Invader Zim ZADR: How did we get here?

Chapter 14: Zim has NOT gone squishy!

Heeeeyyyyy...Yeah, I had finals these past few weeks, so there was a bit of waiting, but I'm back, and I hope you're ready for...whatever stupid stuff those two idiots get themselves into.

"HOW DARE THEY GIVE ZIM DETENTION?!! DO THEY NOT KNOW WHO I AM?!! I AM ZIM!!!"

"Trust me, I think they're quite aware of who you are," Dib commented, with quite a bitter tone, though he had to appreciate the irony of his statement.

He and Zim were sitting in detention that day, an occurrence that was about as rare as one would expect from the two of them. Zim was currently standing on a desk, technically speaking to Dib, though he was yelling like he was up on a stage, presenting his issues with the current situation to a crowd of eager listeners. Dib had decided to actually sit at a desk, like a normal person. He was only managing to keep his head up by resting it on his hand. There was a time when he was younger when he would have loved to also stand up and yell. Especially at Zim. But as it stood, he was more interested in managing to get through the detention without getting a headache. Which Zim was making as hard as possible like he was planning on giving Dib a migraine.

Usually, there would be a teacher to tell Zim to shut up, but that day they instead had a substitute. Who just happened to need to go to the bathroom, and Dib could already tell that they weren't going to see them until the end of the detention. Though he did appreciate not being watched over like he was a mental case. He also found a bit of joy in having the room to himself, not counting Zim. The first few times he and Zim had been put in a classroom with the rest who got detention. But the skool must have quickly learned that was a bad idea, as it didn't take long before the duo got their entirely own room for detention. At first, Dib hated the idea of being locked alone in a room with Zim, but he learned that it felt much better to yell at the alien when there wasn't a mob of students watching on.

"IF THEY DID, THEN THEY WOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO LOCK ME AWAY IN THIS MISERABLE PRISON!!!"

"Zim, it's detention, not prison."

"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE, DIB-STINK, HUH?!!" Zim asked while turning to face the human, for the first time since they entered. Dib guessed that it had something to do with the specifics of how they ended up there in the first place.

"The difference is, that if we were sent to prison, I could get my own cell so that I didn't have to listen to you screaming for two hours!"

"THEN I WOULD TOO PREFER TO BE IN PRISON SO THAT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR GIANT UGLY HEAD!!!" Zim yelled back, before finally sitting down. He then crossed his arms and looked away from Dib, and over to an empty wall. There he sat, strangely enough in silence, without muttering any of his usual insults and death threats. Which was the thing that tipped off Dib that maybe the alien was a little madder at him than he normally was.

"Hey."

"....."

"Hey, Zim?"

There still didn't come an answer, making it clear that the alien was purposefully ignoring him. Dib was at first frustrated at Zim's silence, but it somewhat lessened when he recognized how it probably was a bit of karma on his part.

Well, I guess this is how he feels whenever I decide to periodically ignore him. Wow, that sounds way worse now that I think about it.

He pondered for a moment if he should just leave the alien alone, but a horrific revelation made him realize that he was starting to get bored. And that he would rather hear Zim screaming than just sit in silence for two hours. So after thinking about the best way to force a reaction out of Zim, he finally leaned over to his seat and whispered to him.