A week passed with no real difference, then another three days. Dib visited once a day, but Zim just seemed about normal- still doing experiments, but mostly to just be doing them or learning about 'earthen creature' biological functions. Sometimes he went back to causing petty problems, stuff that the people around him had long since grown used to like stealing lawn ornaments and swapping toes with fingers. Dib knew by now that a bored Zim was far worse than one that had something that ranked about a 1 on the 'evil' scale to do, so he mostly just let Zim do what he wanted as long as it didn't actually hurt anyone. Zim counted it as a victory for 'converting' Dib. Dib counted it as getting his free time back that wasn't spent huddled in the bushes across the street.

He wasn't sure when Zim had stopped trying to really conquer the Earth. He'd tried to figure it out- the revelation years ago the Tallests weren't coming had genuinely hurt Zim, even though he hid it so deep Dib was pretty sure even Zim didn't realize. His habit of deleting unpleasant memories combined with the fact that he'd simply moved to proving that Earth WAS worth conquering and that he'd do it for them meant that he'd continued for a long time after with his efforts, but after seven years, his schemes had fallen in number and scale. Dib didn't really have a lot to do that didn't revolve around Zim, so as the fights had slowed, they'd begun to start hanging out without them. Usually with an excuse, often studying 'the enemy', but that had broken one night when Dib had been up for almost forty hours and had kissed Zim on the forehead.

Zim had nearly broken his arm until he explained in stumbling speech what that meant, and Zim said 'he'd keep him around for now', for entertainment and to revel in how far his rival had fallen. Really, Dib knew from several years of stalking Zim was just bored and didn't mind his company by now.

Besides, the older Dib got and the more time he spent at Dad's labs, the more Zim's experiments interested him, especially the animal ones. Zim was surprisingly eager to share once he knew Dib wasn't going to try and stop most of them- having someone enthusiastic about his work besides himself seemed to be a new experience for him, Maybe Dib would move into biology when he was done in the robot sector. Dad pretty much had all types of science covered at the labs- besides paranormal, frustratingly. Dib was trying to work on it, though, since Dad tended to listen to him more now that he'd seen Dib's results in 'real sciences'.

Besides, he was still a card-carrying SEN agent, it wasn't like he'd dropped the idea of being a paranormal investigator. If there was an opening on the board, he'd take it in a heartbeat. Hopefully they wouldn't hold 'dating the alien he spent years trying to destroy' against him. No one knew besides Tunaghost anyways, and he'd like to keep it that way. (Tunaghost was herself dating a werewolf and had admitted it to him first, thank you very much, he hasn't just blurted it out and now they had blackmail on each other like reasonable people)

Dib rapped his knuckles on the door. "Hey, I brought that bag of sugar you were bugging me for, thanks for the messages at 3 am. And it's heavy. Like, really heavy. Open the damn door."

It was Minimoose that opened the door, and Dib gave him a polite nod, getting a squeak in reply.

"He's down in the labs?"

"Nyah!"

"Third one on the left, got it." Dib said, shifting the bag and walking over to the end table. "Computer, can I use this one?"

"Magic word?"

Dib sighed internally- ever since he'd started being polite with it, the computer demanded he use please and thank you. "Please?"

"No problem!" At least it still listened to him. The table folded up, opening the elevator. Dib stepped in, shifting the sugar again. He should have brought a backpack…

Luckily the elevators were fast. He practically waddled towards the right room, finding Zim wearing goggles and trying to weld two different types of purple glass-looking material together. He turned when Dib entered.

"Did you bring it?"

"Mhm, and it's like fifteen pounds and I brought it all the way from the store, so mind telling me what it's for?"

"I wanted sugar." Zim pulled the goggles up, grabbing a cup.

"What, for an experiment? Is this the gummy bears again?"

Zim tore open the bag, pulling a cup out of his Pak and scooping it into the granules spilling out. Dib stared as he filled it up nearly to the top before dumping it directly into his mouth.

"Oh. Okay, not the gummy bears again then. Got it."

Zim's tongue snaked out to catch any of the sugar he missed. "Excellent, none of that nasty paper-y pulpy mixed in."

"When were you eating sugar with paper in it?"

"Gir is a terrible cook on everything but breakfast and desserts." Zim said dismissively. "And you got one for the whole week!"

"The whole- Zim, that thing is like twenty percent of your body weight, there's no way you can use it up in a week!"

"You underestimate me." Zim grinned. "Sugar like this is a rare delicacy. I've made quite a lot of monies selling some on the black market, actually. You worms don't realize how good you have it, with sweets growing all over. How something so beautiful can bloom on such a dirt pile is a mystery to me."

"If you can get it, why didn't you?" Dib crosses his arms.

"I was working on something, and you were coming over anyways," Zim said. "What are you for, if it isn't getting me things?"

"Oh, be quiet, you insect." Dib grumbled, crouching down to inspect what Zim was doing. "What's this for?"

"It's holding the weasels with piranha teeth. I don't know if they'll swim or not yet, so it has to work for both water and air." Zim tapped it. "Gir got at the last one. Took me an hour to buff out the metal of his skull. That robot, I swear…"

"Zim, how long ago was that?"

Zim looked up at him. "A few days ago."

"You know you can't do the really dangerous experiments while you're pregnant, right?"

Zim waved a hand. "It's fiiiiiiine, I only got nipped a little. You're underestimating me!"

"No, I'm saying you get hurt a lot, and I really don't want you doing something stupid. Well, more stupid than usual."

Zim shoved at him. " You're more stupid!"

"Look, I'll help you with anything that's really bites or is poisonous, okay?"

Zim grinned. "You're offering your services to me?"

"Conditionally- I can still say no, you know."

"That's a yes!" Zim practically sang. He reached up for a tool, and revealed a small sliver of green skin at the bottom of his shirt as he did.

"Hey, is that-?" Dib dropped his hand to Zim's midsection, making the irken recoil.

"Don't touch me when I can't see it!"

"Look, doesn't your uniform seem a little tighter?" Dib pointed instead, and Zim stared down. He blinked once before running his own hand over it.

"Not really? But there is something . Your eyes aren't as terrible as I thought."

"Okay, I'm making another log."

"I don't have my disguise!"

"You can use those goggles," Dib said, looking around. "Oh, or this is better." He grabbed a welding mask, which Zim slipped on before Dib pulled out his phone, flicking to the video and starting a recording.

"Log two. Okay, it's been… yeah, exactly ten days now since we first heard about the kid. I think Zim is starting to show, and judging by the fact he thinks he can polish off a fifteen pound bag of sugar, he's probably got cravings too. Zim, pull up your shirt." Dib shifted the camera to Zim, who rolled up the pink fabric. It was small- if Dib hasn't spent years studying Zim, who changed rarely, he probably would have never noticed it- but there was a bit of a curve to his stomach. "I'm going to touch it, okay?"

Zim huffed. "If you insist." Still, Dib could hear in his tone he appreciated being asked after the incident a minute before. Dib wiped suddenly sweaty fingers off on his shirt before brushing them over Zim's skin.

"It's still small enough I can't feel much of a difference, except right here on the edge." Dib shifted the camera again to show where Zim's hips met his stomach. "Looks like junior's got quite a while to go yet."

"Junior better not tear my uniform." Zim grumbled.

"You can always borrow something from me, you know."

"I'd rather spend a night with a slaughtering rat person!" Zim made a clicking noise with his mouth Dib was pretty sure was supposed to be condescending.

"Harsh. Zim, anything to say for the log?"

Zim tugged his shirt down. "If this is just wanting foods I like anyways, it'll be a… a… breezy day!"

"I'm pretty sure it gets worse after this." Dib said, getting a groan from Zim that would probably sound awful on the recording. "Anyways, that's all for now. End of day ten, Dib out."

Zim used his Pak legs to stretch up to a taller shelf, grabbing something alien Dib didn't recognize. "What's that?"

"A blowtorch, duh. Hand me the glass wall and take cover, I need to melt the middle and last time there was shrapnel."

Dib groaned. Teaching Zim to not be in danger was going to be like getting Gir to shut up for a full day.

He wondered if this was how Sisyphus felt.