Notes:
Beta'd by my datemate, CrimsonFlameWolf who is great and awesome.
This is the first little hints of ZaDr unless you've been reading this with a fine toothed comb in which there have been hints of it, but yes, this is the obvious stuff. Nothing too WILD happens. I gotta save that for the next section of this story. Only two more chapters to go.
Let me know what you think? I don't THINK this is too fast but, hey.
It was the biggest storm there had been in years.
Every tiny creek turned into a raging river. Gutters and storm pipes overflowed. People were advised to stay indoors and by the time the storm had passed a few days later, three had died. They suffered frequent power outages and the thunder was the loudest Dib had ever heard. Lightning, blinding and deadly, tore the sky apart.
Zim was terrified. Dib looked under his bed where he'd had been hiding for at least two hours now. The irken was curled in a ball, hands over his antenna, eyes shut tightly. He had had banged at Dib's window until he'd opened it. Zim had fallen inside, gasping and sizzling. Then sputtered something about research and data but that was before he'd crawled under the bed and hadn't spoken a word since.
Dib figured that Zim had been on his way to go over some stuff about their latest case and hadn't even noticed it was about to rain until he was suddenly trapped in the thick of the storm. Probably. The other option would be that it had began to rain and Zim had just...came to his house. For some reason.
Another gigantic boom of thunder shook the air and he watched his partner curl into a even tinier ball.
Dib had never had a phobia before. The dark didn't bother him. Neither did any kind of creepy crawly. Doctors and dentists had never bugged him. Nor heights or closed spaces. He had no idea the kind of fear Zim felt, only that it was so intense that it made someone who was normally so...arrogant and bombastic dissolve into nothing but fear.
Dib leaned his head on his hand. "Zim?"
The irken didn't answer but, he saw an antenna twitch in response. "You know you don't have to be afraid right? The water is outside. It can't get in. My house is probably the most waterproof one in the whole city." Thanks to ingenious Membrane tech. "Why don't you come out? We can talk about the mission and get some sodas or something."
Nothing answered him but silence. He waited another minute before standing. "Well, I'm gonna go get a-" He nearly tripped as something grabbed his ankle. He looked down for the culprit.
A tiny green hand, held on firmly. "N-n," Was all he heard.
Dib sighed and he knelt again. The hand released him immediately. "What?"
"Don't..." At least he was talking. "Come on, genius. Full sentences, please."
The irken's face screwed up into something that might've resembled a scowl, but his eyes were wide and full of fear.
Dib waited for a response only to be disappointed. He leaned back on his haunches. "Zim, will you get out from under my bed please. If you don't want me to leave, just come with me. I'm hungry and I will abandon you for microwavable pizzas."
Silence. He could see the faint glow of undisguised irken eyes, flickering, thinking.
Dib backed up as he watched Zim squirm his way out from under the bed and brush himself off with shaky hands as he stood. "G-good to see that your loyalty is only as strong as any filthy earth food. You would break our truce for some grease."
Dib felt stupid as relief had his shoulders loosening. He hadn't even noticed how tense he'd been.
"My loyalty doesn't go to just ANY earth food, space boy. Just pizza. And maybe sour candy." He walked towards the door, Zim following close behind. Too close. But, he did that during particularly frightening cases as well. "Our truce is rock solid. After all the re-writings, I kind of doubt that anything could break it."
He took the stairs two at a time, Zim stepped down each one, carefully. Gaz was in the living room, bathed in the glow of their tv. She had it paused on some game inventory screen and was on her phone. Probably looking up stats or cheat codes or something else silly.
"Hey Gaz. Do you want a pizza?" Dib asked, as he walked by, irken in tow.
"Nah, I just ate. Besides those microwavables can hardly be called pizza." She replied, voice low and eyes never leaving her screen.
Dib smirked, flipping the kitchen light on. "That's just because you're a pizza snob."
"I prefer connoisseur."
"Yeah, okay." Dib replied, sarcastically.
He pulled two cold sodas from the fridge and shoved a pizza in the microwave before he leaned against the counter and popped the tab. Fizzy, sugary goodness. He glanced over at Zim whose hands were shaking, and by extension the can was as well.
There was the distant but louder than normal sound of rain against the kitchen window. Dib sighed and reached over, ignoring Zim's little jump at the human's sudden movement, and opened Zim's soda for him.
"Drink. I know sugar is like...a major part of your diet. Maybe some will calm you down."
Zim sniffed, taking a delicate sip. "I AM calm, Dib-thing."
"Uh huh." Dib said. Even if he hadn't had years of experience in trying to read Zim's every emotion, it was more than obvious that the irken was tense.
The irken's eyes narrowed, eyeing the human suspiciously. "You doubt me?"
Dib smirked, fidgeting with the soda can's tab until it came off. "No, of course not. You're just incredibly tense, have shaking hands, are standing way too close to me and spent the last hour or so huddled under my bed. So forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious about your supposed 'calm'."
He got to see the irken's face scrunch up with anger. It was better than his fear.
"How dare you?! How dare you even insinuate that I, Zim, am anything less than complete and total tranquility?" Dib took another drink of soda, side eyeing his partner. Zim's outfit today consisted of a long sleeved t shirt (loose, pink and black stripes, one of Gaz's hand-me-downs), the usual black leggings, a neon green skirt and a pair of rain boots (bright yellow and too big for him). As per usual, Zim's outfit clashed and was hideous and it fit him perfectly. He ignored the irken's previous grievance.
"So, why'd you come over here anyway?"
Zim's face fell and he looked down at his soda can. "I uh, told you. I wanted to discuss our case."
"Yeah, well, was it worth being out in the rain? Why did you come here if you knew it was bad outside?" Silence. Zim was fiddling with the can's tab as well. In fact, he seemed to be fascinated by it.
Dib studied him, the way he had for years. He read the alien's emotions on his face, the set to his shoulders. Dib got his answer without hearing it from Zim, and it hit him all at once. Dib knew his mouth was open in some kind of awe or surprise. His face was warm, and he was unsure how to feel.
Zim had not come here in spite of the storm. But because of it. He'd ran through rain and thunder because he felt safer here than anywhere else. That fact was...bizarre and kind of? Nice? It was nice being someone's safety. Even if that someone was his ex-enemy, his crazy alien ally.
Dib put his soda down on the counter, softly. "Oh." He was unsure how to respond. "T-that's...okay. You don't need to make up some stupid excuse, you know?"
He struggled with his words. Words that would make this okay and not awkward. They were partners, allies. There should be some kind of line weren't friends. Right? If theirs was a working relationship, shouldn't it stay that way? Did Dib want it to stay that way? If it meant kicking Zim out into the rain, when Dib knew full well it terrified him and could kill him?
Did Dib care? Of course he did. He cared about the irken's well being. It was why his patience had become his strongest virtue.
The microwave beeping startled him out of his musings. "I'm supposed to let it sit in there for another minute to cool down, but nobody ever does that." Dib said, trying to keep his voice even and calm.
He looked at the irken who was glaring at the pizza as if it was some kind of vermin. "I don't understand how you can eat that filth."
Dib shrugged, taking a bite and burning his mouth. But, it was worth it to see Zim's expression of distaste turn to one of revulsion. He laughed, wiped his mouth and grabbed his soda.
"It's easy. Just don't be a snotty alien jerk."
Zim sniffed, turning away. "Yes, you just have to be an inferior disgusting human."
Dib snorted and lightly elbowed the irken as he walked past him. "Come on, let's go play some video games or something. Most of them are the ones Gaz has beaten and doesn't care about anymore. But, they're still pretty cool, I think. Especially this one, I think it's called like, 'Stolen Nightmares' or something stupid like that. It's pretty violent. I think you'd like it."
Zim followed behind, still nursing his soda. "I doubt I'd like anything you humans have to offer. But I will try it to make you stop talking."
"Pssh. Whatever, spaceboy."
Soon, they both sat on his bed, playing some old console video game. It was violent and the sound of countless deaths, explosions, gunshots, and cheesy action music was perfect for drowning out the source of his guest's fear.
They were halfway through a round, and Dib was easily winning (Zim was really bad at video games, but he was happy enough to be killing things that he didn't notice, or care) when a bright flash of light turned the room white. The thunder was deafening. Loud enough that he didn't even hear Zim screech. The TV went black. Everything was black.
Silence. With the exception of a whimpering idiot next to him.
Dib huffed. "Power outage."
They were in total darkness now. The whimpering continued.
It got annoying enough that he sighed and reached out to find his charge. He touched the alien, who responded with a shriek. "Calm down, moron. It's me."
Dib felt the barest of shivers work its way through Zim's frame. "Will you relax? It's just a blackout.."
Zim smacked at his hand. "I know."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
Dib listened to the alien's teeth chatter.
"You don't need to be afraid of thunder, you know? It's just sound." Nothing.
Dib looked out into the darkness, watching the colors wax and wane while he waited for his eyes to adjust. The sound of the rain pounding hard against the roof, the windows, the pavement created a ever present rumble of noise.
When Dib could finally see a bit better, he turned his head towards Zim who had his eyes closed.
"Hey."
The alien opened his eyes and blinked into the darkness before looking up at his companion.
"What?"
Alien eyes glowed subtly in the dark. He'd noticed it before. But now he had an up close look. A kaleidoscope of colors, shimmering light pink to a dark magenta. Dib swore he could see himself in them. Not for the first time, they reminded him of nebulae.
"Are you…?" Dib asked, slowly, hoping Zim would understand. Neither of them were really good at expressing their feelings. Dib because he'd grown up that way, and Zim because he didn't know how to communicate properly. But their relationship, rocky and complicated, was important enough to Dib that he wanted to ask.
"Am I…what?" Zim asked in his nasal, too loud way.
"Okay?" The human finished.
"Yes. Fine. I'm perfect."
"Right." Zim didn't seem very much fine or perfect in any way shape or form. It wasn't like he could actually do much for Zim. His best distraction had been video games.
They lapsed into silence. Occasionally they mumbled bits of conversation between them. Random questions Zim had, observations Dib made. Just thoughts that flowed between the two, kept quiet and sparse by the sheer volume of the rain outside. The darkness kept things calm, dreamy. It didn't feel quite real without lights. He could feel Zim's body shivering. He shook the whole bed. But, as time went on, Dib felt him calm down.
The human leaned his head against the wall, letting his eyes drift shut. He just listened to the rain and felt safe, maybe even happy?
They sat that way for about ten minutes. Then Dib felt something touch his cheek.
With a slow exhale, he blinked and turned his head towards the hand, a bit confused.
It was Zim. Zim was touching him.
Maybe a year ago it would've been a cause for alarm. Hell, maybe even a few months ago it would've. But lately they'd been a little more touchy. But it was normally just pokes or light taps to get the other's attention or wrist grabbing/tugging.
This was different. It felt different.
Zim lightly touched the human's cheek, feeling the warmth through his glove. Dib was always warm. Little tingles spread through his hand and up through his arm. He spread his fingers across the human's face, touching his cheekbones, his earlobes, under his eyes,softly and curiously.
Zim slid his fingers up till he touched the tip of the human's nose, feeling the chilly tip, still marveling and slightly disgusted by its function, and yet, on the Dib it was necessary and without it he would look wrong. He could tell where all the little freckles were even in the dark.
Then he moved down, to the man's top lip.
If it had been light outside, if Dib had been a little more awake…if he hadn't subconsciously been okay with this, Dib might've smacked the alien's hand away. Or he might've yelled about how Zim had crossed the delicate line they'd drawn, as if he knew where the line was. As it was, however, he let it continue, mind foggy and open from the darkness, heartbeat loud in his ears, parting his lips and staring back at his companion.
Dib trusted this being, despite their history, despite his calamitous past…Zim was the only person that he really could say had his back, who he could turn to for help. No one, not his father, not his sister, he had no friends of any kind, no one was there for him like Zim. Zim was his ally, his partner. Zim was the one being in the entire universe that he was closest to. They hadn't ever said it out loud before...but Zim was his best and only friend. Dib didn't know what he was to Zim...but he had to be...SOMETHING. Something besides an enemy, besides a stranger, some pathetic human...he meant enough to Zim to be the first one that the irken turned to when he was scared. Zim HAD save his life before. And before that, he'd spent countless hours fighting him, obsessing over how to defeat him.
Their history made this seem less stupid, less wrong.
Not that Dib was even really thinking along those lines at the moment. He was thinking of the lines his friend was drawing along his lips.
The rubber covered fingers traced the human's mouth, with eyes filled with curiosity, shining slightly in the darkness.
Dib's breath hitched in his throat. This was…it should've been wrong. It was wrong. Right? But it wasn't anything wild or crazy. It was just a gentle touch. Something so..unlike the alien who sat before him.
Dib grabbed Zim's wrist. The irken froze at the contact. He was ready for the yelling, for the rage. It had been too much. So much contact. He hadn't been close to anyone in a long time. Not that anyone had ever wanted to be close to him. But in the empire everyone stood close together in tight quarters without ever really touching but someone was always there, in your space, a heartbeat away…a brother or a sister. And for seven years, Zim had been close to no one but Gir, who was nice and all (idiocy and grossness aside) but had no blood thrumming in him. Through the glove, he felt the human's pulse and closed his eyes against the burning gold irises that stared down at him.
Dib's fingers could fit around his wrist, he realized.
Two cold fingers grabbed the edge of Zim's glove and yanked the rubber off.
The irken's eyes flashed open and his hand was exposed to the chilly air. He wiggled his fingers in the human's grip. Dib let him go.
"Why…?" Zim asked, carefully.
Dib huffed and lifted Zim's arm again, pressing alien fingers to his face.
Oh.
Zim realized he could suddenly feel so much more this way. Dib's skin was much smoother. The irken worked to rediscover everything he'd just felt, without the barrier of rubber between them.
The human tilted his face towards the touch. There was nothing sinful about this. Nothing really inappropriate or wrong.
Except… Zim's finger tugged down Dib's bottom lip from friction and instinctively, the human licked his lips at the same time. His tongue came into contact with Zim's finger.
They both shivered. It was taboo. So weird and…they were frozen. He did it again, a quick flick against the pad of the irken's finger.
Testing the waters.
They hardly breathed in the darkness. The storm raged on outside, rain beating against the window, demanding entrance and falling on deaf ears.
They sat a little less than a foot apart, shaking for separate reasons that still somehow were the same.
The TV came on, splintering whatever had transpired into a thousand pieces. They yanked away as if the other's touch was scalding.
Dib stood up,practically jumping off the bed while Zim fumbled for his glove, yanking it on.
There was no more silence. It was filled with the video game's title screen music. Loud and obnoxious. But they both still felt the yawning quiet between them.
Dib made himself take a few deep breaths before he glanced over at the irken who was looking down at his gloved hand as if it had suddenly showed up out of the blue,like it had betrayed him.
The human knew that if this had been even a few months ago, he probably would've just thrown Zim out. But not only did he not want to just toss the irken into poison, he wanted to make sure this...this...whatever this was hadn't completely destroyed everything they'd built up to. He cleared his throat and Dib watched Zim's antennae twitch at the sound. Ruby eyes met his own. Dib forced himself not to look away in shame or fear. Nothing had really happened. It was nothing. His own voice sounded far away and breathless.
"Let's just...not talk about this, okay? It...never happened. Nothing even...really happened anyway. We can just, just forget this."
Zim blinked, looking down at his traitorous hand, then back up at the human, scanning his face. Dib obviously felt this was...bad, somehow. It was in his shoulders, his voice, his expression.
Zim nodded, lifting his chin. "Alright." He had no idea what had just transpired anyway. It had just been instinct. Adrenaline had been pumping through him all day long.
Dib was safe. Dib was warm and soft and dry and that had been his salvation from the constant fear that wrung his insides to pieces. He got to see the human deflate a bit from relief and watch him shove the whole thing away, under the proverbial rug.
Dib shook his head and flopped back on the bed, picking up his controller where it had been thrown, forgotten.
"Still up for playing a bit longer? Betcha I'll beat you for the 10,000th time."
Zim grabbed his own controller. "Lies and slander! You're only winning because I have less fingers than you! You have an unfair advantage."
Dib snickered. "You don't need every finger to play this game anyway."
Zim just scowled and crossed his legs, hunching over in a show of readiness.
Dib had fallen asleep about an hour ago. Zim watched the little clock blink 12:00 over and over again. The human's sleeping figure was still and snored softly.
The irken was on the floor, lying on his stomach, propped up on a pillow he'd been thrown by a sleepy Dib, minutes before he'd fallen unconscious.
The pillow smelled like Dib. The entire room did of course. But, this was a particularly concentrated smell of Dib.
In their younger years, his spooch would've recoiled. The connection between his enemy and...this...whatever this was, had been strong.
Now, he just sat and tried to think about what the smell even was. He'd never seen the human wear any kind of cologne or perfume or whatever. It had to be his soap he used. There were also some half-melted candles around the room. Maybe they were a source of smell.
Whatever it was, it wasn't nearly as bad as he remembered it being. Maybe older Dib actually took care of himself better. Zim recalled younger Dib often skipping all kinds of things (meals, class, showers) in order to chase him. Zim snickered, softly.
The irken looked at his hands. His hand. Covered in rubber now but before it had been bare and it had felt soft human skin. Small, fuzzy hairs. Everything about the human had been soft. His eyes, warm and open.
Then Dib's tongue had touched him. Instinct said to be weirded out by that. But, in the moment it had been..well,it hadn't been bad.
Zim recalled feeling like he'd been electrocuted. Except not really, because being electrocuted sucked and it hurt. But the aftershock of adrenaline and a buzziness in his chest...that had been present.
Why? Zim took his glove off with a bit of effort, raised it to his own mouth and licked it. Bleh. Nothing. Just now he felt gross from the saliva. He wiped his hand off, distastefully.
It was a mystery, he supposed. One which he would just have to...accept would never really be solved.
Dib didn't want to talk about it. It made him uncomfortable and confused. Zim put his glove back on. He didn't want to make the human either of those things.
So, he shrugged and tried to put it out of his mind, instead thinking of things like bizarre unsolved mysteries, haunted islands, unknown creatures and the dark haired man that was determined to discover everything about them.
