After his breakdown, Zim spent a good while just staring at the black TV-screen. For the first time in his life, his mind was clear. It felt so remarkable that he just wanted to sit there and feel it.

Then his human body started begging for food again and he got up and went into the kitchen. Putting a bowl of milk and cereal into the microwave, he started thinking about the situation he was currently in.

"Computer", he said (not shouting - he felt no inclination whatsoever to shout his commands), "Run a systems check on my PAK."

"Sure", the Computer drawled. A few minutes ticked by. The microwave dinged and Zim grabbed his bowl of hot cereal. He put a spoonful into his mouth and nodded approvingly when the Computer dinged as well. "Systems check complete."

"Good. Put the results on the monitor in the base, I'll be right there."

Zim brought his cereal bowl as he took the elevator down and flopped down into his chair. Ok, let's see.

"PAK status: maintenance required", he read aloud, "Unable to communicate with host. Unable to communicate with control brains." He relaxed at that. Irk had no way of learning about the words of treason he'd uttered. "Life support: active. Energy reserves: below optimal; prioritizing self sufficiency." That would explain why he had to eat and rest.

He leaned back and chewed slowly, reading the report. It seemed like everything was in order, except that the PAK was unable to give or receive any sorts of commands or information. It was just there, existing but not doing anything. Exactly what it had felt like ever since he turned human. Luckily he wasn't in any immediate danger, be that from his PAK malfunctioning or from Irk marking him as a traitor. So that was good.

Now what options did he have? He didn't have the gun yet. He'd find it eventually, and until then he was stuck like this. Being a human child was incredibly disadvantageous - with the constant need to eat and sleep, the emotional outbursts and the fragility to name a few obvious ones. But…

But the other alternative wasn't great either.

No, he shouldn't think of returning to being an Irken as an 'option'. Of course he was going to become Irken again! He had a mission! Irkens were superior! And- and it's not like he could stay a human forever. He didn't belong here! (He didn't belong on Irk either, said the logical part of his brain.)

"ARGH! This is useless! I need to do something other than sitting here and thinking!" He exclaimed to the empty room. That clear and empty feeling had disappeared, and been replaced by a more familiar frustration. He needed a distraction, something to let his mind focus on, and then surely his issues would sort themselves out.

His thoughts wandered to the game that Dib had been playing.

"Computer, do you know where my gaming console is?"

Dib had never gotten up this early on a Saturday in his life. But here he was, walking in the misty morning air towards the house of his arch-enemy.

In his hand, he held that stupid gun.

Everything was so stupid. He didn't mean for Zim to get that upset. He'd gotten carried away, and maybe Zim had been dealing with more demons than he'd thought, and then Zim had punched him and run off before they could make up again. Now he had a sore jaw and guilt gnawing at his guts.

This wasn't what he wanted, not really. He just wanted some good, old-fashioned revenge for Zim's halloween prank, but it seemed like he instead uncovered the truths about Irken society, and made Zim uncomfortably aware of them as well. If he'd just challenged Zim to a fistfight instead, that can-of-worms could have remained closed forever.

He arrived just as the first rays of sunlight stretched through the mist, sending long rays across Zim's artificial lawn and his robotic gnomes. They didn't activate as he strode across the lawn and knocked on the door.

"Zim?" he called, "It's me."

He waited for a long time, trying to hear something from inside. After an eternity, he heard the door unlock and Zim, looking absolutely awful, scowled up at him.

"Jesus. Did you sleep at all, dude?"

"Yes", Zim rasped," I've slept, uhhhhhhh… What time is it?"

"Almost seven."

"About four hours then. I've been playing the crossing of the animals."

"Wait, the game I showed you yesterday?"

"Yes!" Zim snapped, "what else would I be talking about? Anyway. You woke me up, so you better have a good excuse if you want to keep your spleen." Dib made a mental note to ask about Zim's friend code later, and pulled the gun out from behind his back.

"Brought you this", he said and watched as Zim's eyes widened. "Sorry about yesterday. It went kinda out of hand."

"Oh", Zim breathed, "Oh. You just- you just brought it here?" What kind of response was that?

"Yeah. I could just-" Dib switched the gun on, clicked the 'reverse' button, and pointed it at Zim, "Turn you back right now. But then again, looking at how scared you look right now, I'll just leave it here and let you do it yourself. You know, when you're ready to return to being a cog in a machine."

Those last words had Zim snapping out of his terrified stupor. He glared up and squared his little shoulders.

"Of course I'm ready to… to become that. I definitely will not miss being a stupid child with free will and a clear head and…" he trailed off. Dib stared, unimpressed. "Shut up! Gimme the gun!"

"I didn't say anything", Dib said, allowing him to snag the gun out of his hands.

"Lies", Zim said. Said. Didn't yell. Didn't look like he was going to either. Then he yawned.

"Right. Sorry I woke you up, I didn't realize you were so busy playing Animal Crossing."

He turned to leave, feeling kind of weird at knowing that the next time he saw Zim, the little human would once again be a little Irken. Would they ever speak of this again? or was Zim just gonna go back to being unable to hold a sane conversation?

"Wait!"

Dib stopped in his tracks. He turned and saw Zim stand there, clutching the gun to his chest and looking torn.

"Don't you want to stay for a while?" he asked. That was the single least-in-character thing Zim had said during this whole ordeal, and it threw him for a loop. The kid looked kinda pathetic where he stood in the doorway though, and it did tug at Dib's stupid heartstrings.

"Yeah, why not", he shrugged and made his way back, noting how Zim's eyes lit up at that.

"Okay. Good! I thought…" Zim mumbled something as he went into his base. Dib closed the door behind them. His eyes fell on the couch, where Zim had clearly made himself a sleeping nest of blankets and pillows. He didn't have a bed? That kinda made sense, since he didn't sleep before this…

Just as he turned, he saw Zim gingerly put the gun down on his kitchen table and quickly jump a few feet away. As though it was gonna hurt him just by existing. Zim looked up and noticed the eyes on him.

"Do you want to, ehhhh, watch a movie?" his words were stilted, expression a mix of uncertainty and worry.

God, Dib was gonna sit here and watch movies with his enemy, in his enemy's base? It wasn't that different from playing animal crossing in his bed while his enemy watched, he guessed, but today they weren't even hiding under the "I'm going to search your house for my gun" -guise. Zim straight-up just invited him to stay and watch movies with him.

"Sure", Dib said.

"GIR has a lot of them. Let's see… Computer?"

"Yes?"

"Get me the movie box!"

"'Kay."

Minutes later, they had decided on an action comedy. It didn't require a lot of brain-power to follow the plot, so Dib watched with one eye glancing at his phone. The whole ordeal felt so… natural. Just like yesterday, with the both of them on the bed, talking about console games. Like this, they were just two buddies hanging out, doing friend stuff.

But he only needed to glance over at the Irken-turned-human for the illusion to collapse slightly… Zim sat fixated on the film, but his back was too straight and his shoulders too stiff for it to be really convincing. To their far right, on the kitchen table, that gun lay harmlessly, taunting their existence. "You're hanging out on borrowed time", it would say. If guns could talk...

Halfway into the film, Zim's poor night's sleep caught up with him. His head hit Dib's shoulder unceremoniously and he let out a loud snore. Welp. He guessed it was his fault for coming over so early - it usually didn't matter, but usually Zim didn't sleep at all, and it seemed like Dib had miscalculated.

Sighing heavily, he wrapped his one arm around Zim so that he wouldn't fall over, and kept watching the movie on his own. And he took the chance to think about the entire situation.

While Zim kept claiming that being a human was horrible and annoying… He didn't want to reverse it. That had been pretty obvious just now when he had the gun, had the opportunity, but didn't immediately jump onto it. However, it wasn't like he'd put a lot of effort into searching for the gun yesterday, either. Whether it was because of his unresponsive PAK or whatever, it just seemed like Zim didn't want to return to his normal alien self, no matter what he claimed.

How was Dib going to react to that? If Zim stayed human, he wouldn't have any proof of alien life! No one would believe him, and he'd be classified as a weirdo for the rest of his life!

Then again. He glanced at the sleeping form propped up against his chest. If Zim became an alien again, he would lose his only… friend? Yeah, they were kinda friends right now, weren't they? Friends that hung out and played games and watched movies. Dib had never had anything like that before…

A younger version of him would never have hesitated like this. He would have turned Zim back himself, and then carried him to his father's laboratory to get the recognition he deserved, but Dib was older now, and not as impulsive as he'd been when Zim first landed on the planet. Older Dib thought that maybe befriending his enemy to neutralize the threat was just as good, if not even better, of an approach.

Just as the end credits started rolling (the movie turned out to be completely predictable and dull), Zim woke up with a start.

"Whuzz'appening?" he slurred.

"You missed half of the movie, buddy", Dib said. At the disappointed look on Zim's face, he added, "Don't worry - it wasn't that good."

"Oh."

A silence fell over them. Zim wiggled in his seat, looking troubled.

"Hey, Zim?" Zim jumped at the sound. "Do you… have something you want to talk about?"

"What? What would I have to say? Haha! There's NOTHING unusual about this situation and I have NOTHING I want to talk about! Hahahaha!"

He winced at the fake laughter coming from Zim's mouth. Yeah right, that was such a huge lie it could be smelled from miles away.

He racked his brain for an answer that wouldn't end up with them fighting like yesterday. As tempting as it was to throw insults, it seemed like a bad idea.

"Okay…" he started, "but on the off chance that you do, I'm here. Okay?"

"I know you're here", Zim frowned, "I can see you."

"Like, I'm here for you. To listen." Man, saying that felt weird. But it must have done the trick, judging by Zim's wide eyes and slack jaw.

Zim looked away, played with the edge of his suit (He'd have to change clothes soon - humans tended to get kinda smelly if they stayed in the same clothes for too long). Dib checked his phone. A couple minutes passed in silence. Patience was a really boring character trait to have, huh?

"I want… to talk about this… stupid situation", Zim finally admitted.

"Okay", Dib said and put away his phone.

"I-I don't like…" It seemed like he was really struggling with getting the words out. His jaw moved around in his closed mouth for a second before he continued, "I do not want to have my PAK interfering with my thoughts or actions again. I like being able to think for myself."

He said that, and then immediately tensed up, as though he'd said something bad.

"Okay", Dib said again. He wasn't sure if he should add any comment or if Zim had more to say.

"B-BUT! Don't think this means I like being human! They are still an inferior, stinky, useless species!"

"So your choice is between being a brainwashed Irken or a free-willed filthy human." Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"No", Zim said darkly, "there is no choice. Only stalling. I clearly cannot stay human. What kind of life would that be? And what would the Empire do if they found out?" At that last part, he visibly paled and looked haunted. "Oh Irk, what will they do once my PAK syncs up with the control brains?"

"Hold on. Why can't you stay human? Why do they need to find out?" Dib hadn't considered that Zim didn't think of it as a choice. Wasn't it all up to him in the end?

"Of course they'll find out! They are all-knowing, amazing, unforgiving…"

He saw how Zim was working himself up, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Explain to me how they'll find out", he said.

"My PAK will alert the control brains of my disobedience!"

"You just said your PAK isn't synced up right now."

"... The Computer will report me to them!"

"Computer?" Dib said to the ceiling, knowing that the AI that was Zim's house was always listening, "Will you do that?"

"No", the Computer rumbled, "I don't care. The Massive never asks for my reports either way."

"See?" Dib said and turned back to Zim, who looked around furiously.

"They'll find out somehow! I know it!" He exclaimed.

"But maybe they won't", Dib suggested, which didn't seem to lessen Zim's distress at all. At least he didn't argue back. He moved on, "what will happen when your PAK syncs with the control brains?" Whatever a 'control brain' was.

"It'll be horrible!" Zim clawed at his face, "It will access my brain's memory, realize that I thought traitorous thoughts, and alert the control brains!"

"Okay. But only if you turn back, and you don't want to just yet, so why worry right now?"

Zim drew a breath as to reply. Certainly with something very anxious-filled and paranoid. Zim had been paranoid and anxious long before he turned human, so that wasn't anything new. Most people wouldn't call Dib reasonable, but by comparison… he kinda was.

"You're not allowed to speak up against the empire", Zim mumbled, looking down, "Even thinking … even thinking those things you said yesterday is treason! And treason gets you deactivated."

"Jesus Christ."

Okay, he understood why Zim got so upset when he said those things. He'd be scared too, if someone was claiming facts that equalled death if your authoritative government found out.

"Okay, but you realize how bad that is, right?" Dib prompted, "Like, you're sitting on all the answers. That's why you don't want to go back to it."

"I, ARGH. I don't know. Zim is conflicted!"

And Dib was frustrated. Why was it so hard for Zim to just admit it?!

The urge to keep pushing the subject was almost irresistible, but he didn't want to be punched again. He took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"There's time to get that figured out later, I guess", he said, "What do you want to do right now?"

There was still some kinda war going on inside of Zim. Even Dib, who could be called socially incompetent, could tell.

"I-" he started, stammering," I want to- uh…"

"Yes?"

"I want to…. watch another movie", Zim sounded resigned.

"Oh."

That… wasn't what he'd expected. But in a way, this meant that Zim had chosen the 'stay human' option. For now. And that felt… that felt surprisingly good, actually.

Dib let out a breath, feeling lighter for some reason.

"Ok, let's do that", Dib said, "and then we can go get brunch?"

"What is brunch?"

"Oh my god you need to try brunch!"