Gravity of You [Invader Zim] [Zim x Dib] [ZADR]

Chapter Eleven

Zim woke up with Dib by his side. The human was passing the time reading a book with a familiar cover, something Zim had probably read but forgot to give it back to his boyfriend. It was something soothing to have him close, the alien had been extremely anxious since the night his beloved human disappeared.

There was something about the way Zim was less present in spirit and the way he would embrace Dib when he remembered to do so, that was bringing concerns to the human. He could almost feel Zim was constantly worried about losing him, but it didn't make sense since their relationship was going well and Dib was healing from his injury.

Dib gave his boyfriend some company as he ate the waffles GIR made earlier that day, deciding not to push Zim to talk before he was ready. He clearly needed time to articulate his ideas first.

"How long was I asleep?" Zim asked while adding a massive amount of strawberry jelly on his waffles

"We got here around nine and now it's about seven. So about ten hours I'd say" Dib said getting up to get more jelly for Zim, he had finished the jar on the table

"I feel weird. I think I slept too much"

"Promise me you won't skip your sleeping hours like this again, GIR told me you didn't sleep for a week. I also worry about you, you know?" Dib said rubbing Zim's shoulder standing beside him

"I know... I feel better now. Weird, but better. Anyway, this was horrible I don't have plans on doing it again" Zim said finishing his dish

After eating, Zim took Dib to his secret base to finally show him what he had been working on so eagerly. It almost felt as if Zim was doing some kind of walk of shame as they were transported to the right place by the subterraneous tunnels.

When they arrived at the chamber, Dib noticed it was way colder there and a chill traveled his body while the metallic door opened. Inside, there were all sorts of transparent tubes with different colors and graphs pinned on the walls. In the middle of it, there was a metallic table with something underneath a grey cloth. One last detail to be added to the place was some fault smell that resembled putrefaction, probably coming from the corner where Zim was placing the waist resulted from his experiment on big trash cans.

"Alright, Dib. This is it" Zim said defeated

Zim removed the grey cloth that was protecting his work and allowed Dib to have a closer look.

Dib didn't seem to understand where all that frustration was coming from. It was a PAK. Identical to Zim's but the color on the back was blue, the same tone as Dib's favorite T-shirt. The alien had mentioned this was for his used the day before but as much as Dib would love to have a PAK for his own, with a cool exoskeleton, he couldn't understand why Zim was working day and night on it all of a sudden.

"Zim, this is really cool! I love it already! I always liked your PAK, it's amazing you're making one for me! But... you don't have to rush, take your time. I wasn't even expecting it" Dib said excited about his future PAK

"I'm glad you liked it... I'll find a way to make it compatible to you, I must find a way" Zim said squeezing his own hand closed

"It's ok if it's impossible, you tried! And I appreciate it. This is the nicest gift ever! Even if I just get to keep this version" Dib said happily, trying to make his boyfriend feel better

But none of it made that expression of defeat fade away from Zim's face. There was something on his heart that weighed a ton and he couldn't keep it to himself anymore.

"Dib... I didn't want to make you anxious, so I didn't say anything before... The thing is, my age could be compared to 16 human years. But I've lived more than 160... How can we be together forever if I'm starting my third human lifetime as we speak? This universe is worth for nothing if I can't explore it with you" Zim said feeling his lips starting to tremble