That Kid From Upstairs [Invader Zim x Reader]

[I] Lunch Break Catastrophe

Zim watched as the tall human in the back of the classroom folded a piece of paper over itself again and again. He couldn't exactly blame them for being bored (though he thought the lesson was in fact fascinating), they have learned it before already, if he understood the concept of the grade system correctly.

That one. That human actually looked mildly competent. It was incredible. The previous owner of the desk they sat in was seated on a windowsill with her book in her lap. A few hours ago, she had been placed there like a little ragdoll by the upperclassman when Ms. Bitters ordered her underground in order to make space. Zim couldn't tell whether that was an act of mercy, or just them wanting to annoy their teacher even further.

Speaking of, they have finished their paper folding. Raising their handywork, they tossed a fancy little paper plane into the air. The fragile contraption soared through the classroom, and effortlessly landed in Dib's hair. Zim stifled a laugh as the boy turned back with a glare, the plane now ruined in his grip.

The upperclassman frantically whisper shouted; "Sorry, I was aiming for the hag-" To which the aforementioned hag snapped her head back at them in a perfect 180°.

Under her gaze, they acted as if literally nothing had happened, and scratched something down in their notebook for the sake of the moment.

It's fair to say Zim was incredibly amused. Would his classmates be like this when they got older? He somewhat hoped so. That would actually give this species some hope of being competent slaves to the empire. They'll be slaves either way, but a dumb slave messes up a lot...

The convincingly (badly) disguised alien was moved from his thoughts about slavery by the ringing of the bell, signalling the lunch break's long awaited arrival. Zim decided to take his time packing up. He needed to talk to that human. They could be of serious use to him!

He watched as Dib stalked by his desk with narrowed eyes, silently questioning his motives in staying behind. The irken simply made the most innocent expression he could muster, which ended up looking exactly how you'd expect.

Foolishly choosing to let it go, the Dib left the classroom. The tall one was still trying to get all their papers into their bag without getting them all crumpled up. Though Zim couldn't tell, neither of them were notes. They just drew all lesson. Not that there was much to take notes about.

He smoothed his uniform down when they finally stood and started for the door. They were about to walk by him completely unbothered, when he opened his mouth to speak, aND OH GOD They look so much bigger up close-

They looked down at him with a raised brow.

"Ah, it's you. Need something?"

"Oh, oh no, nothing-"

He really just said that didn't he, why did he say that-

"M'okay. Have a good lunch, bud."

They said, and left. He remained at his desk, and sighed.

Okay. It seems talking to that human requires actual preparation. He wasn't ready. It was a simple miscalculation. He just had to follow them, that's it!

The way to the cafeteria was full of adrenaline. Zim ducked behind trash cans, students, and rolled between covers as he followed the upperclassman to the cafeteria. He completely missed the fact that they already knew he was there, and were silently laughing their ass off.

The human announced their arrival to the lunch hall by kicking it's double doors open. The loud noise attracted a lot of attention, but besides that, it prompted a handful of cheers from a table across the hall, assumed to be their friends. Or gang. Or both.