ZADR

ZADR? Or DAZR?
By Raven
Rating: M (FOR LATER STUFF)
Warnings: romance and a wee bit of violence
Pairing: ZADR
Disclaimer: Invader Zim is owned by Jhonen Vasquez, but this lovely ZADR belongs to me
Summary: Hi Skool is hell, but not everyone sees it that way. Can two long time enemies become the closest of comapnions? Only one way to find out. -ZADR-

CHAPTER 6

"Dib? Dib! Dib, what are you doing?" Zim's voice rose octave after octave as the human dragged him out of the building and toward the car. "Where are we going?"

"Get in," he instructed, finally letting go.

"Not until you tell me where we're going," Zim almost shouted, rubbing his injured arm.

Dib looked at him from across the top of the car, his gaze hypnotic and sultry. Irk! Zim hated that stare! It made his knees wobbly and his spooch knot. The feeling came back to his lower abdomen only this time not nearly as strong.

"We're going to your house. Where we can be alone." He emphasized the last word, his brows raising in a suggestive manner, as if he wanted to do something more than hang out on Zim's couch. Like he wanted to visit Zim's bedroom again.

Suddenly the Irken snapped out of his stupor and let out a string of Irken expletives. "You're manipulating me!" he accused, jabbing a claw in the boy's direction. "Quit looking at me that way! I hate it when you look at me that way! Do you understand what you are DOING to me?! Every time you look at me like that I get weak in the knees and butterflies in my spooch. And now I'm getting an old urge I haven't felt in twenty years! Irk be damned if I put up with this any longer! I don't care if love you. I won't let you use me!"

Dib straightened up, his look, sobered, if not surprised. He was silent and staring.

Zim backed up a step. "You can't treat me like that," he said, quieter now, with his eyes averted. He crossed an arm over his chest and rubbed lightly at his other arm. "I'm not a toy. I'm a living being and you just can't suddenly want to jump in bed with me without saying you love me." There was the dominant side squeezing out of him! "I know I asked what would make you happy… But did you consider how it would make me feel?"

Dib was quiet for a moment more before he said anything. "Come here." It wasn't a demand, merely a request, but Zim was afraid.

"Why?" he asked, his voice weak.

"Just come here."

Zim refused to move closer and signified this by taking a step back and pouting. It sounded like Dib let out a frustrated noise, but Zim didn't look up. He seemed to be more interested in a pebble on the ground. He hadn't realized Dib had moved until he was in his arms.

"Look, I'm sorry… I didn't realize I was behaving that way and I'm grateful that you pointed to me. Accept my apology? Please?" he asked, petting fake hair.

Zim looked up at him, saw his sincerity, and nodded. "Yeah… okay…"

Dib smiled. "Now, how does that coffee sound? I know a neat little bohemian place you'd like." The Irken nodded again. "Okay, let's go." He opened the door for him and allowed the alien to slide in before shutting it again. He slipped into his own seat and started the car. He knew they wouldn't be speaking through this trip so he turned the radio on to a rock station and kept it low so he wouldn't hurt Zim's sensory organs.

Zim smiled weakly at his consideration before leaning back in his seat. He could kick himself for speaking up. If he hadn't allowed himself to open his big fat mouth, he would be making out with Dib right now. But he couldn't help himself. He didn't want to feel so horrible afterward. He didn't want to feel used. He decided to push the thoughts from his head as he recognized the song on the radio. He started humming the tune, earning a glance from Dib. Then he started singing along, tuning out the rest of the world.

Dib stopped at a light and watched. Zim's voice was entrancing. He wondered if all Irkens had such sweet singing voices. He reached and turned off the radio, but Zim didn't seem to notice, continuing to sing until the song was supposed to end.

He finished on a wavering chord and blinked his eyes open again. "You turned it off" he commented quietly.

"It didn't do your voice justice. It had to be eliminated," he explained, shrugging his shoulders. "You have a pretty voice."

Zim blushed. "Thanks…" he mumbled, looking away.

Dib smiled as the light turned green and he pulled away. They pulled up in front of the coffee shop a few minutes later. Dib parked and got out to open Zim's door for him. He proofed his arm to him and Zim accepted. Together they strolled into the shop and were greeted by the sent of coffee and bohemian music. The atmosphere was warm since everything was covered in orangey hues.

The human suggested Zim find seat and he would go order something sweet for them both.

Zim found a corner table to his liking and sat down in the softer of the two chairs pulled around the mosaic-topped table. He looked around at the artwork displayed proudly on the walls. There was a photo that intrigued him. He looked especially familiar – a boy sitting on his roof top staring up at the stars. As Dib approached the it hit him. "That's… That's Dib…"

"Who's me?" the boy questioned. He set the two iced mocha lattes on the table and moved to look over his shoulder. "Oh yeah! I remember taking that one! I think it turned out nicely, if I do say so myself."

He looked at another picture below it and recognized the same artistry. "How much of this is yours?" Zim asked now, looking around with his jaw open.

"Most of it," he replied with a prideful smile. "The owner of this place is my old art teacher. She always loved my stuff so she bought a lot of it. Plus I get free coffee." His smile turned to smirk as he took the unoccupied seat. "It's a perk. I usually run project ideas by her first before I go to any great lengths." He paused, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, I'd introduce you, but she's out of town. She'd be interested to meet the little alien that inspired that one." He pointed behind the Irken as if he had the place memorized. Zim looked behind him to find a large portrait of… himself. He blinked as his jaw dropped. It was his backside from the waist up. His head was slightly twisted to glare reddish-pink eyes up at anyone that dared to gaze at him. But above all other details, two horrified him: he was undisguised and he was nude.

"How… how much of me have you seen?" he choked out, turning back to the human. "Dib… How did you get it so accurate if I've never knowingly let you see me?"

Dib blanched. "Well… There was a time when…" He paused, struggling to find the right words. "I spied on you… It was from then… I just age progressed it so it would match better to how you look now. That was one of the only ones that turned out good. And then I painted it…" His voice wavered. "That one's a copy. I still have the original. I couldn't bare – I mean, I didn't want to part with it." It was like he was trying to hide something. It sounded like he was trying to hide an emotion. Zim just couldn't place it anywhere.

The Irken's cheeks were a dark shade of green now. He looked Dib in the eye. "Copies aren't ever as good. I want to see the original."

Dib nodded his consent. "Sure, I'll show you sometime." He took a sip of his coffee and nudged Zim's closer to him. "Drink; you'll like it."

The alien obeyed. "It is good!" he exclaimed, gulping more down. "What's in this?"

"Coffee, espresso, and mocha," he explained, gulping more down. "I work here sometimes too."

Zim sighed. "No wonder you got sick! You're working on top of everything else!"

Dib grumbled something about Zim sucking, but the Irken ignored it, choosing to continue on his rant.

"I mean it, Dib! You're pushing yourself too hard. You don't need to do everything under the sun now. It's not like the world's going to end tomorrow. You've got at most a week." He smirked at him, totally teasing him now. "I mean, the Alien hasn't got anything planned for world domination right now. Besides, you're brilliant, Diblet. Well… Mostly. You won't be valedictorian – that's going to me – but you're second in the class. You don't need to be working so hard. Most of those kids at school are complete retards any way. You are WAY ahead of them in GPA. In fact, you and I have ruined the grading scale."

The human couldn't help but smile. "You're completely right. We are by far the most brilliant students in Hi Skool."

"Exactly. Now Dibby, you have unlimited opportunities ahead of you. With your name and grades, you can go anywhere. Yale, Harvard, Hogwarts. Anywhere!" Dib snorted into his drink and almost choked on it when the mythical wizarding school was mentioned.

"Sure, Zim. I can TOTALLY go to Hogwarts," he joked.

"Well, yeah! You're smart enough. You can probably figure out how to do the magicks!" He wiggled his fingers and grinned.

Dib's smile and gaze were nice and warm. "Zim…" he mumbled, shaking his head slowly. "You know, you're praising me without prompting. It's unusual."

Zim's mind froze. Dib was right. What the hell was he doing?! It was so un-Irken he had no idea what the hell he was going to say next. But his body continued to function. He shrugged his shoulders plainly. "I figured it would make you happy."

Dib's eyes widened in surprise. Zim seemed to be trying really hard to make the human love him. "It does…" he mumbled, looking down at his coffee. "Really happy…" He had a light blush on his face that made him very innocent-looking and absolutely adorable. That feeling came back to his spooch. Dear Irk! Innocent Dib was almost as bad as seductive Dib! What was an Irken to do?! He hadn't the slightest idea so he too to drinking his coffee.

Dib suddenly struck up a conversation about skool just then bringing them out of their awkward silence.

"So, what are you planning on doing with yourself after we graduate?" Dib asked. It was October. They still had nine months until their graduation.

Zim shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. I suppose I'll take over the planet. It's about time I did, don't you think?" He smirked. "You're probably thinking I won't, but one day, Diblet, my dear, I will. And all that exists will be worshiping me. Until then, I suppose I'll go to college. It's not like I have much to do." He paused to take a satisfying sip of iced coffee. "Where are you going, Dib? Perhaps I shall follow you off to college."

Dib shrugged his shoulders. "I might just continue at the community college. There isn't really a place that offers paranormal investigation degrees."

Zim frowned at this. "Don't settle for less." Hearing his own words caused a twinge of displeasure in his spooch.

Dib nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He finished his drink with a final gulp. "We'll see, Zim."

The Irken didn't answer. He just sat there and continued to sip at his drink, brow furrowed. It wasn't like Dib to say something like that. It worried the alien. Zim put down his drink and calmly reached over and felt the boy's forehead. It was extremely warm against his palm. He felt his cheek next just to be sure and found it quite a few degrees cooler. "Just what I thought. You're babbling nonsense because you have a fever. I knew you couldn't change your mind that fast about college."

Dib was blushing. "Sure…" he mumbled. "But I've been looking and I have yet to find a college that offers a paranormal investigation degree."

"You'll find one. And if you don't you can always do "real" science," Zim told him. "It can't be all that bad."

Dib let out a disgusted sound. "Real science? What's so great about real science?"

Zim shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. You tell me. You're the one in the higher level biology class."

Dib glared in the opposite direction. He didn't say anything. Honestly, what could he say that defended his love of biology and his passion for the paranormal? – Nothing.

"But Dibby, you're sick, we should get you home and back in bed." There was definite worry in the Irken's voice. Dib shouldn't be pushing himself so hard. He wasn't going to last long if he kept this up.

"Could I stay with you?"

Zim froze and slowly looked over at the boy. "You want to stay with me?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded, refusing to look up as a blush spread over his cheeks. "Yes…" he mumbled.

The Irken looked at his empty mug. Should he let the boy stay with him? What if something went wrong? Like things got out of hand? Or they fought? Or Zim hurt Dib? Or worse, Dib hurt Zim? What would he do then? The questions echoed through his head for a few moments. Then his better sense and his spur-of-the-moment mind entered into armed combat. His better sense kept telling him he should send Dib home so the boy could rest, but his mind kept bombarding him with some of the most impure thoughts ever to be conjured in his head. Eventually, his perverted mind won out with a powerful nuclear attack of naked-Dibby-goodness that would have caused a massive nasal hemorrhage had he a nose to bleed from. He rubbed his eye trying to cover the blush that had formed on his face and he was doing a bad job of it. "Sure…" he mumbled a moment later. "Why not."

The human smiled. "Great. Why don't we go now?" He stood up and wobbled slightly. It seemed his fever had suddenly aggravated his balance. Zim quickly stood and grabbed his arm to steady him.

"Look, maybe I should drive? You're just having a little bit of a hard time walking. Driving shouldn't be in your agenda right now."

The suggestion had the human digging in his pocket for the keys. He knew he shouldn't drive like this. But he stopped, as if suddenly remembering something. "But you can't drive."

"Can so. I have my license thank you!" he retorted, forgetting to add the part where he had made it himself. Honestly how hard could it be to drive a car? It couldn't be that much different from a Voot! "Besides, I've got tons more experience than you anyway."

Dib finally consented and handed over the keys. It was then the Irken noticed the key chains Dib had. One of them looked vaguely familiar. It was an eyeball shape he had seen somewhere before. Another said something cliché and another was some carved piece of metal with some pattern on it.

After the key chain examination, Zim helped his human out to the car where he placed him securely in the passenger's seat before scampering to the other side of the car and sitting in the driver's seat. He loved the feeling of control sitting in front of a steering wheel gave him. He smiled when the engine roared to life and settled into a nice purr. Irken technology didn't give you that kind of satisfaction. In a matter of seconds, Zim pulled away from the curb and zoomed down the street, following Dib's directions as they went along. Even after all the years Zim had lived there, he still didn't know his way around the city. He hadn't felt the need to know such things. But thinking on it now, he suspected he should learn a thing or two about the city. After all, he was going to have to come up with some places for Dib to take him.

Soon they pulled up in front of the eerily green house Zim occupied. The Irken slipped out of the car to help Dib out. The human was looking a little paler than usual.

"You definitely need to lie down, Diblet. Perhaps for the rest of the night," Zim said as they entered the house. He shut the door behind them as Dib crossed the room to stand in the middle of it. "Call your sister and tell her you're staying here while I go see what GIR is up to." He indicated he was going to the kitchen.

"HEY! You wants some wafflez, masta?" GIR asked when he spotted the cringing alien. "Dese onez gots blooooberries in dem! I made 'em my self!"

"No, thank you, GIR. Maybe later." He turned right back around and went back into the living room.

Dib was sitting on the couch. He had just flipped his phone closed when Zim came in. "Gaz just said 'whatever.' She wouldn't care where I was staying even if it was at the principle's house." He sighed and gave the Irken a tired smile. "Yeah, I think it's time to lay down."

Zim stepped over to the wall he had messed with the other day. Out popped the control panel and the sofa turned once again into an elevator. The Irken quickly sat down on the arm of the sofa and gazed at the wall as they slowly descended to Zim's room. The silence was intolerable, but the Irken put up with it simply because it was unbreakable. Just the awkwardness was enough to put him on edge. Finally, the doors opened, releasing him from his torment and he hopped nimbly off, landing softly nearby. "Is there anything you need?" he asked, not looking at him. "PJs, blanket, teddy bear, glass of milk?" He glanced at him now.

"You're not staying?" Dib asked, a little surprised.

"I wasn't planning on it," the Irken admitted, "but if you want me to; I guess I have no choice."

Dib averted his eyes. "No, no it's up to you."

Zim shrugged his shoulders. "I'll take that as a 'Dib wants me to stay.'" There was a warm smile on his face. "However, if you need anything, just ask."

"No, I can just sleep in my boxers." He sat on the edge of the bed and started to take off his boots.

Zim flushed. Just his boxers? Oh dear sweet mother of Irk! He couldn't handle it – could he handle it? His spooch did back flips as the warm feeling came back to haunt his abdomen. He'd have to handle it. He didn't think he could leave Dib alone like this in his base. He flopped down on the edge of the bed, pulling a blanket towards him. Fingering the fluffy fabric, he contemplated what his mind had gotten into. His better sense was laughing at him now. It hadn't died – it simply had radiation poisoning. Damn.

He felt the bed sink next to him as Dib sat down. At least the boy had the decency to leave his shirt on. But his legs were enticing. Dib rarely wore shorts and when he did it was only on days that were really hot. Therefore, he had ghost white legs. They were sexy in a way. They were quite exotic for the Irken who was so used to the solidarity of the green skin of the Irken race. A hand slowly reached out to touch his leg, but a hand intercepted and a pouting Irken looked up into the sultry eyes of the human.

A/N: Yeah... The Rated M stuff is coming... Soon... You shall see why it's rated thusly!! grins And thanks for all the reviews. Zimmly, there are some more amazing lines for you in this. ENJOYYY!!