Dlbn: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another update!

Nbld: Falling asleep as I type since I'm in a car ride on the way to Massachusetts for a dual birthday party for my nephews, so let's hop into the Review Corner! Thank you to Zim'sMostLoyalServant and Invader Johnny for reviewing! Chocolate bubblegum slushies for you both!

Zim'sMostLoyalServant: Thank you! I wonder if its Gaz being oblivious to his feelings, or her own?

Invader Johnny: He's been through a lot of hell between Armada training and his life before the military, let alone all the crap he deals with on Earth. In a way, he's already the bigger person because he's trying to change and turn his life around.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OCs. Everything/everyone canon to Invader Zim belongs to Jhonen C Vasquez. I make NO money off writing this!

Dedication: Happy fifth birthday to my nephew Tuck (September 11th) and third birthday to my nephew Jaiyden (the 23rd)! Here's to many more years ahead and many more three-hour-each-way road trips to see each other!

Dedication 2: Happy birthday to my aunt Moo (today, September 13th). Its hard to believe you've been gone for almost three years already. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and mom and miss you. I'll see you when you come back down.

000

He could barely think with Sila lying next to him, snoring gently. She lay on her stomach, head facing him and mouth wide open. One arm was under the pillow, the other stretched above her towards the headboard. There was nothing unusual about it to distract him. He knew she slept like this, but it was keeping him awake. His eyes traced slowly over her form like they wouldn't have been able to do in the daylight. She had always been gorgeous; he'd be a fool to say otherwise about her. But there was just something about the woman he used to know so well being back at his side, where she belonged, after so long. He admired her. Even with whatever shit she had gone through in his absence, she was still the strong, take no nonsense bitch he grew up with. He didn't mean offense a few days before when he mentioned her being a virgin under his breath, but he had a feeling she took some offense to it. The thought was ridiculous. Sila always prided herself on not whoring herself around like most of the women in Seoul, and her own best friend, did. But now she was offended when he teased her on it? She'd been kissed before; he knew because he had to stop the guy from trying to go a little further to steal some pills off her back when she was still selling. He knew she was still attractive, even more so now that she was a woman and no longer just a teenager. But was he attracted to her? No, she was like a sister to him. There was no way he'd ever like her for more than her companionship, sense of humor, and being a friend. And did she feel the same for him? No, she only scared off broads she knew were just using him because she was being a protective older sister to him. He was letting the opinions of others, mostly his brother and Maddie, get to him; that was all. They were just friends, and that was all they would ever be. He knew it, she knew it, and deep down, everyone else knew it, too. As he curled over to his side and attempted to fall asleep, he couldn't help but wonder; were they just fooling themselves?

000

Caleb left him alone for a week. He had a feeling word somehow got back to him that Zim could have killed him fighting the other day, but only his friends and family knew, and they weren't going to say anything. Maybe Shraela had overheard and said something. Whether they were fighting or not, she was still fiercely loyal to him. The pranks started up again, minor mishaps involving locker doors falling off and graffiti on desks. Luckily, nothing had really gotten physical or he was afraid he'd snap again. Keef was visibly shaken when Zim entered his sixth period English class. He was standing closer to Zim's desk than his own, hands over his mouth and green eyes wide.

"Keef?" Zim asked. "Are you alright?"

Keef shook his head, moving one hand to point at his desk. Zim leaned over it to read what was written on it. He didn't really see anything that would cause such a reaction in the redhead until his eyes came to a heart with a three-letter word in it. He swore he almost growled.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"W-Who would write such a thing…?" Keef's eyes teared up. "And who even knows? I only told you guys!"

"Poking fun at someone's sexuality is elementary pranking." Zim explained. "They're probably just guessing and trying to get a rise out of you."

"I…I guess so…that doesn't make it better…"

"Here." Zim fished a packed of portable tissues from his backpack and handed them to his friend. "Clean up a bit. I'll sit at your desk, so you don't have to see it. They'll get janitors on it to clean it once we tell our teacher. Don't worry about it."

"A-Are you sure…?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I don't want you to have to deal with it."

"Thanks, Zim…you're…you're a good friend…" He pecked him on the cheek before blushing deeply and rushing out of the room.

Zim sighed, dropping his bag next to the desk that was now his and sat down. He recognized the handwriting from the writing on his desk from what felt like forever ago. It was probably Torque, though he no one admitted to it or bothered to figure it out. Chase stormed into the room a few minutes after Keef left, grabbing Zim by the arm and hauling him out of the classroom.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Zim asked, pulling his arm back. "People are going to say something."

"Anyone says shit, they know I'm your cousin." Chase stated. "I don't particularly care. I talked to Keef. He looked like shit, so I asked what was wrong. Are you frigging kidding me?"

"I wish I was, man." Zim shook his head. "Can you get a janitor on that for me?"

"That's all you have to say about it…?"

"Look. I'm as pissed off about it as you are, okay?" Zim asked, switching his weight to one foot and folding his arms over his chest. "Sorry if I don't want to get so angry I black out again."

Chase's gaze softened. "Sorry man."

"It's fine." Zim replied. "I have no proof who did it, but I'm pretty sure it's Torque. Wrote the same shit on my desk forever ago. I don't remember if you were here for that or not, but I don't think so."

"I don't remember." Chase shrugged. "But you have no proof it was him. Would anyone in his group talk?"

Zim cast a sideways glance at Dib as he passed without Dee. "I'll be right on that. Wait here." He grabbed Dib by the arm before he could get too far.

"What do you want?" Dib asked. "Don't touch me."

Zim let go. "We need to talk." He shoved a hand in his pocket.

"About what, Zim? I have to go to class…"

"We're in the same class. You're fine." Zim rolled his eyes.

"Okay fine. What?" He took a defensive stance as if he thought Zim might swing.

The thought that his former best friend didn't trust him to not be violent spoke volumes, and it hurt like hell. Caleb probably got into his head, or he'd seen the fight.

"Relax, I'm not going to hit you." Zim ordered. "But we do have a problem here."

"Which is?"

"You remember Keef, don't you? Bubbly little redhead, we were certain he was gay but in the closet?"

"Yeah, and he is. Probably. I don't know." Dib shrugged one shoulder. "Why?"

"Well, see, someone wrote all over his desk and used a nice little three-letter word that nearly made him have a panic attack."

Dib cocked an eyebrow. "Okay…I'm guessing a gay slur here. Why does it matter?"

"You really think he's gay, and aren't bothered by someone calling him a f…"

"Alright, I don't want to hear it." Dib hung his head and sighed. "Is he okay? One of my friends probably did it, unfortunately."

"Any idea who? You know who my money is on."

"Caleb?"

"Really? He knows better, and that's saying something if I put him on a higher level of morals than your friends."

"Can you quit the insults? I'm trying to be civil here, but…"

"Hard to be civil when Keef is left like that," He motioned to the redhead who was crying with Gretchen and Melvin, "and even Mr. Sangre is out for blood." He nodded at his cousin, who was leaning on the wall with his arms folded over his chest, watching them to make sure they didn't fight. "I'm not going to tell anyone that you told me, but I need to know who it was."

"I don't know. They just do things." Dib waved his hand around. "Seriously, a lot of things they don't even plan. It's just whatever pops into Torque's head on his way to school, and he goes for it. We're not as conniving and manipulative as you think. We may not be friends anymore, but I hope Keef's okay…speaking of okay…what happened with you the other day? With Caleb? You vanished."

"My vision was going black. I guess my blood sugar was low or something. They sent me home."

"You left for two days."

"I needed to stabilize myself."

"Okay…but are you alright…?"

"I'm honestly not sure why you care, Dib, but yes. I'm fine."

"Maybe for the sake of our old friendship, I prefer to pretend things could go back to the way they were one day."

Zim felt his metaphorical heart shatter at that, but he kept his face straight.

"As long as you're with Dee and friends with the people tormenting your former best friends, you know that's not possible, Dib." Zim replied. "She hates me, and you'd do anything she asks; you've already proven that."

"I know." Dib bit his lip. "But a guy can dream, right?"

"Yeah. Right."

"If I find out…" Dib looked away. "I guess I can let it slip to one of your friends for you…"

"Thanks…"

"You're welcome."

"You know, if you dropped this I don't give a damn act, they would still be your friends, too."

Dib smiled sadly. "I know. But we live in different worlds now, Zim."

"I know."

If only the human knew the extent of it.

000

If there was ever something to be said that was positive about the school, it was that they hoped right onto the hate speech thing the moment it was reported. Keef's desk was washed and replaced with a spare from the janitor's closet that wasn't exactly level on all four feet but was at least free of the offending language. The day after, the school hosted another mandatory assembly regarding hate speech. Zim ignored what the teachers were saying while they droned on, knowing it wouldn't do any good anyway. It was the same generic anti-bullying, suicide awareness bullshit they preached at the last assembly; nothing new behind it. He didn't really care. He knew he and his friends knew better than to pull a stunt like that on anyone, let alone their own friend, so it wasn't like they needed to listen. They didn't even need to be there, he felt, but he knew the school made them attend as well so they'd know they were being stood up for. It was a don't tell your parents tactic that wasn't about to work. Keef had already told his parents, and Zim knew that they were coming down Friday midday to raise some hell. It was nice to see his parents standing up for him, since him admitting to them what happened was basically his coming out moment. Zim and the others were there for it, and his family was more than understanding of the situation, his mother even going so far as to say she 'knew it' for a while but didn't want to force him to come out with it. He wasn't going to come out for the school yet, and Zim didn't blame him for wanting to wait until after graduation, but his parents insisted on throwing a party and inviting all his friends. Chase had politely declined, saying he had a date that day-Zim didn't buy it-but Ense and his wife were happy to attend in support of one of Ense's arguably most favorite students. Chase was sitting up with the rest of the teachers, looking solely at his feet throughout the speeches. It was almost like he was ashamed of something, or he just knew their words and threats were empty but wasn't about to voice it. He hoped.

Chase found him after classes ended that day, grabbing him by the arm.

"Can we talk, cos?" He asked, not seeming to care that students were still around and could hear him.

"Sure, Mr. Sangre, what's going on?" Zim asked, trying to keep up a polite front until people stopped paying attention to them.

"Not here." Chase shook his head. "Come to my place tonight." He whispered, handing Zim a slip of paper with his address. "Tell the girls you're working or some shit, I don't care."

"A one on one meeting?" Zim whispered back. "Where's the fire?"

"No fire…I just want to talk to you alone, okay?"

"Okay, okay. I'll be there by six."

Chase nodded, leaving into the crowd at Lahna and Sila joined the middle Haven child.

"What's he want?" Sila wondered. "I could see the anger radiating off him from where I sat earlier at that stupid ass assembly."

"I don't know why they continue to bother. They never do anything, and their words don't mean a thing." Lahna twirled her hair.

"It's just so parents believe they're making an effort. It's a cover our asses thing."

"It would be easier if they actually did something instead of pretending, I'm just saying."

"Everyone but them knows that." Sila replied. "Doing anything will just prove their precious football star and his minions are behind everything and get us out of State Championships. We're not stupid; we know how they roll."

Zim nodded, letting the girls debate while he opened his locker to toss away what he didn't need. An envelope tumbled out of the locker and he picked it up, noting that neither of his companions noticed. He opened it and pulled the paper inside of it out to read.

I'm going to be so screwed if I'm caught. Understand the risk I'm taking here. Meet me at Membrane Industries at twelve midnight. I've got something for you, like I promised. You tell anyone, I will deny it.

Zim had a feeling that meeting the note's author would be walking right into a trap.