Leading his companion out of the medical room and down the hall, the other Irkens gave them the expected stares. Zim ignored them, however, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "We have rest rooms, where we Irkens can charge. There are beds, but not as you know them. We don't require sleep, as you know. But I'm sure you won't have a problem falling asleep, anyway." He had managed to sleep in the voot, after all.
They came to a narrow hallway, doors side-by-side on either wall. Most of which were open, but there were a few that had slid shut, a small red light flickering on and off. "These ones are occupied," Zim explained, pointing to one of the closed doors. "Irkens are in there, resting, obviously. What that entails is their own business." Pulling him along, his grip never loosening on Dib's sleeve, Zim lead him to an open room. "This will do."
The door slid shut behind them with a mechanical whir, followed by an audible click.
"Wow." Dib replied, glancing around the simple room. "This is boring." Although, that pad did look decently comfortable right about now. Stifling a yawn, he took off his boots for what felt like the first time in weeks, realizing the floor was cold and metal. A shiver ran down his spine and Dib nearly hopped onto the little bed thingy, crossing his legs and glancing around.
It really was simple; the walls were a dark purple, the lighting low. The only thing in the room was the 'bed'. The pad was firm but, soft enough to cushion a PAK. Dib felt his lids already growing heavy but, they really had stuff to talk about didn't' they?
"So…what's the plan for tomorrow?" When are we getting married and how? Will that ever stop being weird to think? Can we save my freaking planet? Are you okay? What are these Tallest like? What is the rest of this ship like? When will we kiss again?
The cold metal floor on Zim's poor foot, bare from having his wound cleaned up, made the Irken jump a bit. Limping over to the mat awkwardly, he eased himself into a sitting position next to Dib.
"Tomorrow," Zim repeated, his antennae perking up in thought. He ran a claw over his lip as he thought for a moment. "Tomorrow we meet with the Tallest. We give them your case, and hopefully they will be in a merciful mood. Which I doubt, but they can't really say no to Zim, you see." The small invader boasted, his chest puffing out in pride. "The Tallest and I go way back."
Yes, they had trained together, and Zim had it in his head that they were actually very good friends. They respected and trusted each other, but that wouldn't stop Zim from leaving them in the dust if it meant his own success. Irkens were wired to have the whole race in heart, but that only seemed to slow Zim down, so it wasn't hard for him to cast his people aside if it meant his own success. And in retrospect, how would that be a bad thing? Zim could bring the Irken race to glory, easily. That's why his leaders trusted him with such an important mission, after all.
"Don't worry your big head over it, Dib-pet." Zim shrugged. "Zim's got this all under control."
The teen nodded slowly for a few seconds before he stopped with a flat expression. "Did you just call me your pet? You better not have or I'll squish you." Dib replied, pointing in the Irken's direction, thinking that it probably wasn't a good idea to just let the alien handle this. But, he was so tired he was willing to give it a shot. But, he would follow it up. Just to be safe.
Dib didn't know if he should be impressed about the fact that Zim knew the Tallest closely or not but, he decided that he didn't care enough to really put much thought into it and flopped down, wincing because it wasn't that soft.
"It was supposed to be one of those endearment thingies." Zim explained, waving a hand through the air. "You humans are partial to them, as I so skillfully observed."
It seemed that every human on those filthy streets was referring to something or someone as 'cutie', or 'honey', or something just as disgustingly fluffy. It was hard to miss, but Zim was a master at blending in, so he would have caught it either way, of course.
Zim's shoulders sagged a bit as he watched the human. The orbs in his eyes danced as they flitted over Dib's person. He was drained, and it was easy to see. The image of Dib when they first met—tall, clean, pure—compared to what he saw in front of him was like peering through to another dimension. His hair askew is every which way, his clothing mangled and dirty, the stiffness in his movements that came with being cramped in the Voot for so long.
Zim could only imagine what horrors veiled his own image at the moment. "I suppose that's something you'd expect from Zim, if we are to be married."
The human's body stiffened at the word 'marriage'. It was never far from his mind, always kind of rooted while still floating. Like a water flower in his brain, clouded in the rest of the mucky waters. Dib forced himself to relax. "Well…you don't need to call me…any sort of endearment. That's usually for people who feel a large amount of…adoration for the person who they're saying it to. That's why it's an 'endearment'."
Dib reached up and removed his glasses, leaning over Zim and putting them on the floor. "Don't step on these." Before lying back down. "I don't really expect anything from you besides my planet safe and you know, me not being dead by the end of this." Sighing, his lids fluttered shut. Sleep beckoned even though his mind poked at him to figure out all his problems now.
"Well, one less thing for Zim to worry about, then." Zim shrugged, lying down tentatively next to Dib. His leg throbbed, but it wasn't as bad as it was in the Voot. At least the scent of blood was mostly gone, the only exception being Dib's clothing.
Knowing what Dib expected from all this wasn't exactly what Zim was worried about, considering in the end it didn't matter. At least, in Zim's grand plan, it didn't.
"And besides, Zim went through all this trouble to get you here; having you die on me would be all too frustrating. More frustrating than it is to have you around, at least." Zim smirked, his first smile in what felt like weeks.
Dib squinted at the inside of his eyelids, as he fought back his own tentative smirk. "Oh well, thanks. It's good to know you like having me around." He shuffled around a little bit as he felt the alien lay down next to him, soft tendrils of heat radiating off of him, making Dib shiver as he realizing how cold this place actually was. Maybe, he shouldn't have taken off his shirt.
Sighing in the darkness, Dib flopped his hand down against the pad, feeling his skin brush against Zim's hand too. Instinctively, he wanted to jerk his hand away but, forced himself to keep it there. "You know you're not that annoying either. I actually liked traveling with you…besides the whole bleeding part."
Peering down at their hands then up again, Zim kept his head still as his eyes darted around the room, thinking about how warm Dib was and how cold it was in the room. Although it was something that Irkens were usually acclimated to, he HAD spent quite a long time on Earth. It was going to take some time to get used to the hustle and bustle of everyday life on the Massive.
"Yeah well, I am pretty great. You are lucky to travel with one such as Zim." He boasted, his eyelids falling a bit as he allowed himself to scoot half an inch closer to the body he shared his mat with. "And…admittedly, you didn't handle the blood thing too awfully." He offered a small compliment. All he was willing to give, at the moment. More than usual, however.
Dib nibbled at the inside of his lip, feeling as the irken scooted a tad bit closer and debated against doing the same before giving up because Zim was so warm and the air was so cold and little delicious tingles kept running up and down his skin where they touched. Their arms made contact and Dib slid his pinkie finger along the alien's smallest finger. "Well, you know, I do my best to handle gory situations with cool calm and uh…precise action…"
Zim, though cautious, allowed the prodding finger to slide over his own, and made a conscious effort to move his hand as slowly as possible across Dib's. He wanted to be able to jerk back at any moment.
"Dib-worm, you are but a smeet. How many gory situations could you have been caught in?" The Irken asked, skeptical. Though, given the conditions Earth was in, would Zim really be surprised if the number of bloody encounters was above none at all?
"I…" The words caught in Dib's throat, memories of said gory situations, blood of every color and different beings, bodies big and small under clean white sheets, slowly soaking, dripping to the floor…collecting in the drainage system while the scientists told stories, jokes, laughing while he had his hands pressed against the glass, wondering if it felt pain when they cut through its flesh. The nausea, the curiosity and the silence besides his own breathing, fogging the glass.
"I've seen..." Dib pulled his hand away, crossing his arms over his chest. He ignored how his voice cracked. "enough."
Zim's once mischievous smirk faded away, and his lips drew a hard line across his face as he pressed them together. Looking over Dib's face, his mouth tugged down at the corners. He frowned at the sudden withdrawal, and the look on Dib's face.
More the latter, than anything else. That look—haunted, almost—disturbed Zim. Disturbed him because it was Dib—the ever curious and annoying Dib that he had been traveling with. He was happy, and when he wasn't he was angry. That's how Zim liked it. Because he knew that he was almost always the axis of those two. This new emotion that the human was displaying was outside of Zim's control, and if Zim didn't own that emotion, then it had no business on his human's face.
"We've all seen things," Zim finally said in a low whisper. "And Zim has seen enough in this past week to last a lifetime. I'm sure the same holds true for you." He quickly tapped Dib's arm with the back of his hand, demanding that he open up for him. "And none of that matter's now, anyway. Dwelling on those things is time wasted."
Dib finally opened his eyes to look back at the irken in the dark, swallowing back the fear and the memories of those days at his father's lab. In the past. Think about now. About Zim's crazy, nebular eyes and how he was on an alien space ship in some distant galaxy. He deflated with a harsh breath, arms opening and falling back to the pad.
"Yeah, I mean…it wasn't even all that bad. Just…" Dib's brow furrowed. "I saw more than I think I should've for my age. But, it's over now. And I'm here with a crazy, amazing alien on a space ship so far away from home and from all of that, saving people and…" The pressure on his chest was lessening and the call of sleep was getting more and more tempting.
Zim's eyes searched every inch of Dib's face, making sure that every remnant of that haunted look was gone. A ghost of it still lingered, much to his dismay. But he figured it was all he could do, for the time being. The human seemed to be more damaged that he had previously thought.
Still good, though.
"Yes," Zim agreed. "You are farther than any human has ever been before. Take refuge in that." He reminded, scooting a bit closer to make up for cold that had settled between them when Dib had withdrawn. "And in Zim, if you must. Like you said; I am pretty amazing." He added with a wide grin, his cheeks pushing his smile into his eyes.
Dib suddenly wished he still had his glasses on because he had to be sure about the strange shock that shuddered down his very center at the blurry smile pointed in his direction. "That's true…further than anyone's ever been before." In response, a grin started small, mainly just instinct but, then as they grew closer it grew as well, showing his teeth, eyes squinting.
"Yes. Amazing and utterly modest too." Take refuge in Zim? There had been crazier ideas. None that Dib could think of at the moment but, it seemed pretty god damn insane not to shuffle closer until their bodies nearly touched, heat cycling between them.
"Yes, yes, these things I already know." Zim waved a hand a bit, letting it land on Dib's arm when it came down. It was good to see Dib smile, and earnestly, at that. It was strange how much that effected Zim, and he didn't even want to acknowledge it.
"You aren't so bad yourself," Zim murmured after a bit of a pause. "For a human."
Dib debated between being offended and being overly flattered and decided that for right now he would be the latter. His eyelids fell shut again. Maybe now he could get some sleep. "Well, thanks…you're not so bad…for an alien." Yawn. One that almost hurt his jaw, a tiny stream of tears running down his face at the force of it. Man it felt great to stretch out again.
Dib sighed, feeling the Irken close. Feeling the steady hum of the Massive's engines, under Zim's breathing. It was a lullaby now, having become the beat for rambling conversations, a steady heart beat and companionable silence. Everything tasted like space. Everything was decently warm and Dib was out in a matter of seconds, very at ease with the irken before him.
Sleep didn't come easily for Zim, not that it ever had before these recent turn of events. In the Voot cruiser, they had drifted in and out of conversations ,not being able to tell how long they were asleep if it weren't for the internal clock in Zim's PAK. But now they were on the Massive, and everything was starting to sink in. They were going to face the Tallest, and Zim would have to make a choice.
Granted, he had never planned on helping Dib, not really. Now that he was off his planet, Earth was missing a vital key in its defense system; Membrane was nearing the end of his prime, and there was no longer an heir to fill in his place. The massive could swoop in at any time and take them completely off guard and they wouldn't be able to do a single thing about it.
Looking at the human sleeping before him, he wondered what he would do when he found out. When he found out that Zim had been lying to him. He had reacted so poorly when he found out that Zim was an Invader; and this was much bigger on the grand scale of Earth's safety. But was Dib really in a position to act out? He was in Zim's territory, no box cages to protect him this time.
And Zim was nervous. It was so dumb, because the human had agreed to come with Zim, and it was all Dib's fault that this was happening. So why did Zim feel his gut turn at the thought of confronting him tomorrow? Dib was so at peace in this moment, and Zim was usually pretty eager to burst those happy little bubbles people found themselves in, but thinking about it now made the palms of his hands clammy.
Dib was such an idiot, and Zim felt like one for being so wrapped up in…whatever this was.