(A/N) Chapter 2! Huzzah. I'm quite a fan of this chapter, actually. Even though Miz's brief flashes of sadness tug at mah fragile heartstrings... T^T Pretty long chapter, too… ;P

… I have a crippling soft spot for George, just so you guys know upfront. =w=

Note: "Jezus" is my clever way of portraying a character using the Lord's name in vain without violating my religion by actually using it. So it's not a typo, lol.

A million and one thanks to those who reviewed the chapter, namely "toolazytosignin," Flameear, Ultravioletlex, and prettykitty473! *passes out waffles*

Shout-out also to missfemke, zimvader0017, and blackwolfjashinist, who let me know they're reading/enjoying over dA! (*pokes* You guys... should review here. So I can thank you properly and give you hints. eue -shot-)

Without further ado, please enjoy chapter two of Repression and Succession~

"Let us go ghost hunting!"

Dib jolted upright, his eyes flying wide as he gasped awake. Groping for his glasses, he looked around frantically for the source of the voice. Finding himself seemingly alone in his room, he let out a tense breath.

"Great," he muttered. "Now I'm hearing things, too. It's all in my head, it's all in my-"

No sooner had he begun the mantra, however, then the shape swung down and into view, upside down and hanging by his feet from the rafters. Dib shrieked in alarm and jerked back, toppling from his bed as Miz began to laugh.

"Good morning, Dib-thing," the new boy said with a grin, and was promptly slapped.

"Good morning my ass!" Dib screamed, flustered and furious and befuddled. "How the hell did you get into my room?!"

Miz smirked, swinging casually from the ceiling by one foot. "There's a flaw in your security system- the motion sensors leave a five-by-three inch patch of roof exposed, and if you time it just right, you can use that as a stepping stone to reach the air vent right above your room."

Dib stared, opened-mouthed. But... the only one... who knew about that... was... Shaking his head furiously to rid himself of that train of thought, he took what tried to be a menacing step forward- difficult, considering he was in baby blue pajamas and lime green fuzzy slippers.

"Get out."

"No," Miz replied simply, dropping down with a skillful twist to land, cross-legged, on his unwilling host's bed. "Let us go ghost-hunting together, Diblet."

Dib scowled and then bit his lip. "You just can't leave well enough alone, can you, you jerk?"

"Miz knows of an excellent place," the new boy urged, and then grinned. "Unless the Dib has grown frightened of such things as the paranormal?"

Professor Membrane's son snorted. "Not frightened- disgusted," he retorted, and Miz's face fell. Feeling oddly guilty, Dib pressed ahead. "Besides, Skool starts in an hour. We both need to get ready."

"Forget about the ridiculousness of Skool!" Miz Nekri snapped, rising. "Come with Miz, and we will see about these ghosts! Come, come!"

Screwing up his face, Dib acknowledged reluctantly that he wasn't about to get rid of his new classmate- and besides, he reassured himself, ghosts didn't exist. Therefore, there was zero chance of actually happening across one. With a resigned sigh, he shrugged.

"Fine, fine. What's the worst that could happen? But we are going to Skool," he added sharply. "You've got me for the hour, and then I'm out."

Miz chirped like an excited child, waiting impatiently as Dib got properly dressed and otherwise gathered himself. Taking longer than was strictly, Professor Membrane's son ran a comb through his doubled-jagged hair, slipping a battered t-shirt and jeans on in place of his pajamas. Then he reluctantly followed the new boy out his window, thinking only that he had better get a decent breakfast out of the early morning escapade.

To his surprise, Miz led him to an abandoned building that Dib knew all too well. He almost tried to back out as the new boy slipped between two rotting wooden boards plastered over the doorway. As it was he had a difficult time following, nearly getting stuck at least twice and finally managing to sprawl awkwardly into the dimly lit hallway.

"Jezus, Miz, are you like, anorexic?" he asked crossly, rolling his shoulders and rubbing his sides, pinched by the squeeze inside.

A flash of pain lit the new boy's eyes, but he quickly rid himself of it and said simply, "I'm more flexible than you, pitiful human."

Dib scowled and shrugged, glancing nervously around the shadowy hallways. Rifts of dust floated across the pockets of light, especially where he had disturbed them by his entrance, and the whole place smelled like he fancied the inside of a tomb might.

"I'm not so sure we should be here, Miz," he began uncertainly, and Miz snorted.

"Is my little Diblet scared of that which he used to seek?"

"I'm not scared!" the other boy snapped, but silently took that back when he saw that Miz slink farther down the hallway. The new boy used one hand to hold up what was literally a curtain of cobwebs as he peered into a long-abandoned classroom; Dib trotted silently after him, following a nervous compulsion to stay close to his companion- the only other living thing in the vicinity.

"Who do you think is lurking about?" Miz asked eagerly, ducking back out and moving on to the next door. "A bunch of the Skool admin went missing when this place was closed, right?"

Dib shifted nervously. "Ghosts don't exist, Miz."

"Nonsense, you speak nonsense," the new boy said, waving one hand thoughtlessly. Poking his head into another classroom, he grinned wickedly. "Here, this one. Follow Miz."

Dib started to object, but the other boy had already vanished. Scowling furiously- half to hide his nervousness -the son of Professor Membrane followed, lifting a sheet of cobwebs as he slid into the hauntingly familiar room.

Miz was in the center of it, arms spread, breathing deeply despite the dust. Then he weaved his way between the decaying desks, trailing his fingers fondly through their thick dust covering.

"Miz went here, for grade Skool," he commented, his voice heavy with nostalgic affection. "I am surprised that the Dib does not recognize me."

... I didn't notice many people back then- many real people, at least. Dib wanted to admit it, but instead he snorted bitterly. "I suppose you're one of the assholes who got off on giving me wedgies, huh? Think that makes you so memorable, do you?"

Miz looked hurt for a moment, but then shrugged and grinned, holding up his hands. "Miz did enjoy playing with the Dib's undergarments, guilty as he is charged."

Dib snorted, turning away. "Jerk," he muttered, but, oddly enough, he felt like he was forcing out the angry words- they didn't come naturally. "Fallen out with the cool crowd, huh? So desperate for friends you've turned to the freak you used to bully? Can't stomach being alone?"

Silence was the only answer he got- turning, Dib found the old classroom unexpectedly empty. Eyes widening with alarm, the boy spun; Miz was nowhere to he seen, and suddenly his final jab applied only to himself.

"Miz...?" he called hesitantly. "Hey, Miz...? Where'd you go...?"

No reply. Gulping, Dib tightened his jacket around his shoulders. The room creaked around him, the dust suddenly suffocating; a shiver ran up his spine.

"Th-this isn't funny, Miz...!" he called, unable to keep his voice entirely steady. Ghosts don't exist, ghosts don't exist, ghosts don't exist...

"You're crazy!"

"Very good Zita- A plus."

"But that wasn't even a question..."

Shaking his head to rid himself of the memory- trying desperately to convince himself that he hadn't just heard the voices aloud -he backed up.

"M-Miz...? Miz, y-you jerk...! Miz, this isn't funny...!"

"They called Galileo crazy!"

Stomach flip flopping at the sound of his own ephemeral voice, Dib staggered back, hitting the rickety old teacher's desk at the head of the room.

"Class, I would like to introduce the newest, hopeless appendage to the student body."'

"'I am a perfectly normal human worm baby."

"Am I the only one who sees the alien sitting in class?!"

"Late again, Dib! And what is it this time? Vampire babies or bigfoot mailmen?"

Dib shrieked at the sound of the voice- most definitely not imagined. He started violently, trying to squirm out of his own skin as his heart convulsed. Spinning, he fully expected to see the horrible ghost of his old teacher- or perhaps she was completely unchanged, by some ghastly witchcraft.

But what he saw was Miz.

The new boy was leaning over the desk, grinning so widely that it looked as though his face might simply tear in half. Holding up his hands, he made a startling motion.

"Boo!"

Dib, trying to scream something angry but failing, stumbled backwards with one hand to his heaving chest. Miz laughed, eyes lit with humor, hopping fully out from behind the desk.

"The Dib should have seen his own face!" he snickered, and the scorned boy- burning with embarrassment and leftover fright -moved forward menacingly.

But before he could act, the siren pierced the air.

Flashing red and blue sliced through the boarded-up windows, setting Dib bristling and Miz, once again, laughing. Then the new boy was off, cracking through the boarded up window and leaping out the resulting hole.

"Come, my Dib! Now we make our escape!"

Panicked and unable to do anything but obey, Dib clambered out the window to find Miz waiting patiently for him, despite the clump of police officers approaching. Blood draining from his face, Dib started to rehearse his excuses- and his implications of Miz as the real troublemaker. Before he could throw the other boy under the proverbial bus, however, he was swept behind his would-be victim in a protective motion.

"You'll never take us alive!" Miz crowed and, in the same instant, there was a violent explosion of light and sound. The next thing that Dib knew, he was being swept along by strong arms, ushered down various alleyways as the policemen began to shout wildly. He felt himself thrust forward by one Miz Nekri with a fervent hiss of, "Run, Dib!" and, against his better judgment, he obeyed.

As his senses slowly returned to him, Dib swore loudly, aware of Miz laughing gleefully not a yard in front of him. "You jerk!" he wailed breathlessly as he ran. "Look what you got us into!"

Even the sirens couldn't drown out Miz's maniacal laughter, and his reply consisted of a thoughtless, "Lighten up!" tossed over his shoulder.

It wasn't as if the poor boy could do anything but follow his troublemaking companion and, to his credit, Miz managed to lose their law-enforcing tail after a few blocks. Pulling up, he stretched his neck and looked around, like a dog with its ears perked. Dib staggered to a halt beside him a moment later, breathing hard and half falling into the building next to him for support.

"Miz... you... kill... shit..." Unable to formulate a complete sentence, he gasped out various bits of thoughts at his companion before collapsing onto the ground, head swimming and heart racing. Miz looked down with some surprise, then crouched on his haunches- he was breathing normally, perfectly composed save for the mess his hair was in.

"The Dib is out of shape."

The young boy growled with indignation, making a swipe for Miz but missing. The new boy simply stood, skipping back a pace, and then offered his hand.

"Come, Diblet. Did you not want to attend your Skool? We will be late if we delay any longer."

Pushing himself up without his classmate's assistance, Dib brushed himself off. "I'm going home," he growled. "I'm going back to sleep. I'm forgetting that this morning ever happened."

The new boy's expression softened further. "I have upset my Dib. Miz is sorry, truly. It was all meant in fun."

"'Fun?'" Dib asked incredulously. "You have one royally fucked up idea of fun, Miz."

"So Miz has been told," the new boy said, nodding bouncily. "Now, you will come to breakfast? Let me make it up to my Dib-thing."

"I-I'm not 'your' Dib!" Professor Membrane's son snapped, flustered now that he had noticed the phrase Miz had undoubtedly been using all along. "And I don't want a repeat of last night!"

"It shall not be such a repeat," Miz replied flippantly. "Come, Diblet! We have waffles galore waiting at Miz's house!"

Dib stiffened as that sunk in. "We're going back to your house?"

"Of course!" was the thoughtless reply, and Dib stared at his companion's receding form, left to either follow or walk away. And finally, gritting his teeth and groaning in frustration, he gave chase.

"Wait up, you jerk!"

... ... ...

Miz's house was unassuming- thinner and slightly taller than its neighbors, sure, and looking as though it had been placed there unnaturally, but normally structured and painted a soft grey that was almost lavender. A collection of gnomes stood guard on the lawn, and that oddly round-topped car sat in the driveway.

"Watch for Sarge when we enter," Miz warned, though Dib didn't comprehend the words until a possessed ball of black and white fuzz came flying at him. It nearly bowled him off his feet and, as it was, it managed to secure a spot in his arms. The little dog stretched up, planting his paws on the boy's face and wagging his tiny tail so hard that it seemed it might fall off.

"Sarge!" Miz snapped, and immediately the dog hopped down and stood at attention. "Behave!" Though his tail was still beating incessantly at the floor, the dog seemed content to obey.

"We'll trained," Dib commented, and Miz scowled.

"Only 32.6 percent of the time..." he grumbled sourly. "Stupid glitches..."

Ignoring the odd wording that he was growing used to, Dib looked around his new classmate's house. Other than the genuinely creepy monkey decor, it looked normal enough- couch, tv, side tables, etc., with a kitchen/dining room off to the side. But then it occurred to Dib that something quite vital was, indeed, missing.

"Miz, does this house have a bedroom?"

The other boy nodded, though he didn't turn on his way to the kitchen. "In the basement. There are three down there, in fact, along with my study."

"Huh." Deciding not to question it or ask where, exactly, the stairs were hiding, Dib followed his host. He was surprised, however, when a different face poked out around the corner.

"Oh, you're back! Welcome ho-" Before the newcomer could finish his thought, Miz's foot smacked clean across his face, much to Dib's shock and horror. The mystery boy swooned for an instant, then dropped with a decided thud.

"This is my roommate, George," Miz said casually, as if the whole event were routine. "Please disregard him." Then he knelt, slapping the boy's soft-looking face several times by way of wake up call. "Oi! Wake up! Miz and George have a guest!"

The boy moaned, then slowly sat up, rubbing his cheek. "You're a jerk, Miz," he whimpered, but then rose and faced Dib. "Nice to meet you, Dib- I'm Miz's roommate, George. Sorry for the traumatic intro."

"Th-that's okay," Dib stammered, taking the hand that was offered to him. "I'm more worried about your head trauma!"

George only laughed. "It's okay- I'm used to it."

Now that he had the chance, Dib examined Miz's roommate- short, almost unnaturally so, and rather chubby, he wasn't fat in an unpleasant way, but instead looked rather cuddly. His hair was a dark honey color, short but wavy to the point of ringlets in some places. His eyes were a soft gray, seeming kind but oddly dangerous- tender but edgy.

"Ah! The waffles have already been prepared!" Miz called from further in the kitchen. "Come, my compan- not you, Sarge!"

Laughing softly, George turned and led the way into the kitchen, where the table was indeed littered with plates of waffles. "Watch the ones on the blue plates- they've got soap in 'em," George advised, and Dib's eyebrows arched. "We've got a couple of real experimental cooks in this crazy little house."

Deciding not to question it, the guest took his seat beside George and across from Miz- the new boy seemed more preoccupied with his own waffles and keeping his dog off the table than entertaining his guest, and so the conversation fell primarily to George.

"I heard your father is working on a new type of rocket fuel- from carrots, was it?"

Dib jumped. "I... well, yes! I'm impressed!"

George shrugged. "I like to keep up on events. However, if you'll forgive me my opinion..."

Miz's roommate turned out to be a surprisingly intelligent conversationalist- eloquent in his words and with well-formed ideas to bring to the proverbial table. Miz mostly watched, with alternating boredom and fascination, as the other two debated the fine points of nuclear fusion and rocket science and theoretical physics, most but not all within the context of space travel. They argued, for a time, about whether one could turn a whole planet into a sub-space vehicle- with Dib arguing for the possibility and George against. After that bored them, the conversation turned briefly to extraterrestrial life, and then notions of biospheres and colonizing places such as the moon. It became frighteningly obvious, when the conversation turned nuclear, that both Dib and George were more than equipped to destroy the world if the fancy struck them, but then they laughed that off as if the thought had never entered either of their minds- which was a blatant lie.

Hours ticked by within the strange little house, but Dib's absence was likely to go unnoticed. Miz was the one who prepared the trio lunch, a surprisingly elegant batch of crepes with various fillings- half of which, it seemed, were snuck to Sarge. Dib smiled when he noticed.

"Soft spot for the pup, Miz?"

An unexpected sadness enveloped the Miz, but his guest likely didn't notice that. "... Yes. He has been a... faithful companion these years."

"He's awfully cute," Dib commented warmly, scratching the dog's ears. "Still full of puppy-energy, too!"

"Mm..." was Miz's only reply, and then he turned back to his crepe making. "What would the Dib-thing like on his sweet-goo sandwiches?"

"Whatever is fine," the boy answered. "You seem to be making a bit of everything, anyway." As he watched, though, he started to notice a pattern. "Why all the veggies, Miz? You don't strike me as a veggie type."

"Our culture favors them over meat," the new boy explained, tasting a bubbling pink concoction that certainly didn't look vegetable-based. "George is completely vegetarian, though I am not. We have a small garden out back, for our culture also forbids the use of chemicals in food growing- last night was a treat for me that must not be repeated often."

Dib caught George's disapproving look and made a questioning sound. "What, shouldn't he be telling me?" he asked curiously.

"Talking is perfectly fine, but he should not have eaten with you last night," the chubby boy grumbled crossly, looking far too angry for comfort.

Dib, uncomfortable, turned back to Miz. "Where do you two come from? With the way you talk about 'your culture...'"

"Far away from here, Dib-thing; that is all you must know," Miz replied cryptically, and then brought over half a dozen plates of crepes, effectively ending the conversation with a brisk, "Lunch is served."

... ... ...

"Where were you today, son?"

Dib flinched at the question, startled by his father's sudden presence. But he didn't look up from where he lay, propped up on his elbows over a math textbook.

"At Skool," he replied, trying to sound cross. "Where else would I be?"

"Now son, that's not what Gaz says."

This time Dib's head did shoot up, and he was shocked to see his sister standing just behind their father. "You tattled?" he blurted furiously, and Gaz shrugged.

"We can't trust you- you know that."

Fuming, Dib sat up and glared up at his family. "I didn't feel like going to Skool," he spat. "I spent the day at a friend's house."

"Now son, we all know that you don't have any friends," his father said flippantly, likely unaware of how his words stung. "Where were you today?"

"I do so have a friend!" Dib spat furiously, standing and squaring his shoulders. "His name is Miz- he just moved into town!"

Professor Membrane groaned, covering his eyes with one hand. "Not again..."

"No, no, Dad!" Dib was frantic to correct his father's presumption. "Th-this is different! Ask Gaz! She should know that there's a new kid in my class- a real new kid!"

Gaz shrugged reluctantly. "Yeah... I guess I did see him talking to some loser kid I didn't recognize yesterday."

"See? See?" Dib demanded, pointing furiously at his sister but not taking his eyes from his father. "I'm not insane!"

"We don't know that for sure, son," was Professor Membrane's reply. "How can we?"

Dib grit his teeth, grinding out, "I guess you can't, for sure. But how about the benefit of the doubt for once, huh Dad?"

"You can't ask that of me, son," the elder sighed, by turned. "Don't skip Skool again. If you do, I'll be forced to give Dr. Bethlem a phone call."

"No!" his son cried, suddenly contrite. "D-don't! I-I won't ditch again, I swear! Please Dad, don't tell Bethlem about this!"

His father didn't respond, but left things as they were- Gaz, however, paused.

"This is for your own good, Dib," she said softly, a touch of menace in her voice. "We care about you, idiot. So don't think I won't be watching."

(A/N) And the plot thickens.

Please review, it really makes my day! I'll give you a hint as to the next chapter, if you do. ^^

(If anyone knows why I chose "Dr. Bethlem" without looking it up, you get a cookie. 8D My natural inclination, by the way, was to toss Dwicky in, but then it occurred to me that he's probably still off gallivanting through the galaxy with Dib's camcorder in hand. x'D)