A/N: School is EVIL. Essays are EVIL. Tests are EVIL. Writers block is EVIL.

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Dib stood in the doorway staring down at the little robot wolfing down a waffle in front of him. He shifted his gaze past him and gazed around the house. It was exactly the same as before. Except the alien wasn't there. 'He must of gone to his lab…' Dib thought, feeling his spirits droop.

"HI DIB." Yelled Gir, waving and hugging him.

"Hey Gir." Dib said looking down. "Do you know where Zim is?" he asked earnestly.

"He went down to his lab." Gir stated taking his arms away from the human and backing up a step.

"Okay. Could I go see him?" Dib asked taking a step forwards into the familiar house. 'I'm sure he won't be able to ignore me there… I hope.'

"Yes. But master is angry." Said Gir staring through Dib. This lasted for 6 seconds before Gir yelled, "HAVE FUN." And ran off to get into his dog suit.

Dib stood there for a minute before walking to the toilet that was placed in the middle of the kitchen. Standing on it he pulled the rope handle hanging next to it and descended downwards. While waiting for the elevator to reach the lab he thought about how he might approach Zim. Unfortunately, he hadn't come up with anything by the time that he reached the lab.

Stepping out of the elevator, he looked around at the lab to see it as an utter disaster. Things were broken and leaking all over the place. Some things were burning through the machines they had spilled on. He saw a smashed table and beakers, test tubes and cylinders scattered and broken in the general area. Finally he turned his head to look at the giant T.V he had at the end of the room. There he saw an Irken invader, disguise discarded lying on the ground next to him. The aliens hands were gripping his head in frustration and he heard some mumbling he couldn't understand, most likely in his native language.

"Z…….Zim?" Dib asked hesitantly. He instantly regretted saying anything because he once again realized, he didn't know what to say.

All he got in response was a moan and then Zim placed his head, face down, on the elaborate device in front of him.

Dib stood up straight and started walking towards Zim, ready to face him. "Zim. Why are you ignoring me? What did I do?" he felt anger rising in his chest and his eyes narrowed.

Getting no response he started towards the alien faster, not stopping until he reached his side. "ZIM." He said with dominance in his voice.

The alien raised his head and looked straight on. Dib noticed that he looked positively sick. Feeling the anger melt away at the sight of him, he placed a hand on Zim's back and stared at him. "Zim are you okay?" Now concern was obvious in his voice as Zim turned his head slowly towards the human and looked him in the eyes.

Zim merely groaned a little and shook his head slowly. His eyes barely narrowed in an angry expression and he opened his mouth to speak. "Don't touch Zim." He said with no expression in his voice.

Dib immediately took his hand off of the Irken's back and put it at his side. "Zim. Why are you ignoring me?" Dib said in a quiet voice.

Zim straightened up at that and he glared at the human as if he had never felt sick. "The almighty Zim does not need to explain himself to you! Now be gone filthy Dib-human! I've got planning to attend to!!" He shouted at the shocked human in front of him. He turned and did his traditional march over to the other side of the computer board and started shouting commands at the computer. "COMPUTER. Start cleaning this mess and get the human out of here! I MUST PLAN."

Dib stared in disbelief at his as the computer arm came down and grabbed the back of his trench coat. He mentally slapped himself for ever thinking of caring about the invader and he turned his head to yell at Zim "I WILL figure out your plan, Zim! I WILL." The computer threw him into the elevator shortly after and had him sent to the front walk.

Turning, Dib glared at the glowing house and snorted. He turned away and stuffed his hands into his pockets, sulking all the way home.

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Zim stood standing straight until he was sure the human couldn't see him and then his sick expression returned to his face and he went down on his knees. He will never eat waffles again. The invader shuddered at the thought of ever eating another waffle. Then he thought back to the scene with Dib.

"He actually cared for me." Zim said quietly to himself. "That's a first."

He stared around his lab and watched the computer clean up the mess he had made when he went on his tantrum. He sighed thinking of how disappointed the Tallest would be if they heard of this. He decided to just forget about it. But now TWO phrases danced through his head together.

Dib isn't THAT bad.

Zim are you okay?

He clenched his jaw and his hands balled into fists as he thought of these. He felt as if he was being haunted by everything related to Dib.

'He must be getting to me. He's breaking through my defenses and trying to spot my weakness! THAT FILTHY WORM-BABY. NO ONE GETS THROUGH TO ZIM.' He mentally yelled, standing up with more determination than ever to destroy Earth once and for all.

'But. Halloween is coming up soon. In an Earth week, I believe? I must prepare for the zombie-children who will come to get my candy…' he thought, turning and staring to write elaborate plans to stop the invasion.

Just then he felt his stomach lurch and he felt the sickness coming back to him. "GIR. FETCH ME THE BUCKET." He said as Gir ran down to the lab screaming with joy.