"...and then you screamed at the waitress! I mean, yeah she was pretty scary to look at, but she wasn't that bad! You had the entire cafe staring at us!"
Listening to the worm baby complain about his conduct at the cafe annoyed Zim. That awful pig waitress had been an abomination- he couldn't help screaming when it had leaned over and asked what he'd like to drink.
"Regardless, Dib worm. That..."woman" clearly wanted to eat us." Zim shot back. The two of them were walking together back to the beach, Dib's sandals slapping against the hot asphalt and Zim's claws clicking with each step. Dib had acquired a "friz b" from the camp supply shed, and he seemed excited to use it. He'd said something about it flying really far if thrown right- it seemed idiotic to Zim that someone would throw a disc shaped object for fun. Noting the pinkish tint to his companion's skin, he remembered Dib had also found a spare bottle of sun screen. That was fortunate for him, because they hadn't even been out in the sun for half of the day and the human was already burning.
"Foolish humans. Damaged by their own sun." Zim thought mockingly. The two of them eventually reached the beach again, insult fight dying off as the two of them looked at the now more populated beach. It seemed the lazier students had finally decided to get up and head outside, and the chaperones had joined the mob as well. Dib's umbrella laid untouched a couple lengths away from the majority of their class, but Zim didn't mind- the farther away he was from their stink beast classmates, the better.
Also miraculously, their tower of Doom still stood tall and proud even as the tide crept ever closer. It would be felled within the hour, but Zim didn't mind that either. The tower was meant to be temporary. Its entire creation had centered around just killing time anyway. Hadn't it? "The human and I didn't fight at all during the construction of that stupid thing. We- dare I say it- ugh, worked together. Why? We always fight." Zim wasn't left to ponder for long as a shining red object flew towards him out of the corner of his eye.
Reaching up automatically, Zim snagged it out of the air. It was that friz b of Dib's- and judging by how far away he was, it did indeed fly quite well for such an unconventionally shaped object. Zim looked at it stupidly for a few moments and then back up at Dib. He had caught it, so now what? Hadn't its purpose been fulfilled, however moronic that purpose was?
"Throw it back, Zim! You have to throw it sideways though or it won't get very far!" Dib yelled, making an odd motion with his arm. Zim watched the Dib fool for a moment, and copied the strange pose. How the aerodynamics worked with this disc clicked as Zim extended his arm back and forth experimentally, understanding how the air would keep it aloft. Drawing it back and slinging it out, he watched as it sailed over Dib and the human chased after it, jumping up to catch it before it flew beyond his grasp. Immediately Dib tossed it back, and Zim had to jog forward a few paces to snatch it out of its wobbly path through the air.
A smile crept across his face. So this was the friz b's purpose; a game.
The two tossed it back and forth for a while, but when the wind picked up and it became difficult to make straight throws, they abandoned the endeavor and met up at the umbrella.
"Wanna go back in the water?" Dib asked hopefully, looking tired from the exercise.
Zim considered it a moment. He knew how to swim now and his paste wouldn't have worn off, so why not? He felt like being alone for a while and thinking, that was why.
"No, Dib. You go; I'll get in in a little bit." Zim responded, and Dib looked a little crestfallen as he said "Oh, okay. See you later." and walked down to the water.
Zim reclined in the sand under the umbrella in the shade. Gulls wheeled slowly overhead, crying out every so often, and Zim's gaze followed their paths contently. Why was he still with this stink beast? He should have tried to destroy his filthy gigantic head the moment he stepped out the doors of their shared house and their truce was void. So why hadn't he? As much as it burned the Irken to admit it to himself, Dib really wasn't the foe he used to be. In fact, Zim saw in Dib's mannerisms a similarity between other humans and their friends. Was Dib seriously beginning to consider his old enemy his new friend?
Zim dragged his hands through the warm sand, breathing in the salty air and exhaling deeply. They really did have a lot in common, now that Zim thought about it. And was that so terrible? Invaders needed no one. But, for once, perhaps it would be nice to have someone.
"Hey Zim, are you coming in or what?" Dib's impatient yell caused Zim to pick his head up and observe the human bobbing in the water and waving. Zim smiled as he grabbed his goggles and stood up. He'd only been laying under the umbrella for all of five minutes, the impatient little smell beast! Shrugging, he pulled his goggles on. It felt nice to have someone actually wanting you around.
"You're more red than an angry Sploodenian, human." Zim ginned wickedly as he looked at his crispy friend. Yes, the term friend had begun to seem acceptable to him now. Amusing that the very notion would have had him vomiting a mere week ago- incredible, the changes being forced to live in a small space with someone for a few days could make.
"Shut up. I think you got too much sun too- you're darker green than you normally are. If it starts to hurt later, that means you're just as sunburnt as me. And you DIDN'T put on sunscreen- at least I did." Dib retorted, crossing his arms with a huff. They had merely swam the rest of the day away, talking and sharing company like any normal pair of friends would, and now the sky was quickly darkening. A counselor had come onto the beach with a megaphone at one point and announced a bonfire and games in the clearing behind lodge A-3, and Zim and Dib had merely shared a glance to determine whether to go or not- and the answer was unanimously "Sure, why not."
So now the two of them were in their room, Dib taking a quick shower in the bathroom while Zim perched on his bed trying to unfuse his head from his wig. Gritting his teeth, he pulled and cursed when it unstuck a little more. It was almost off by now, but his antennae were still stuck to the inside of it. Gingerly reaching up, he carefully pulled the wig off slowly, hissing as his antennae were finally freed. His idea for keeping his wig on in the ocean might have been painful, but it had worked marvelously for how impromptu the solution had been. Rubbing the abused black stalks soothingly, he thanked the humans' express shipping service in anticipation of the package he expected by tomorrow.
Dib had finally finished in the bathroom, and he stepped out in his normal attire albeit without his trench coat and with dripping, half-assedly dried hair.
Catching sight of the alien without his fake hair piece on, Dib did a double take before saying "Its weird seeing you without your wig but still wearing your contacts." Zim merely blinked at him, replying "And it is strange seeing you the color of a lobster." Dib rolled his eyes, and walked over to his bed and pulled out his laptop. "Go and at least rinse off. You don't want to go to sleep later all sticky with dried salt- that's yucky." he advised, squinting at the light coming from the screen.
Zim grunted in annoyance, but stood up and popped out his contacts and put them on his nightstand with the accursed wig, and pulled out a clean uniform and trudged to the bathroom. Shutting the door and tossing his clothes on the counter he showered quickly, noticing that the Dib creature was right- the gritty feel of the dried salt was gone. Stepping out of the shower after drip drying a moment, he pulled on his invader uniform. Wearing the light swim trunks for the entire day had gotten Zim used to the odd and airy way they felt, and his uniform felt uncomfortably warm by comparison.
Tossing the trunks over the rack in the front of the shower to dry with Dib's, he left the bathroom and sighed at the cooler, less humid air of the double bedroom.
"You're seriously wearing that?" Dib asked, looking Zim up and down.
"Yes?" The Irken responded, unsure of what Dib meant by that statement.
"It's hot out though. Why would you wear that in this weather? Even I'm not wearing my trench coat." Dib elaborated, gesturing at the long sleeves and collar of the uniform.
"This is all I packed, Dib smell. It is the standard issue Irken uniform." Zim answered, rubbing at his slightly irritated eyes. He looked up when Dib sighed and shook his head and began rifling through his bag.
"Here, take this spare shirt I brought. Its red, and way lighter than that thing you've got on." Dib said, throwing the shirt at Zim. It landed on the Irken's face, and he scrabbled at it to get it off. Holding it out and inspecting it, Zim eventually nodded.
"I suppose this will do for now. Thank you, Dib friend." Zim said, marching into the bathroom to put the plain red t-shirt on in place of his usual uniform top.
"Dib...friend?" He heard the human ask himself through the door as he tugged the shirt over his head. A couple seconds later Zim heard him add "Well... I guess he's right." and the Irken smiled. Stepping out of the bathroom once again, Zim watched Dib look up from his typing and nod briefly at the Irken's change in clothing before going back to tapping the keys. Zim noted the ever darkening sky, and headed over to his nightstand and picked up his wig. It was frayed looking from the saltwater, but had somehow retained most of its shape. Oh well, he'd only have to put up with it for a little longer. At least it wouldn't be glued to his cranium this time.
Clicking his claws on the floor impatiently at the Dib, the repetitive tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap drew the human's attention. Dib looked up, and seeing the alien's twitching antennae and clearly irritated countenance, he clicked a few buttons frantically and shut the computer's lid.
"I was only emailing Gaz, geez Zim." Dib said hastily, tucking the laptop under his bed and stepping towards the door.
"The human with her hands growing into her game system has email...?" Zim asked in disbelief, putting the wig on his head and popping his contacts in regretfully as he followed Dib out into the living room, feeling the eyes of the creepy fish painting following him the whole way.
"Well, she doesn't check it every single day, but yeah. She knows how to work a computer- I'm her brother after all." Dib answered, stepping outside into the mild night air and picking his way carefully down the steps this time. The two of them walked down the rows of beach houses, and once they reached A-3, turned and followed the dirt path towards the glow of the bonfire.
"Human, what does one do at a bonfire?" Zim asked before they were about to leave the path and break through the treeline to join the group.
"You'll see. Come on." Dib replied enigmatically, seeming excited as they finally saw the stack of logs aflame and their classmates talking and roasting marshmallows around it.
An almost empty log sat near the back of the fire, only occupied by Gretchen and that one pale screaming kid. Gretchen seemed happy enough, and even the screaming child held a quivering stick with an odd white object at the end of it into the fire.
"Hey, do you guys mind if we sit-"
"WAAHAAAAAAAA!" Dib's question was interrupted by a shrill scream as the child dropped his stick into the fire and took off running into the woods. The sound of snarls echoed from the darkness, and Dib and Zim shared a fearful look- the raccoons.
"Sure, you can thit here. Fish boy is thtill thwimming. He took to the water pretty fast- I haven't theen him since." Gretchen said in her awkward voice, garbled by her braces.
"Where did everybody get all the stuff to make smores with?" Dib asked, waving Zim off when the Irken began to ask what smores were.
"Over there. The counthelors and chaperones are pathing them out." Gretchen lisped, pointing to where a couple of kids accepted a bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and a huge chocolate bar from a grinning lady.
"Thanks." Dib said, tugging Zim with him to the free food.
"Would you like a yummy chocolate bar, little boys?" The same chaperone that had forcibly picked up and moved Zim when they'd first arrived leaned forward happily, chocolate bar in her open hand.
"Yes please." Dib said politely, snickering to himself when Zim stood behind him to avoid being seen by the hated lady. Taking the candy, Dib moved down the line and received graham crackers and marshmallows as well. He heard Zim snort at the thank you's he gave each person and elbowed the alien, satisfied at hearing the "whush" of breath when he hit home. Walking back to the log with Zim following slightly bent over and holding his middle, he sat down and ripped open the bag of marshmallows and crackers. Passing the chocolate bar to Zim to peel open, he searched around for a good stick to spear one of the giant fluffy marshmallows upon.
Finding one a few feet away, Dib leaned as far back as he could without getting up and pawed the stick closer. Making sure it wouldn't snap too easily and brushing the dirt off, he burned the tip briefly in the fire to sterilize it and poked a marshmallow on it and held the implement over the open flames. Gretchen sat at the end of the log on his right also making a smore, and Zim sat to his left, watching him intently.
"What are you doing, Dib beast?" Zim asked, looking perplexed at the fact that Dib was melting what appeared to be perfectly good Earth food on a stick scavenged off the ground.
"Making a smore." Dib said, turning the stick slowly as the marshmallow gradually became a golden brown color.
"What is-"
"Shh." Dib effectively shushed the alien, but his success only lasted an instant as Zim's surprise wore off.
"How dare you attempt to silence ZIM! Zim will talk all he wishes!" The Irken screeched defiantly. He fell silent and resorted to glaring, however, when he failed to get a rise from Dib and Gretchen gave him a bewildered look.
"Zim, get out two graham crackers and break off a small piece of that chocolate. Don't ask why- just do it." Dib said, pulling the marshmallow away from the fire and examining it.
Grumbling, Zim reached into the plastic and did as Dib asked, holding out the requested items.
"Ok, hold that graham cracker- don't drop it, Zim! Phew...- while I put the marshmallow on it." Dib directed, smushing the toasted mallow onto the cracker and stacking the chocolate square on top of that. Grabbing the other graham cracker from Zim, he pressed the multi-layered treat together.
Zim blinked a few times as the two boys stared at the creation Dib was proudly holding. "...Human? What does it do now?" He finally asked, feeling as though he was missing the significance of this odd cracker-chocolate-marshmallow hybrid.
"It gets eaten!" Dib exclaimed. "Well, in a minute or so- got to give the chocolate time to get all melty." Holding it out, he said "Here, you eat this one since you've never had a smore before. I'll make myself another one." and shoved it into Zim's hands despite the alien's protests and proceeded to toast another white fluffy goo thing in the fire.
Sighing heavily when the alien held the smore at arms length from himself, Dib stared hard at him. "Its not going to kill you. You can digest sugary junk food, can't you? You'll love it."
Zim looked past Dib to see Gretchen happily biting into her own smore, and he figured he might as well try it- if it made him sick, at least he knew Dib hadn't intended it to. Bringing the smore closer and sniffing it, his interest was piqued immediately at the wonderful scent coming from the treat. Tentatively taking a bite out of it, Dib laughed as the Irken's expression brightened immensely and he eagerly crammed the rest of it into his mouth. "Dib monfter, thif if amafing!" Zim said through the sticky sugar mess in his mouth, eyeing Dib's in-progress smore hungrily.
"Oh, no way. This one is mine- make your own, space boy." Dib caught the alien's line of sight and waved Zim away, guarding his precious mallow. Zim humphed and cast about for his own stick, finding a suitable one and stabbing a marshmallow and thrusting it into the fire. Naturally, it lit aflame instantly.
"Dib! Dib! My marshmallow is on fire!" Zim yelled, pulling the mallow out and holding it in front of his face, watching the tiny flame on it flicker in the slight breeze.
"Well duh, you just put it in fire, Zim. You're supposed to hold them just outside the fire so they do get the heat but don't...well, you know now." Dib said flatly, taking his own mallow and smashing it between chocolate and two crackers and staring at it impatiently, willing it to cool with his mind.
"You should have mentioned that first, stink meat." Zim growled, and blew out the fire on his marshmallow. It wasn't too badly burnt, all things considered, so Zim decided he'd continue toasting this one; just, not the blackened side any more. Holding it carefully near the fire, he waited until it was that nice golden color Dib's was, then took it out and assembled his first smore. Downing it instantly, he flailed his arms and made a strangled noise of pain at the heat, and Dib and Gretchen laughed as his eyes watered.
"Ok children, we're organizing a game of manhunt. If you want to play, you will be placed into teams to prevent any horrific accidents involving raccoons from occurring. Come gather over here to be placed." A counselor's wheedling voice announced over the sound of the students talking, and the spindly man stood by a tree expectantly while children dashed up to take part in the game.
Zim and Dib glared competitively at each other, smores forgotten; the challenge was on.
I was super happy with all the reviews I got for the last chapter! I'm glad people like this so much- and all you repeat reviewers make me ecstatic; I love seeing pennames I know pop up again and again :D Ironically enough, I'm going to the beach tomorrow, so I won't be writing then- but I'm awake at 4 in the morning now to give you guys this update before I go have fun in the sun. So, enjoy :)
And please review, because I love hearing from you guys. (Yes, people who fave my stories and run, I know when you do that! And I love the fact you favorited it, but I'd like to hear from you personally as well. You should think about dropping me a review one of these chapters, yeesss? c: )