A note: I didn't mean to make the last chapter a cliffhanger. I swear.
He fidgeted, a telltale sign that he was waiting for the possibly inevitable narcotization to kick in. Gaz had yet to extract her revenge, but Zim seemed to be doing an adequate enough job of imagining any and all horror the waif of a girl could execute upon the 'poor' alien. Such thoughts were reducing him to nothing more than a quivering heap of nerves.
Gaz watched him attempt to hold still from the corner of her eye, fighting with a renegade strand of mozzarella that didn't seem to want to leave its comrades. She had been contemplating what to do with him as she waited for the pizza to arrive, but the torture he was inflicting upon himself served her purpose far better than any punishment she could concoct.
It was amusing, to say the least.
He caught her staring, emitted a threatening growl. She raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay?"
"You're planning something." Nothing more, nothing less.
Gaz bit her lip to contain the grin pleading to stretch her mouth. "Perhaps. Why?"
"Because you're evil."
"Ah." She shrugged, sipping on her soda. She couldn't help herself. A smirk escaped of its own free will. "Fair enough. You're quite egotistical. Did you stop to consider the fact that my plans might not have anything to do with you?"
His lip curled back in a snarl. "Don't play mind games with me."
"Rage. Indignation. Doubt." She tilted her head to the right several degrees. "Good choices. Very appropriate for the moment, if I do say." She feigned a sneeze, a good cover for a choked back giggle. "You're getting the hang of the 'when should I feel this emotion' thing."
Stupid human. He crossed his arms and leaned back. "I can be patient. I don't know what you're going to do to me, but I'll be prepared for it," he announced.
"You're paranoid Zim." It was almost cute. Too funny. "Thank you for the pizza, by the way."
This was maddening. What was this hell-spawn of a child doing?
"You are infuriating!" he shouted. "I'm leaving." His attempt to reach the door was thwarted by Gaz's arms latching around his waist.
"What you have failed to realize is that you have punished yourself more deliciously than I could have hoped; at least without me having to burn energy doing so."
His struggling ceased in an instant. "You used me!"
"I guess you could say that, though you seemed willing to do so. After all, those were your thoughts you were thinking. Not mine. It was most entertaining, Zim." The evil girl released him. "Oh, and before you go, you may want to don that costume of yours." She refrained from teasing him; testing his limits right now probably wouldn't be the best thing to do.
He glared once again. She countered with as sweet a smile she could muster.
"Embarrassment. Now that one is a killer. A real bruise to the ego, isn't it?" She received no response as he reluctantly adjusted his wig. "Don't be mad at me. You brought it upon yourself. I told you that you'd pay."
"I admit that both of those statements are true, but I never thought I would be the one torturing myself," he grumbled. She nodded in understanding and he took his leave.
---
Gaz slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Gir, you aren't supposed to eat the checker pieces. Why don't you eat your six-dollar burger instead?"
"I have checker munchies!" it shouted and threw the burger at her. She caught it, holding it well away from her clothing. The thing was dripping with grease, ketchup and mayonnaise.
"So why did you want me to buy this then?"
Gir tilted its head to the side and shrugged. "Ionno," it replied around a mouthful of plastic. The girl sighed and took a bite. No use wasting it since it had been her money spent.
"Where's Zim at?" She had yet to see the alien come to interrupt her fun. It was slightly disappointing. Odd, but she almost missed him.
"Practicin'."
"Practicing what exactly?"
"Feeling, I think." Gir laughed its silly little laugh as she attempted to not choke on her food. "Master told me that he wants to feel so you'll be proud of him."
"Can you take me to him?" Gaz asked and allowed the robot to take her hand and lead her to a room upstairs. She had never been on this floor before.
"He's in dere." Gir pointed.
"What is this place?"
"His room!" The door was slightly ajar so she looked in. She cleared her throat to refrain from making her mental comments verbal and knocked loudly.
"Eh? Who dares destroy Zim's peace and quiet?" Zim shouted as he swung the door open. "Oh. It's you." He watched her as she shifted her weight back and forth.
"Can I…come in, maybe?" she finally asked when it became apparent that he was not going to invite her without a little push.
"I suppose. What brings you here?" he asked. He resumed his place in front of the full-length mirror and continued to make faces at his reflection.
"Um, I was just wondering how you were doing is all." She shook her head, trying to concentrate. Watching Zim contort his face into so many weird expressions was a bit…distracting. "What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Working on my emotions."
"By making stupid faces at yourself?"
"Don't be silly, my favorite worm baby. I am focusing on each individual emotion that I am capable of feeling and allowing my face to make the corresponding expression. This mirror is recording it all so that I can use it as a reference for later," Zim explained.
"I see." She sat on the platform bed and folded one leg across the other, sitting in a mock-Lotus position, wondering vaguely if he used the bed or if it was just a prop. "Is it helping you at all?"
"Somewhat." He paced before her, agitated. "These…emotions…are more trouble than they are worth. There are so many! It's hard enough trying to list all of the basic ones, but then you have the combined emotions and the unbelievably similar ones and gah! How do you humans handle it all?"
Gaz shrugged. "Everyone reacts in their own way. I think it's kind of like we have defense mechanisms." She eyed him, assessing him. "Yours seems to be centered on loudness and trying to prove to everyone that you're either better than they are or at the very least that you're normal. Maybe that's just me though."
"Hm. You may be right about the loudness. But I have no need to prove my worth and normality when it is obvious to all who set eyes upon Zim that I am truly a marvelous specimen!"
"Yeah, and if half of them knew what you were they would be willing to kill to get you in an observation tank. And I mean 'kill' quite literally." She patted the space beside her. "What emotions have you discovered today?"
He stretched out next to her and frowned. "Glee, guilty pleasure, and pity. Pity is weird. It's akin to sympathy, but it's a bit more condescending. But it was aimed at Gir, so I guess it's okay."
Gaz narrowed her eyes suspiciously when he mentioned 'guilty pleasure,' but ignored it for now in favor of his pity. "Why would you pity Gir? It's so clueless and…happy."
"He's stupid. Plain and simple. I think that I shall begin pitying all creatures below my intelligence level, which will be most of the creatures on this planet, of course; though I think I will only want to destroy bugs and humans."
"He's not all that stupid," Gaz argued. "He knows when you're being mean to him. He recognizes how people are feeling. Gir is more like a small child than being stupid. And when did we start referring to Gir as a 'he'?" she demanded.
"Oh, that. I decided that he's a boy a few days ago. He certainly doesn't act like a girl, and I've had him dress up as my little brother before. It would be most disturbing if I considered my little brother to be a girl, wouldn't it?"
He had a point.
"Fair enough." She smirked as he rested his head in her lap. "So what did you mean by 'guilty pleasures?'"
"I was wondering when your curiosity would get the better of you," he teased.
She tweaked an antenna playfully. "Tell me already."
"Thinking of you. It's either becoming a really addictive hobby or one of the most satisfactory annoyances ever." He wrapped an arm around her waist.
Gaz was startled into sincerity. "Really?"
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it," he replied. He purred as her nimble fingers trailed their way down his skull to the collar of his shirt and back again repeatedly.
She placed a kiss upon his brow. "You can be sweet sometimes."
Zim laughed. "I'm the best."
She frowned. "When your mouth doesn't get in the way, that is."
"Ah, there we go. I was wondering when your attitude would return from dormancy."
"How cute. An Irken with a sense of humor."
"I see the sarcasm has decided to follow suit. Oh well." He shifted slightly, allowing his clawed fingers to trace idle patterns on her back. "This is nice."
"Yeah." She stretched her arms, grinning when she heard her shoulders pop. Zim winced.
"That's disgusting!"
She snickered. "I do it just for you, Zim." She nudged him. "Now sit up. I want to lean on something too." He scooted away several inches and rested his head on his arm. She stretched out on her side, facing him, and went back to trailing lazy fingers along his green arms. He rested a hand on her waist, poking every so often to elicit failed giggles from her.
Yes, this was nice.
She was beginning to forget that it was supposed to be one big game of Pretend.
"Only a few more weeks and I'll be free of that horrid skool," Zim stated casually.
She nodded. "You and Dib are lucky. I still have to endure one more year."
"One year is nothing. You'll be free soon enough. Speaking of which, we won't have to pretend at skool anymore. I'm sure that will be a relief for you, eh?" Her fingers stopped in their teasing dance for a brief second before resuming again.
Gaz became fascinated with the pattern on the comforter. "Oh, that." She failed to keep the slight disappointment out of her tone.
"Well, if you do not wish to end it once skool is out…"
"No!" She winced, saying the word with a bit more force than she had wanted. "No," she repeated, more gentle this time around. "I wouldn't want to make you have to endure this for longer than you have to." Inwardly she cursed herself. When had she become so attached?
Pathetic.
Zim shrugged, pulling her closer. He rested his cheek against hers as he hugged her. "We can cross that bridge when we come to it then." He felt her nod beneath him and he stroked her hair. "How is the Dib-monster anyway?"
Gaz chuckled, a darkly cute sound. "He read your genius poem to Lisa. She didn't take it well. He has a black eye and every visible inch of his skin is pretty much discolored. Turns out she actually liked the weirdo. I'm hoping she doesn't become one of those creepy stalker girls."
Zim snorted in disgust. "Me too."
Gaz snuggled closer, treasuring this moment. Who knew how many more would be created?
"Narcotization" is a real word, which, in Chuck Palahniuk's world is basically "When the problem looks too big, when we're shown too much reality, we tend to shut down. We become resigned." (Excerpt taken from his book Stranger Than Fiction, please don't sue me!) In case anyone was wondering about the meaning.
