Bitten

Ch. 12

   Dib felt warmth in his cheeks as he blushed in embarrassment. He felt incredibly stupid for having invited his sister to live in a house that wasn't even his. The house belonged to Zim, his . . . friend?Boyfriend? Dib shook his head; now wasn't the time to mull over those confusing thoughts. He had to work out how he was going to approach Zim and prepare him for Gaz's arrival on the morrow.

   "Ok," Dib thought aloud, sitting at the kitchen table. "Granted, Zim and I are on good (though awkward) terms at the moment, but I just broke about every social rule ever by inviting sis into his house. I mean, she has a job, so she can pay rent or something . . . even though Zim jacks all the power and utilities from his neighbors," he chuckled. "But still, I feel pretty guilty." His sad crimson eyes roamed and came to rest on the table, where he focused his vision to notice all the minute scratches and marks there that would be invisible to the human eye. Dib's eyebrow raised and he stared harder, finding that the more he focused, the more details he could see. He grinned toothily. "My eyes are like a microscope," he reveled, wishing he could see well enough to detect microbes and other little organisms of scientific interest. 

   He was snapped out of his reverie when a loud clang came from the chute, and he turned around to see who was coming up. Black antennae peeked out of the tube a second before Zim began stepping out, which was enough time for the hybrid teen to come to a stand and offer Zim a helping hand. The Irken eyed the hand a bit suspiciously, but took it and leapt down from the chute. 

   "What's with the hand-helping?" he asked Dib, stretching his back.

  "You're tired," Dib said, concern in his red eyes as he noticed the slight slump to Zim's shoulders and the strain on his muscles. 

   "Yeah, Tak has that kind of effect. Even with Gaz's assistance, she's no fun to work with," the alien grunted, lifting his arms above his head to stretch them out. Dib watched the rolling of Zim's arm muscles under his tight black hoodie, and coughed a little, shuffling a foot away from him. "So, what did your surprisingly helpful sister have to say? Is she gone?"

    Dib gulped- he hadn't expected Zim to ask him so suddenly! He'd wanted time to prepare for this conversation more. "Uh . . . ." he managed to choke out.

    Ruby-colored eyes glared in his direction. "Really, Dib? 'Uh'? That's your answer?" Dib remained silent- he was busted. "I thought your sister was smarter than that. To think 'Uh' was all she had to say!" Zim mused sarcastically, turning to rummage through a cupboard. 

   Dib groaned, biting his lip lightly. There was no getting around it- he had to tell Zim straight-up. "We were talking about Tak, and about . . . about our dad." The alien turned to look back at the hybrid, setting a box of waffle mix from the cupboard onto the counter.

  "Oh," Zim said, his voice a tad quieter than normal. He knew that Dib's relationship with his paternal unit was . . . complicated, at best, and he didn't want to push him.

   "It's ok," Dib sighed, shuffling nervously. "It's just, one thing led to another when we were talking and . . . I sorta asked Gaz to stay here with me awhile." The Irken's face hardly changed, and panic set in for Dib. He began to talk very quickly, and a cool bead of sweat rolled down his neck. "I'm so sorry, Zim, I feel stupid for inviting her into your house! I was just caught up in our conversation and I totally didn't think it through. She's coming over tomorrow, but I can tell her not to. Again, I'm so so sorry, I just thought that maybe she could pay you rent or help with Tak or-"

   "Dib-thing."

   "- or maybe help out around the base, I don't know, something, I just-"

   "DIB-THING." The Irken's loud tone finally silenced the panicking teen, and the frustrated little alien came to a stand in front of him. "Look, I don't really care if Gaz stays here; she's the key to getting information out of Tak. As long as she's willing to help out, I don't mind. So stop panicking Dib-thing, or I-"

   Zim fell silent as long, pale arms wrapped around him. Dib stooped gracefully into the embrace, and said "I'm so glad you're okay with it! I felt terrible, and I'm sorry. I won't do anything like that without asking again." The alien wriggled a bit in the embrace, but eventually settled into the hug.

   "Yeah . . . .whatever," he pouted, squeezing Dib's sides a little. The hybrid vampire fought the urge to suck Zim's urge with his urge to remain in this position for as long as possible. However, all good things come to an end, and they separated.

   "Um," Dib said awkwardly, eloquent as ever.

   "UMM," Zim said even more awkwardly, loud as ever.

   "Wafflessszssssssz!!!" Gir screamed out of nowhere, jumping onto the counter and knocking the box of waffle mix over.

   Dib chuckled and smiled warmly. "Take a seat, Zim, I'll make dinner." The alien did so without protest, and lazed in his chair as the hybrid prepared the meal. Zim couldn't resist a small grin as Dib sashayed about with Gir and made waffles; he knew the hybrid was trying to humor him as an apology, but he had to admit, it was . . . . cute. As Dib turned to face him, carrying a platter loaded with waffles, Zim was grateful the hybrid could not read minds; his thoughts were dangerous lately. He would have to scrub them out later, or something like that.

                                                                                                            ~~~~~~~~~

   "Yeah, ok," Zim said distractedly,analyzing a sample of something slimy and grey in a tube.

  "W- what?" Dib asked confusedly,shaking his head. "I just asked you if Gaz could have part of thelab, and you're okay with that?"

   The Irken turned to him nonchalantlyand shrugged. "I don't see why not; for a human, she is terrifying,but not too filthy. Besides, she might help me get more answers outof Tak." He frowned a little at the thought of the General who wasincarcerated in one of the lab's closets. To be honest, she washorribly stubborn and proved immune to all forms of torture thus far(granted, Zim's idea of torture was to cover her in steak and waterto see if she would react like he did- she did not). Unfortunately,Gaz's efforts yesterday had only payed off at face level; while Tak had givenZim access to Irken files, the mission file itself required adifferent security code entirely. Without her help, Zim would beunable to get past the Irken security and would thus be blind to theTallest's plans for him should Tak cease to return with him.

   Unaware of the direction Zim'sthoughts had taken, Dib grinned, pleased that Zim was okay with Gaz'simpending arrival at noon. "So, uh, since Gaz won't be here foranother day anyways . . . . are you busy?"

   Zim's antennae perked up and he lookedfrom the test tube in his hand to the hybrid boy before him. "Nothingtoo important," he said. "I can finish my work on sentient gooanother day. Why?"

  'Oh, here comes the embarrassment!'Dib thought, raking a handthrough his dark hair nervously. "I was just thinking, since wedon't have anything important to do until Gaz gets here, maybe we could . . . dosomething else?"

   The Irken blinked."Really, that's all you've got?"

   Dib blushed andfelt like smacking himself, but refrained, instead digging himselfdeeper by saying: "Well, if you don't wanna do something else, wecould . . . do another thing. Maybe together? I'm sorry, I'm so badat this!" He cried, eyes squeezed shut, not wanting to see Zimlaugh. He waited to hear the tell-tale cackle, but when silencetouched his ears and a warm hand touched his arm, he opened his eyesnervously.

  "Dib-thing,"Zim started curiously, "Are . . . . are you trying to ask me to go on a datewith you? Like the humans on t.v.?"

  "Um, y-yeah. Yeah,I am." Still feeling awkward, Dib fought for courage as he asked,"Zim, will you go out with me?"

   The little alien flung the goo and his lab gloves onto the table, staring up at the taller male. "It's about damn time, he sighed irritably, as though he had been expecting this for ages. "Let me get  a disguise on and we'll go." And with that, he turned and vanished up the chute, leaving the hybrid to do  a happy dance in the lab. Everything was looking up!