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And here we go again!
So. Updates:
I know that I originally put 'no romance' in the tags (on AO3, at least), since romance isn't usually my forte (outside of a few specific kinds of stories). But. I always kinda had the idea of Zee and Ann possibly getting together, and I finally decided to do it, since this story is really supposed to be self-indulgent, and I came up with some cute ideas for them dating and stuff. Ann wasn't supposed to be very important originally, but they've really grown on me. So, there's still NOT going to be any romance between the canon characters of the show, and the romance still isn't going to be the main focus of the story, but I'm going to have some of that in there.
I also wasn't originally going to include Gir in this fic, but I have an idea of how to include him a little bit, so he might appear in at least one chapter. That idea is a bit more vague, though.
Now that that's out of the way, here's the next chapter:
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Dib was, quite frankly, really confused.
He could understand why Bee and Zee were so worried about their safety when they believed that the Tallest could have them killed at any moment. Sure, Dib knew enough about the Tallest to guess that Zim was probably right about the Tallest forgetting about them, but the two of them were apparently less convinced of that. And, well, when their lives were on the line, Dib couldn't exactly blame them for being cautious. Even if that caution resulted in more threats than anything else.
But that wasn't what had Dib confused. He understood the caution-
What he didn't understand was how quickly Zee's had seemingly dissipated.
He didn't know what led up to it, but about a week after finding out that Zee was an Irken, Dib had returned home from the store to find Zee spending time with Zim in their shared home. They were sitting in the living room, surrounded with random gears and metal bits and strange Irken items that Dib still didn't entirely understand, and they were… talking? Actually, Zee was chattering, almost seeming happy, in a way that he had never seen his quiet student behave before. Granted, he had barely seen Zee out of his human disguise, so maybe he was more expressive than Dib originally thought, but still. Zee looked almost excited (?), despite the fact that he was talking to someone who he'd recently fallen out of a window to escape from.
"Um… I'm home?" Dib announced, seeing as neither of the aliens seemed to notice him standing there.
At the sound of his voice, Zee flinched and stopped talking, pausing in the middle of a rambling sentence. He also cut off whatever gestures he was making with his hands and folded his hands in his lap.
"Hey, Dib," Zim greeted casually.
"So… What're you two up to…?" Dib probed.
"Eh, showing the kid how to build a plasma gun out of common household materials," Zim replied with a shrug. "I mean, he already has some, but you could always use more weapons. Especially plasma guns."
Dib pointedly glanced around the living room.
"... I doubt that even 10% of the things you have scattered around could actually be considered 'common household items'," he stated. "I'm also not so sure I should be encouraging you to arm a teenager. Or, further arm a teenager, apparently."
But Zim just waved him off.
"It's fine," he told him. "Him and that Bee are like, not even half as violent as I am, so he's not gonna use it without a reason. Probably."
Dib gave him a deadpan stare.
"Considering the fact that I've known you for over 12 years, them being anywhere close to 'half as violent' as you concerns me," he said.
"Paranoid."
"Back at'cha, Space Boy."
Dib noticed that Zee was looking nervous, so he decided to drop the topic.
"Right, well, I'm going to go make some coffee. Don't set anything on fire," he sighed. "Again."
"PARANOID AND BORING!" Zim shouted after him.
"Paranoid and crazy!" Dib shot back.
After that, Dib sat in the kitchen for a while, grading papers while he drank his coffee. About twenty minutes into marking his students' latest quiz, he heard the front door shut and soon after found Zim wandering into the kitchen to get a soda.
"So," Dib spoke up, looking away from the quiz he was grading. "Zee came over."
"Yup."
"... Any reason why he isn't acting like you're about to kill him?" Dib questioned.
Zim cracked open his soda, leaning against the counter before shrugging.
"Like I said, I was showing him how to make a gun."
"Which I still question, but that's not what I asked," Dib pointed out.
Zim took a long sip of his drink.
"Well, I can't speak for the other one, but this Zee is apparently a lot more trusting than you'd think. I ran into him at the park, and after repeating myself AGAIN about not being a threat (to him specifically), I offered to teach him some stuff," Zim explained.
"'Stuff'?"
Zim looked away.
"...Stuff to make him feel safe."
Dib blinked.
Then his face broke into a teasing grin.
"Aaaaaaaaaawe, Zim's heart makes a rare reappearance!"
"Shut up, you smelly pig-beast!" Zim growled. "Not only do I anatomically not have a 'so-called hart', but I resent the implication that the AMAZING ZIM doesn't ever do anything nice!"
"Well, you usually don't."
"Because I hate all you URTH SMELLIES!"
"So, what, you helped Zee because he's Irken?" Dib asked, head cocked to the side.
With a slight crunching of his soda can, Zim gritted his teeth for a moment before speaking again.
"Enough of your stupid teasing, Dib," Zim ordered.
But just as quickly as Zim got angry, it dissipated.
"... Is it really so hard to believe that I might miss interacting with my own species sometimes, Dib?" Zim questioned, his voice sounding more sad than Dib usually heard it. "... I've been banished from Irken space, and I really understand that now. There was a good chance I'd never see another one of my people again. I haven't even seen Gir in over a year. I just… wanted to talk to another Irken."
Dib couldn't help but stare at Zim for a while. Sure, Zim had gotten a lot more empathetic and better with emotions during his time on Earth, but he still wasn't usually very honest about them. He'd had the idea that emotions were a weakness drilled into him for his entire life (probably even programmed into him), and it usually showed.
But it seemed that this situation had triggered some emotions in Zim that he maybe couldn't keep hidden.
"... Sorry," Dib apologized. "I just thought it was weird that Zee seemed to trust you enough to come over and be talking with you like that."
"Yeah, well, maybe he wants to spend some time with other Irkens, too," Zim suggested. "He has Bee, but he's apparently been on the run his whole life from his own species. But- did you notice he actually wears an Irken symbol on his clothes? Under the disguise, at least. And he was rambling on and on about some book he was reading, as if we knew each other and he was just talking. I mean, I don't know, but- I think he just wants to belong somewhere and have people he can spend time with. He doesn't want to leave Earth, so maybe if he and Bee feel safe, they won't have to."
"..."
Dib was speechless for a moment.
"Wow, Zim, that's- that's actually… really insightful of you?" Dib exclaimed.
"I SAID TO STOP TEASING ME, DIB!"
"No- No! Really!" Dib protested. "I actually mean it! That's- It's actually really… kind of you… to be thinking about that stuff… and to actually try to help Zee like that."
"Hmph."
"I guess Earth really is rubbing off on you."
"THAT'S IT!"
XXX
Part of Zee was screaming at himself the entire time he'd been with the older Irken.
He had just finished a book, and he really wanted to talk about it, but Ann was busy today and Bee was at work, so Zee decided to go to the park and take a walk to get rid of some of his excited energy. But while he was at the park, he'd run into Zim wearing another human disguise.
He'd immediately prepared himself to run or fight, but Zim noticed him and… had tried to reassure him? And then he'd offered to teach Zee some things and to come back to his house to learn how to build a plasma gun with some Irken tech. And Zee already knew how to do that, and he really should have said no, but for some reason he himself couldn't quite fathom, Zee agreed and followed him home.
And then, while they were building the plasma gun, Zim started asking him things, and somehow, he'd started rambling about the book, and Zim was listening to him, and it was actually kind of fun.
And then Mr. Membrane came home and he was immediately reminded that he should not be letting his guard down like this. Zim could have done anything to him- trapped him, attacked him, even used the gun they built to shoot him- and he'd just followed him home like some Earth puppy.
Zee left soon after Mr. Membrane returned, now that he was reminded, but he couldn't help but acknowledge that he'd had fun. And part of him thought that, maybe, if Zim hadn't done anything to him when he could have, maybe he really wasn't going to. Or maybe he and Mr. Membrane were just trying to lull him into a false sense of security, but really, what would be the point? He knew very well that Zim could have set a trap in his home that Zee hadn't been prepared to deal with, and doing so would have been far more efficient than attempting to trick him.
So maybe- maybe- they really were safe here.
Maybe they'd really be able to stay.
XXX
Part of Bee wanted to scream at Zee when he told her where he'd been all evening.
He'd been with Zim.
And Bee really thought she'd raised him to be smarter than that- he was smarter than that, and usually far more cautious- but he'd still gone and done something that could have gotten him killed.
She was really hoping that they were safe on this planet, but that didn't mean that they were. Had they been on a planet just a little bit closer to Irken space, they would have left already. As it was, Bee was only allowing the risk of staying while she scoped out the situation because it would take so long for a ship in Irken space to actually reach Earth. In the past, she never would have allowed it. The second they encountered anything that suggested they wouldn't be safe, they would have been gone.
But the truth was- she felt bad.
She'd told Zee that they would be safe here, that they could finally stop running for a while, that he could finally settle down a bit and just live. And Zee had already gotten attached to this planet. So even though they were taking a risk in staying, they were also taking a risk if they left- risking Zee's happiness and wellbeing. Because, Bee knew, it was hard spending so long running and fearing for your life. It was hard hopping from planet to planet, spending a few months at most on each, and then spending weeks to months on end in an old, cramped voot cruiser in-between them.
Bee knew that kind of life was taking a toll on him- on both of them- and she knew it was unsustainable. That was why she'd made the decision to settle on Earth in the first place.
Now, she just had to hope that the risk was worth it.
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(To be clear, I do NOT condone teaching teenagers how to build weapons. But they're Irkens, so.)
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