His ruby eyes scanned the snoring form lying against the table. He was going to get a horrible kink in his neck and it was mainly his fault. Quietly and gently, he picked the Earth-boy up and carried him into his room, gently resting him in the big bed. Tucking the lithe form in, he sighed. Why he cared was beyond him, but he did. Maybe it was simply the guilt of promising the boy he'd be up earlier and then not showing, but that never bothered him before. The boy would have to understand.
He slipped off his boots and slipped into bed, curling his form around the nearby body pillow. He wasn't much for cuddling, and even less for cuddling the huuman boy, but his arms always felt so empty…He finally caved in and bought them both a body pillow. One for himself to subdue the desperate need to cling to something and the other to soothe the boy's loneliness while he worked in his lab. He noticed that the Earth monkey needed a lot of things.
He needed food and…water…but those were common sense. What he didn't understand and still couldn't quite grasp was why the boy needed more than one pair of clothing. His uniform had always been just enough for himself. But the boy insisted he needed new ones, so the Irken submitted and took him shopping. He also found the huuman needed pajamas, socks and underwear. What a troublesome trip of arguing, bitching and whining that was. He vowed never to shop with the boy again.
He needed entertainment beyond the TV. Dib never was much for the mindless idiot box anyway, so he should have figured. What he hadn't counted on was how much "entertainment" the boy needed. He had at least a library full of books now. Paper and pencils galore and a computer that had very limited access to anything. The last thing he needed was for the boy to gain control and wreck his base from the computer.
So, after all of those "needs" were filled, he figured the boy didn't need him anymore. He was wrong.
This thing called…affection…was very complicated to learn at first. The boy always acted like he was just fine being on his own, but then complained that Zim was always in his lab. After searching around, the Irken finally found why the Dib acted like that. The snuggles and cuddles and…yech…hugs…were very hard to add to his lifestyle of beating the boy, but he had to endure.
Then the huuman decided that the hugs and snuggles weren't enough and had stolen a kiss from the Irken's lips. That's when Zim decided never to drop his guard. Especially around a Dib that had a few drinks of wine. That night the boy also decided to attempt in showing the Irken intimacy. Zim decided that whatever was between a huuman's legs should NEVER see the light of day. How one could reproduce with such a…a…small piece of machinery was beyond Zim, but he was not going to question it's…hangy…slimy…noodle-like mysteries.
And now, because of these huuman emotions, Zim had become accustomed to having his thin arms wrapped around the form of the boy. Not wanting to admit this, he bought the pillows. It was an easy excuse and the boy bought it quickly. He was just uncomfortable was all. Yes, that's it. Nothing to it.
His eyelids slipped shut languidly as exhaustion slowly over took him, his last conscious thought consisting of Dib and his own thin arms wrapped around something warm.
Morning light filtered through the drapes Dib had put on the window. With a groan, the Irken rolled over and lazily opened his ruby eyes, only to find himself staring at the ginormous head of his rival. Unaware and incoherent with sleep, he leaped to his feet, extending four long spider limbs from his PAK. With a snarl he lunged at the Earth boy, the meat-sacks eyes snapping open as he wildly threw himself out of the way. With a cry, Zim quickly caught himself and turned, lifting himself high in the air. Posing one mechanical leg over the Dib, he plunged it downward. Only inches away from the huuman's face it stopped as Zim realized why his enemy was in his home.
Dib's wide frightened eyes watched the Irken's every move, his breath caught in his throat in fear. He could feel tears welling up but dared not move his arms to wipe his eyes for fear he'd lose his head to an unforgiving spider claw. Once Zim had slowly removed his spider limbs from the surrounding atmosphere, Dib let out the breath he had been holding, gasping desperately for oxygen.
Zim simply watched before slowly making his way to the kitchen. The boy was probably hungry.
When Dib finally regained his composure, he made his way to the table where the smell of bacon and eggs wafted from, his nose leading him as usual.