Ancient Instincts

Chapter 4

The two were having breakfast at Zim's base. They were eating chocolate chip pancakes that Dib made. He wasn't going to risk what ever kind of poison GIR could whip up. He wasn't the best, but he was proud he made something edible.

"How should we move on?" Zim asked suddenly.

Dib swallowed his mouthful of pancake, "Well, we've got to take it slow. I only touched you without getting my hand bitten off. Your beast form is still incredibly... feral."

"And my memory of the whole thing is still fuzzy. Ugh, I miss not having my PAK! It feels like I'm naked..." Zim felt the scars left in his back through the coat Dib gave him earlier that morning. Dib stayed silent and let Zim continue, "I can't access my memory files, I can't use any of my PAK extensions. I'm just so used to having on..."

"I'm sure it is weird. You said that every irken is fused to one the moment they come into the world and will die in ten minutes if it's ever detached. But here you are now suddenly without a PAK and you aren't dead."

Zim didn't reply.

"Well, I think we've had the conversation before. It is odd for you to not have your PAK, but we also discovered that it was blocking emotions that your race deemed unimportant." Dib had gotten out of his seat and moved around the table. Zim looked up at the human, he knew what he was doing and he wasn't going to stop it. The human caressed the irken's cheek and continued, "Emotions like, grief and regret, but also love."

"Silly human, I've felt love before."

"Yeah, but not quite like this..." Dib leaned in and his lips met with Zim's.

Being this close to the human, Zim could see clearly that Dib was exhausted. The dark bags under the human's eyes were far darker than normal. Irkens didn't exactly need sleep, but he could tell when someone was sleep deprived.

"You look tired," Zim mentioned, "staying up all night with me seems to be taking it's toll on your pathetic human body."

"I'm alright, Zim, I've had worse things happen."

"Doesn't make it better, Dib-stink. Why don't you get some rest, take a nap or something. I've read that a human can die from exhaustion."

"It's only been like what, three days? I'm not gonna die of exhaustion."

Zim just gave Dib a look. One that Dib couldn't argue with no matter how much he tried. The human let out a defeated sigh, "Alright, Zim, you win. I'll take a quick nap. After breakfast though. My pancakes are getting cold."

Dib went back to his seat and the two returned to their meals.

Later, Dib had tucked himself in on the couch and was snoring while Zim worked on trying to get rid of his excess energy. The irken was in the depths of his base, doing an old training exercise. The exercise was from his invader training and was typically difficult by irken standards. Normally by the end of his exercise, Zim would be sweating a bit, but lately he hasn't felt a single drop.

Maybe he wasn't pushing himself hard enough? Dib always found a way to get Zim to push past his limits. Whether he was just pressuring him, adding his own body weight to test Zim's strength, or that one time Dib tried to follow Zim's routine. Zim remembered that like it was just the other day.

They had just finished the warm up, Zim hadn't broken a sweat while Dib was sweating like an Earth dog and could barely move, his human muscles ached so much. Dib was sore well into the next three days and stated he would never try that again. Zim chuckled at the fond memory.

"What are you giggling about?"

Zim snapped his head up and saw Dib leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and looking a little refreshed.

"Zim does not giggle! But uhh, I was just reminiscing something."

"Alright, so another question, just how long have you been down here working out?"

"Since you fell asleep."

"That was four hours ago, Zim. And you haven't even broken a sweat yet?"

"Agh, yes, Dib-thing!" Zim stood up and started to pace, "I have so much energy that I can't get rid of and its driving my crazy. Irkens don't need sleep, but we can feel drowsy or worn out. Ever since I came to this morning I've felt so much more energy than I've ever had before. It's almost concerning how much energy I have right now and-"

"Shut up," Dib pulled Zim by the collar of his tank top and pushed the irken against the wall, "I think I know something that might wear you down."

Zim smirked at the implications. The irken was glad to have the opportunity to do something not related to his disease. His favorite thing to do was let Dib have control and then overthrow him and take matters into his own hands. So he played along as his arms wrapped around the taller human while their lips collided.

Dib pressed their bodies closer together as he deepened the kiss. Zim grew eager to flip the roles and then flipped Dib. The human didn't complain as the alien took over. Zim's hands went under Dib's shirt as his small claws grazed his skin. Soon enough their shirts laid on the floor and things only got more intense from there.

Zim usually tries not to break the skin with his claws, a few little scrapes no one minded, but Zim started to get aggressive. He stopped leaving hickeys and started biting, hard.

"Ow, Z-Zim... hold on a sec-" Dib protested before Zim took an exceptionally hard bite where his neck met his shoulder, drawing blood, "Agh, Zim stop! Get off." Dib pushed Zim off of him and held onto his bleeding shoulder with a pained hiss.

Zim looked back at Dib, crimson blood on his lips and unusually sharp teeth. The blood had a metallic taste to it and he absolutely didn't like it.

"I... I'm, I don't know what came over me..." Zim stumbled over his words, trying to find the right ones to explain himself, even though he didn't know. Dib has quickly taken notice to Zim's sharper-than-usual teeth as the irken rambled on.

"Wait a minute, Zim," the human interrupted, "open your mouth."

"What, why-?"

Dib's fingers were in the irken's mouth before he had a chance to question it. Dib then filled in Zim's confusion, "Your teeth. They've changed, they're sharp now."

The alien pulled away and ripped part of his shirt off as he said, "What does that mean? It's the afternoon, I shouldn't be shifting." He took the torn shirt and covered the wound he inflicted and Dib had so quickly forgotten about.

Unfazed by what Zim was doing, Dib answered with a worried tone in his voice, "I'm not sure, my guess is that... your beast side is starting to take over you entirely."