Notes:
Beta'd by CrimsonFlameWolf who is amazing
This take place before Text #1 and during several other events. Suffice it to say, this story isn't extremely linear.
Also, if it sounds kinda funky? Please let me know because I'm always questioning my own wording of things.
At first nothing truly changed. Dib had lifted his self-imposed exile from ZIM and true to his word they became allies. This meant getting together over a table at some public venue; in this case a greasy table outside of a fast food joint and arguing out their terms and conditions.
By the time they put pen to paper, they were both tense and vaguely dissatisfied. But, as the ink dried, Dib felt himself relax. It was official. And seeing their names together, Zim's writing big and messy and Dib's tiny and cluttered, made it real.
Dib had already known they weren't truly enemies for a while. Perhaps even years. But, it was one thing to quietly think it to yourself in the early hours, while simultaneously convincing yourself you were just tired and mopey and another to realize that the being in front of you…was no longer someone you had to hate. And Dib didn't. That hatred had faded long ago. He wasn't even sure when but figured it didn't really matter.
And even though there were moments where ZIM pissed him off, moments where their opinions and goals seemed not only opposites but in each other's way, where the irken seemed to gain satisfaction from making him angry, where everything from Zim's laugh to his posture drove Dib's patience to the breaking point...Yes, ZIM still pissed him off quite easily, annoyed the hell out of him, sure. But, hated…? No. He understood the Irken too well for that.
Dib had little fragments of Zim's memories floating around in his brain. Figments of alien planets and phantom sensations...and after nearly 8 years of knowing him, fighting him, saving him, literally researching him...Dib understood Zim better than himself sometimes.
He rolled the paper up for safe keeping and glanced across the salt speckled table. He could see so many emotions on the alien's face. Big, fake eyes, flickering to and fro as he thought…and they met his own. Dib knew they were feeling similar things; relief, a strange bittersweet sadness, and…hope?
They stood up together and walked outside, to their neighborhood. No one spoke, no one knew what to say. What if one wrong word broke everything they had. Dib cleared his throat, opened his mouth to say...something. And shut it again just as quickly.
Zim walked beside him, brow furrowed, eyes to the minutes dragged on and they walked. They didn't know how to be together, without the constant threat of war between them. Dib was already socially stunted and ZIM had probably never given polite conversation a thought.
After a thousand years, the green, slightly glowing house appeared. When they parted ways, Dib held his hand out. And ZIM looked at it, probably having déjà vu from the time Dib had tricked him into a handshake and injected him with bologna. After only a second of hesitation, the alien let their palms connect, and they shook on it. Dib's hand engulfing Zim's tiny one. Human and alien, the villain and the savior…enemies no more. Their future was uncertain but Dib felt optimistic.
He let go and stepped back. Zim stared down at his own hand as if searching for any tricks. Dib smirked. "Those days are over, Spaceboy." Lavender eyes met his own and he saw the way his statement affected the irken. "But, hey, a new mission, remember?" Zim dropped his hand to his side, puffed up his chest and nodded. This was the real Zim. Arrogant and determined. A fire in his "heart" and so many thoughts running through his head.
"Yes. Earth." The word held such meaning in his mouth.
A month went by and they worked together. The Bishmawk Beast and the Blue Rose coven and a couple hauntings out of state. Dib did his job, something he was good at and loved to do and there was ZIM, right beside him. Not just a tag along but, someone who could be back up, who watched his back, who could lift some really heavy stuff, who was smart and intuitive, and who actually seemed to connect with certain entities on a level that Dib had never been able to before.
He kept a very particular record of his cases and now that Zim was working with him, it opened a whole new world of paranormal discovery. Zim wasn't human and that seemed to have an interesting affect on how he perceived the paranormal and vice versa.
The closest thing Dib could compare it to was how animals and small children seemed to be able to perceive supernatural occurrences on a much higher plane. Even Dib who had always been magnetized to everything abnormal, had never had such an easy or volatile reaction.
Zim seemed to be doing okay. He was focused and intrigued and as irritating as always. They saw each other maybe once a week, or whenever Dib had a job. And it was fine.
The days passed and Dib began to think that this whole thing was going to be a lot easier than he'd first thought. And it was easy. Actually disgustingly so. They had an incredible synergy that never failed them. The worst part was that this wasn't a new thing. They had worked together in the past and Dib remembered thinking along the same lines. That together nothing could stop them.
And it frustrated Dib to no end that it had taken this long! That it had taken this long to find someone worthy to be his partner in all this viscous mess of the supernatural. Go figure it would be his ex nemesis, an alien from another planet. He predicted that they'd continue like this forever. As distant allies against the darkest parts of the paranormal, and the heinous ways humans corrupted it. It was very...noir. And that appealed to Dib greatly.
Zim didn't show up at their meeting spot. He looked at the clock on the car dashboard. A pale blue,flickering ever so slightly with the motor's vibrations. Zim was rarely late. It was usually Gir's fault. Or at least, that's what the Irken said.
They had an appointment with a client and time was of the essence. He figured Zim would show up soon, flustered and acting like he was right on time. So, Dib waited. And waited, tapping out curse words in morse code on the steering wheel until he gave up and drove angrily to the moron's house, mumbling swears. He stomped up the front pathway, taking heavy strides. Dib banged on the front door. They were going to be nice and late now. The rage was a low simmer in his gut when the alien finally answered.
Zim looked the same as he always had and probably (Dib suspected) would. Short, petite, green and perpetually on the edge of some great emotional upheaval. And those unnatural lavender eyes, hiding the very real, very vivid magenta ones. Zim's face was a mask, a very familiar mask. The Irken blinked for a second before, "Dib." He sneered.
And that was all the human needed. He knew. Dib searched the Irken's face (pinched and sour) and body language (uptight and ready for battle) for any kind of inkling of remembrance and found none. It was all there in his façade, in the very thick wall of denial he'd built up again. (How? When?)
Dib's brow furrowed and Zim's did the same. One in frustration (and maybe in something a bit softer) and the other in confusion.
"What are you doing here, Stink?" Zim tried again, hesitantly. Dib sighed and ran a hand down the back of his neck. The only thing he could picture in his mind was that last time they'd seen each other, nearly a week ago. Had that really been enough time for the irken to build his walls back up? He glanced at Zim. A perfect picture of everything he had been when they were still enemies.
Yes, his mind whispered. And you should've known.
Dib tried to think of the best way to handle this. It wasn't exactly like before. He'd already broken a barrier. It had just been mended. The cracks were still there though. They had to be. Could he start all over? Or could he approach this as if everything was normal?
"I'm here to pick you up. Well, actually I'm here to yell at you because you made me come pick you up. You were supposed to meet me." Dib tried, gauging for a reaction.
"W-what?" Zim asked, flummoxed and by connection, angry. "What kind of dookie are you-?"
"We're working together. We're allies." Dib interrupted before the anger could escalate.
Still impassable. Still no crack but, for the furrowed wrinkle of confusion on Zim's face.
"We are not! We haven't had a truce for…months! Not since the golem incident! You're delusional! What's your plan?!" Zim barked, paranoia rearing its head.
Dib backed up, literally and figuratively. "Hold on a second. I'll be right back." He kept his own body language relaxed and nonthreatening as he jogged to his car, dug in the trunk for the case in which he kept all kinds of important paperwork. And also a copy of the truce. Because sometimes it bore reminding. Extra copies were always useful. Even if this version was a bit outdated. They had made a couple amendments recently.
Zim hovered, uncertainly in the doorjamb as Dib strode back up as if he had no care in the world, As if the lawn gnomes weren't set to stun him at any second and speaking of which, shouldn't they be like…turning to follow the human's path, ready to strike at his command? Zim watched them carefully and with great confusion, noted their utter stillness. He scowled. And when a piece of paper was shoved into his hands, he scowled even harder.
"What is thi—?!"
"Just read it."
Zim didn't like the commanding tone but his own curiosity was tickled. He pretended to read the paper with serious disinterest.
'This is an official, binding document stating that Dib (of Earth) and Zim (of Irk) are in a truce, meaning they no longer will figh—'
"Dib, what is this?!" He asked, trying to sound angry while feeling very…ill. His mouth was dry, hands shook. Ridiculous. What was wrong with him?
"Just…keep reading. Please." Zim didn't need much prompting. His eyes ate up the words.
'-fight over earth. Zim will not try to destroy, take over or enslave the planet or its people and Dib will not harass Zim or alert any of his contacts/sources to Zim's presence on Earth.'
And what followed was a list of conditions that had been written and rewritten, crossed out and erased, the wording fixed by two separate handwritings. And their signatures. Zim's, big and loud like it was trying to scream itself off the page and Dib's…small and messy and shoved together like the letters were huddling for warmth.
"I-I…" He stuttered because no words could really describe how he felt. A headache clawed at his skull, thoughts he'd shoved away... Zim dropped the paper and all at once lunged for it before it could hit the floor. He held it against his chest and felt how fast he was breathing.
"D-Dib…what did you do?" Zim asked, faintly. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He wanted to know what it was so badly. And he wanted to shove it away and lock it in a tiny box and set that box on fire.
Dib gently reached out and pried the Irken's hands from the sheet. "I didn't do anything. We…we made a truce. We're allies. And your mission…" He searched Zim's face and shut his mouth. Not ready. Not yet.
"Will you come with me? Or can I come in?" All Dib knew was that he couldn't let Zim be alone. So, he gave the alien a choice that wasn't really a choice but that let him pick what he was most comfortable with. Zim nodded shakily and stumbled inside. Dib took that as his cue and softly shut the door behind him.
It took several more hours. Soft coaxing. No gigantic revelations that happened in minutes. Dib didn't know if Zim could handle that again. And the first time…well it obviously didn't work as well as he'd thought it had.
Dib rescheduled their job for another day, even though he felt like trash for doing so. It was either lose a job or potentially lose his ally. The decision was easy, actually. When a year ago it might not have been. And when it was 2 am and Zim finally GOT IT, it was at once both relieving and rather saddening. Watching Zim realize who he was and how things were, watching him lose faith in himself and the tallest and have to pick it all back up and decide to do something new, something for himself…instead of anyone or anything else…although maybe that was still debatable.
Zim reached out with shaking hands and traced his own name on the crumpled paper, as if resigning it. They were both exhausted. And when the time came to get ready to stumble home in the dark, Dib had his own revelation. He couldn't remain the distant partner anymore. Not if…he wanted Zim to be okay, to know himself, to remember… And he did. Despite the anger and the past hatred and the exhaustion and the lies and a whole other list of horrible junk…he wanted Zim to be okay.
"Hey, here's my," Dib yawned into his palm, "phone and Skype. You have my email. Just…trust me, alright? We can keep in touch for the mission much easier this way." He wrote it on the back of the truce and made sure Zim knew it was there. The alien nodded numbly.
Dib stared at Zim and for the briefest of seconds he wanted to do something. Wanted to…pat his shoulder or head or something, any kind of contact to reassure him it was okay. To comfort him? But, Dib wasn't like that and he didn't think Zim was like that and he stomped it down into the dark box in his mind.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow. Now, get some rest, you jerk."
Zim softly shut the door behind him, still clutching the truce in his sweaty hands.
