was me..."

"Don't say that! Please, don't say that...It's not you...It's not you...It's me...B-Because it took me so long to let go..."

Zim sighed. "No, it's Red. He never let it go at all...And he's causing everyone to suffer because of it." he said.

"And so it just becomes one big cycle, the blame constantly returning back to all of us. But I don't want that anymore. I just want it all to stop! Because it hurts you, it hurts Red, and it hurts me...And no matter what I do to try and stop it, I always seem to make it worse..."

"Then don't try. Let what happens happen..." Zim shrugged. "You hungry?" he asked.

Resting his head in his arms, Purple slumped down in his seat a bit. "No...Not really..." he said.

Zim sighed. "Well, I came up to eat breakfast...I think Dib is sick..."

"Hmm?" Purple lifted an antenna. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Well...He's so clammy and sweaty...And he's blushing a lot...And seems to be having trouble breathing because he's panting a lot too..."

"Well, maybe it's a pregnancy symptom. You could ask later tonight whether that's normal."

Zim nodded. "Hey, maybe it is..." he smiled, feeling much better now. "Thanks, Pur." he said.

"No problem. After all, it's not like it's something he was having problems with until after he became pregnant, right?"

"That's true...But he has been pregnant for a while...Maybe he is sick..."

Purple shrugged. "Well, have you tried giving him anything for it? Like medicine just in case." he asked.

"No...He won't take medicine."

"What? Why? If he's not feeling well and medicine would be good for him, why wouldn't he take it?"

"He is afraid it will harm the smeets..."

"Eh? Well, that's stupid. How could something that's supposedly good be harmful?"

"I don't know...Apparently Earth medicines are as harmful as they are helpful."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense. How about Irken medicines? Have you tried giving him any of those? You could probably just sneak it into his food or something without him ever knowing."

"I don't want to do that to him! What if he found out?! He'd never trust me again!"

Purple could only shrug at that. "Even if it was for his own good? Or you could have somebody else do it instead so he wouldn't blame you if he ever found out." he said, just trying to offer the other suggestions.

A/N: And there you have it for Chapter 103. =3 Until next time~