Truce? ( Dib X Zim ) [ Invader Zim ] ( bxb )

Chapter 7 - Sudden Exposure

- Monday, September 11th, 2006, Rain, 5:00 pm.

Zim and Dib had both skipped school today. While Zim was in the lab with the kids, Dib was sitting in the middle of Zim's living room floor staring at the TV. It was currently off, and he was listening to the rain pouring outside. The sky was yellow, and flooded the dark room with a yellow hue. He saw the faint rainbow outside reflected on the TV. He blinked tiredly.

Dib knew that Zim had an unexplainable aura around him. He really didn't know what specific thing he liked about him. He could name one thing and immediately name another thing equal in value. Perhaps it was the way Zim laughed when caught off guard, or how he seems to have a lot of random hobbies that include cooking and collecting. 

Maybe it was his feeling of home in Zim's odd-looking house, or the fact that Zim spoke rather formally when he was mad. Dib smiled at every trait. He looked down at the floor.

"Gaz... did you know about all this?..." He thought to himself, "Why would you suggest that I give Zim a gift for Valentine's Day three years ago?... Did you see something I didn't at first?... Did you speak to me from the far future?..."

He then thought about Irk and what it could possibly be like there. His heart grew hopeful.

"They can't all be obsessed with invading, right?" He thought, "Some of them have to have their own little things they're interested in... Maybe they just don't have a lot of outlets to express that with?.... Maybe that's the issue?..."

He looked upward at the TV again and looked at his reflection. He frowned, not from seeing himself, but being reminded that he was a human.

"I said he was human-like but... in a way, he's not..." Dib said, "He's more interesting than that... He can do human stuff, but he does it in such a raw way..."

Dib then sighed, "Humans aren't the only ones that can love things... Learned that a little too late.." His heart then dropped. He had to rest his head on his hands, "He loves me..." Dib said, "....He really does... but he's so.... deeply disappointed in me... I can't keep disappointing him... Do I want evidence or not?..."

He always held onto a little daydream of finally showing evidence to his class of Zim via video. The scene would always start with the dopey nerd smiling and powerfully presenting his formal speech on the matter. He would then bathe in the glory of watching his classmates be amazed at his discovery of alien life! The praise, the apologies, the awards, he begged for all of it. His life was always imagined in that order.

The dream that one day everyone will be sorry. Everyone will be glad for him being so determined to help humanity. Everyone will be glad that he braced a life of emotional pain and stuck around...to share such extraordinary discoveries of course...It also hit him that perhaps Zim was possibly the only one that was glad for him sticking around in general.

The more he thought about it now, the more it got interrupted with the thought of Zim and the kids. The first interruption was of Dil starting to walk. Another was of the three of them going to school, or maybe Zim taking everyone to his home planet one day. He smiled at those. They seemed more interesting given the matters he's in now. 

He grinned a little more at the idea that he now has inside knowledge on another group of people, almost like a special club. The chances of going to another planet also seemed promising, and perhaps more impressive. Who needs Mars, he began to think. Gir had walked in, not wearing his dog suit, and tapped Dib's shoulder. Dib snapped out of it and looked at him. Gir was urging him to follow.

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In the lab, Zim was setting up a call with the Tallest. It was going to be a final update before he planned to disconnect from them entirely. The three boys were sitting in a high chair that Zim crafted, divided into three sections. Yellow was on the left, red was in the middle, and blue was on the right. Zim smiled from hearing Dil giggling. Zim dialed the Tallest and waited. He looked at the boys, who were staring at the large screen in silence.

"This might take a few tries," Zim told them. Surprisingly, they picked up on the 3rd ring. The boys were currently off screen. The Tallest were both slurping large smoothies in their hands. Purple raised a brow at him.

"Hello, Zim..." Purple said, "I see that you've....called back again... Uh.. is there something you need?"

"Greetings," Zim said, "I've come to inform you of a last update... Permanently."

"Ooooh that sounds very interesting," Red said, mostly referring to the word permanently being used, "What is it?"

Purple found it a bit rude that Zim didn't address them as "Tallest." Gir brought Dib into the lab and pointed at the screen. Dib's eyes widened.

"That's our leaders," Gir whispered, smiling, "Well, were... Zim doesn't like them anymore..."

Dib watched the conversation along with Gir. Zim scratched his forehead from the rude tone.

"I've come to notify you that I will not be returning back to Irk," Zim started, "I say this because..."

He glanced at the boys off screen and smiled at them. Tallest Red and Purple glanced at each other, then back at Zim.

"Zim?..." Red said.

"I have produced smeets..." Zim said, "....without the use of cloning..."

Purple's eyes stretched at what he heard. Red didn't fully get it at first.

"Y-...You did... what?...Zim?..." Purple asked.

Zim went off screen and pulled the boy's high chair into view. Dil and Wil started giggling from being moved. Fil deadpanned. The Tallest were shivering both from amazement and horror. An Irken off of the PAK? And related to Zim? They then noticed that they weren't fully Irken looking.

"Uh Zim?..." Red started, "Why do they look so....... different?"

"Oh... yes... well... you see..." Zim's face flushed, "I've fallen in love with one of the humans here..."

Both leaders' faces went blank.

"Zim..." they both went.

"I know that sounds very odd, but he's a very special human... One that really made me think."

Gir pulled Dib into the lab and in the view of the video chat. Dib's face reddened from being exposed. Zim looked to his right and saw Dib walk in.

"Aaaaand who's that?..." Red asked.

Zim smiled, "He's the father of our three boys. His name is Dib," He pinched Dib's cheek.

Dib wiggled his ears a little as a sudden reflex. The Tallest couldn't believe what they were seeing. They stared like deer.