Dib nervously pulled on the sleeves of his trenchcoat, standing still next to his dad's desk waiting for the right moment to grab his attention.
"D-dad?" He called weakly.
The older man was hunched over a project, head in hand as he let out a sigh and sat up to face the nervous noret. "What?" His tone is tired yet sharp with irritation.
Dib takes notice, fidgeting in place and keeping his head lowered.
"Spit it out."
He flinched, "I-I feel like I'm a b-boy."
His dad was silent, taking a deep breath and glancing up only to feel his heart skip a beat and drop into his stomach. The older man's face was knitted in disgust, his brows twitching noticeably.
"You interrupted me during work, when you know not to do just that, to tell me you 'feel like a boy'?" He growled at the end.
Swallowing thickly, his eyes stung. "Y-yes."
"You're fifteen, Dahlia. You don't even know how to take care of yourself, so what makes you think you can magically change your gender just because of some feelings? You are a girl, you will always be a girl."
Shakily nodding, he turned away with a soft "yes Dad" muttered. Walking up the stairs, he rounded the corner and raced up another flight of stairs towards his room at the end of the hallway.
Looking at the few photos of their small family, his drowning eyes glaring at his younger self giving a big smile at the camera. Walking up and ripping the photo off the wall, he broke it over his knee and stomped on the remains. Panting heavily, he slammed his bedroom door behind his back with a huff between gritted teeth. Emotions swirled like a tornado, growing bigger and bigger with each shaky breath he took. Letting out an animalistic snarl, he launched himself at his walls, tearing posters and newspapers off the walls.
"Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" He chanted angrily, destroying everything in his path as his chested swelled with sorrow.
Throwing himself on the floor, he hunched over and pulled at his hair, a choked out noise of pain echoing off his now bare walls.
"Whoa, what kind of tornado came through here?" A familiar voice rasped, closing the door behind himself to settle on the floor near Dib.
The noret sat up to hug his knees to his chest, wiping away his tears while keeping his head low to glare at the carpet. He grumbled past his arm inaudibly, shaking his head as his eyes started to glisten with more tears, angrily rubbing at his eyes to stop them.
"I can't understand arm, Membrane." He teased, reaching out to ruffle Dib's hair only for his hand to be slapped away by a furious noret.
"Don't call me that! I don't wanna be known as a Membrane when my dad looks at me like I'm a mistake!" He shrieked, digging his fingers into his hair as he rested his forehead against his knees. "What's the point of existing when all I do is be a huge disappointment to everyone?"
The room was quiet for a moment, Devins thinking over what way would make the clearly distraught teen feel better. He was definitely going to have a talk with Dib's excuse of father after this to tend to parental therapy meetings, the man needed to learn the severity of his actions before the kid got into serious trouble.
"Hey, I get the whole being a disappointment to the parent thing. My mum worked night shifts as a nurse so I spent most of my life with my drug-addict of a father who neglected me from the age of eight." He started, leaning back on his hands deep in thought. "I know you want to impress your dad enough that he'll finally give you the attention you deserve, but it ain't gonna happen."
Dib looked up with a confused look. "How is that going to help me?"
Devins held up a hand, "Shut up I wasn't done talking, young silkworm. As I was saying," He glared teasingly at the noret who rolled his eyes in response at the moth-related nickname. "It's not worth the chase when you aren't going to get what you need in the long run, so I'd stop where you are right now and focus on self love. The only person you know you can count on is yourself when shit gets deep, so learn to love yourself and stop depending on others."
Furrowing his brows as he processed the information from the twenty-three year old, he let his knees fall open so he could sit more comfortably and hummed.
"Thank you." He said hesitantly, messing with the sleeves of his trench coat once more as a nervous fiddle. "It, uh, means a lot to hear that from you, since I look up to you and all…"
Fingers brushed through his hair, Devins gave a crooked smile. "Well, I gotta help out my little brother from another mother, yknow?"
His chest tightened with emotions, choking out a laugh as thick tears fell down his cheeks. It felt so good to be noticed as the way he felt, a treasure he was going to keep for a long time.
--
Waking late into the night, he noticed a smaller form curled up halfway on his stomach and halfway into the makeshift nest, gently snoring away. Smiling sleepily, he picked up his little alien and laid his body on top of his, who then snuggled his face into Dib's neck and sighed softly.
"You'll be the death of me someday I swear," He whispered, only to turn his face away when an antenna thwacked him in the face in Zim's asleep way of shutting him up.
Snickering, he massaged a stalk to start up the alien's purring, lulling himself to sleep with the relaxing purrs against his chest and stomach.
"Mhgn..?" Grumbled the irken.
Shifting on Dib's front and lifting his head to stare blearily, his antennae were at odd angles, similar to a person rising from sleep and brandishing a bedhead. They twitched as Zim rolled back to straddle the teen's torso and rub at his eyes, squeezing his thighs and startling Dib awake from near passing out.
"Stop your squirming, fool-boy." His voice was more raspy than usual, striking attraction from out of nowhere that had Dib doing a double take of the smaller form before him.
"You kinda woke me up, man." Said Dib, removing his arms from around the irken to stretch behind his head.
Making an irritated squeak like sound from the back of his throat, he reached up in an attempt to groom his antennae only to realize what he was doing and stiffened. Letting his hands fall to his lap, he glared down at the relaxed noret.
"You make loud mouth noises that vibrate throughout your chest and it annoys me." Zim stated, placing a clawed hand right in the middle of Dib's chest to balance himself.
Catching on to his teasing, a smirk crossed the teen's lips. "Even asleep you still find a way to tell me to shut up." Motioning towards the alien's antennae, he snickered.
Puffing out his chest, he grinned. "Serve's you right monkey brain! Zim is always prepared!"
"Sure thing, space bug."