"A little to the left," Gaz instructed. "Now a little lower. No, almost there." She hissed in pain before relaxing against the mattress once more. "Right there. Yes."
Zim sighed, a sign of his annoyance, as his clawed hands prodded her spine. "This is ridiculous. I don't see why you couldn't find someone else to do this…massage…thing," he complained. "You are not utilizing me properly! I thought I would be killing people or making girls cry or something. But not this!"
Gaz released a sigh of her own, one of utter tranquility, as she rested her cheek on her pillow. "Shut up, Zim," she murmured. This really was delightful. A pity she had only thought to use Zim in this way now. There was only one day left to his 'enslavement'. Oh well. All good things must come to an end, she supposed. Most, at least. Dib glared over at the alien as the ladder he stood upon wobbled precariously.
"Don't even think of complaining, you despicable alien! At least you're not risking a broken neck to dust some stupid shelves!" her brother griped. He was forced to brace himself against the wall as a sneeze erupted from his head. "I don't know when the last time you cleaned up here was, but it's been way too long."
"Yes, but I'm far too lazy to clean it on my own," she replied. "Now would you mind getting me some lemonade and a slice of pizza? I can't be bothered to move from this spot, and Zim simply can't be spared."
Dib opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. He left without a word, a sullen shadow seeming to hover about him.
"It really does feel wonderful," she mumbled to herself as his fingers worked into her tense flesh. "I've been so stressed out."
She was nearly half-asleep. Zim shifted on the pillow that cushioned his knees. "I'm glad this is making you happy, though I don't understand why you would be stressed out. You haven't done anything productive in four days!"
"I hate having to repeat myself, so I'll only say it once more. Shut up. Please."
"How else am I going to keep my mouth occupied if I can't talk?" he demanded. He smirked as a shudder coursed its way through her body. She raised her head to glare at him.
"I have no problem with sewing it shut, you know. With a hat pin." Ah, she was so cute when she was angry. "And what is taking him so long with my nutrients? Meh, what a slacker."
Zim brushed his lips against the bared skin at the back of her neck, leaving a soft, open-mouthed kiss in his wake. She shuddered again, this time for a different reason. "He's probably heating up the pizza. We do not particularly enjoy invoking your wrath any more than necessary. He doesn't, at least."
"And you?"
"It is an amusing task, at times." At her reproachful look he added, "It is not my fault that I find it funny when you get riled up."
"You bite. Stupid alien."
Zim nipped at her shoulder, never pausing in the massage. "No, I only nibble. Unless specifically instructed or asked to do otherwise."
Dib returned with the snack and plunked it down unceremoniously beside his sister's head. "Here you go, your royal pain in the ass," he sneered.
"Why, thank you," she replied as she sat up and adjusted her tank top. "You can finish with the dusting now."
She got bored with bossing them around an hour later and sent them off to do whatever it was they did. Zim stayed in her room, reading a gruesome comic book collection she had in her possession. He was oblivious to the outside world for the time being. She sighed and looked to her math book once again.
The massage had certainly helped her to loosen up, but she still dreaded the prospect of doing math. The newest assignment had something to do with backward 'E's with little 'n ' signs balanced atop them. This sucked so much.
But she had to study. The last test before finals was coming up. Normally she wouldn't have cared, but everyone that passed this test and had an average class grade of 89 or higher was excused from taking the final. There was no way she would let that opportunity slip through her fingers.
Twenty minutes expired and she found herself staring at the same problem. "Hey, Zim." There was no answer so she threw a plastic vampire figurine at his unsuspecting head. "Hey, stupid alien boy."
"What do you want, you irritating female?" he demanded with a scowl. "I am about to find out how the maniac kills everyone in the taco service building."
"You've taken this math before, right?" He nodded. "Get over here and help me with this."
"I'm busy, if you hadn't noticed."
Typical. She repressed an irritated sigh. "Please." She grit her teeth as the word came out, unfamiliar on her tongue. He took his sweet time deciding if he would help her or not, noticing with delight that her hands had clenched themselves into tiny fists.
"Very well," he said after a few minutes.
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You sound very smug for someone that is this close to becoming decapitated," she said, holding her fingers two inches apart.
"Ah. I am. If you decapitate me, you will never receive the help you need with that ridiculously easy assignment. Also I am graduating in two weeks, or had you forgotten?"
"Oh. Yeah. It's not like it matters to me," she replied. It was the truth. About as truthful as the existence of flying purple pig monkeys. She was hopeless. He sent her an odd look, but explained the solution to the equation as efficiently as he could before going back to the comic books.
What was the matter with them? She frowned in contemplation of the sudden question. But it made sense. They were acting weird around one another. It felt so unnatural. It made her want to scream. Which it did. Well…yelling was more like it.
"Why are we doing this?" She was caught off-guard by her outburst. Zim looked up from the black-and-white drawings, startled.
"What?"
"What the hell is wrong with us? Why are we acting so weird? Am I the only one that feels like this? Nothing is right anymore. And it hasn't been since we had that talk about your emotions," she accused everyone and no one.
Zim tilted his head to one side. "Yes. Things have been different. But Zim is unsure of what you want done about it."
She bit her lip in vexation. "I don't know. I want things to be like they used to. I think I need a cigarette."
"But you quit."
"I don't care." She headed outside to the back deck, Zim trailing behind her as he adjusted his disguise. She used the lighter he had given her and he smiled at seeing it in action once again. "I'm edgy and nervous and I don't know why. And I hate it."
"Hm." Zim sat beside her, watching a dragonfly buzz aimlessly about their heads. "Should we call this operation quits early?"
"No!" She exhaled with a shaky breath. "We've come this far, might as well go for the gold. Those punks at school deserve what we're doing." Her eyes narrowed at the thought of her schoolmates. Oh how she despised them.
Zim shrugged. "I think you might be overanalyzing things."
"Me? Overanalyze? Never." Her tone lacked sarcasm.
The alien studied her as she looked anywhere but him. "Perhaps…you are beginning to feel as well." He glanced to his right, gauging her reaction. So far it was neutral. "You have more experience than I do, so maybe the better word would be 'relearning'."
"It's always a possibility," she muttered. She tensed as his hand grasped her wrist, but she relaxed soon enough. "I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"You."
