Dibbrane: Zim shows Dib his lab and ship for the first time
Zim knew that they’d mostly gotten over the hump. Dib had punched Tak halfway to Vort to prove that he still cared about Zim, and any remaining secrets were dissolving like flimsy cloth under laser fire.
Still. Still, even after everything, even as he cradled his egg-filled middle, his chest was thump-thump-thumping faster than it should have as they passed the gnomes to the front entrance of the base.
“So this was where you and Twix...?”
“Mhm. Not always, we fought all over the city, but often it was around here.” Zim rapped his knuckles against the doorframe as Dib had to stoop slightly to enter behind him. “The house was a custom model, but the basic tech to make it was issued to every invader.” The word still had a sting in his mouth, like biting thorns.
“How did it work? You didn’t build it all, I can’t imagine- this place isn’t that big, but-”
“I’ll have to show you sometime if I can dig up the blueprints, but you draw the outside and the inside is filled as accurately as possible from data pulled in from the airwaves allow.”
“Really? Neat!” Dib poked the couch. “It all feels real.”
‘It is real.” Zim made his way over to the trash can, drumming his fingers on his abdomen before deciding against it. He didn’t want to get stuck on Dib’s first visit. Instead, he looked up. “Computer, open the couch entrance.”
Zim waved his hand as he stepped onto the elevator, Dib practically suctioning himself to his side. “Just take us down to the lab.”
“I’m going, I’m going.” The floor dropped, and Dib wobbled for a moment before stabilizing himself.
“Oh, so this is how you get down to the basement.” Dib watched the floors go by. “I didn’t see anything that could be stairs, since the upper level’s pretty small.”
“Right.” Zim’s fingers tightened on his coat- he’d left it on out of habit, even though it was starting to become quite snug.
“Hey.” When Zim turned, Dib had knelt down on one knee. “I- I know this is a lot to deal with. But we agreed no more lies, alright? As long as you’re honest with me, you don’t have to be scared of wh-aaaaaaat is that?” Dib’s eyes widened as the elevator opened out into the cavernous main room of the subterranean lab.
“That, Dib-mate, is my lab.” A smile broke over Zim’s cheeks as he turned on his heel to march down towards the computer. He could hear the little squeak of Dib’s boots as he scurried to follow him, easily catching up as his strides were twice the size of Zim’s.
“This stuff looks ages ahead of what we have back at- geez, no wonder you had so many ideas, it must have been like working in the stone age!” Dib caressed one of the consoles. Zim chuckled.
“Well, it was worth it to work with you. Besides, Earth and Irk divulged eons ago considering they were so far apart and Earth doesn’t have interplanetary influence- even if it was a bit old, it was still new to me.”
Dib started randomly pressing buttons just to see what they did, and Zim had known him long enough to tell that he was awed even behind his goggles and collar. “Can we just stay down here for a month? I want to stay down here for a month.”
“We can come back whenever you want.” Zim leaned against Dib’s hip, and Dib took it as a cue to scoop Zim up to set on his shoulder, the way they had done so often at work. “This is all yours too now.”
Dib let out a little squeal, bouncing on his heels and looking more like the excitable child Zim had met ages ago than the man in his thirties he was now. “Dad’s never seen anything like any of this- can you imagine? Whenever we figure out how to spin it, it’ll be ‘Dib Membrane: The one who discovered alien tech.’ I’ll finally have something that’s mine- that’s ours.”
Zim swallowed, glancing away, but Dib nudged him with the side of his head. “I... I won’t do it if we can’t figure out how to keep you safe. Even if we just introduce this stuff to the lab slowly as our own inventions, it’ll still be something, but your safety and the safety of the kids comes first. I can’t imagine how scary it’s been, waiting for the other shoe to drop for twenty years.”
Zim looked down at Dib, concern shining through what Zim could see of his goggles, and his antennae twitched before pressing a kiss to his forehead.
"I’m just glad it’s over now. And I can show you my ship.”
I am, once again, feeling bad for keeping all the discord content on discord. Especially with the new Dibbrane au. Guys, it’s *so* good. We love it so much
Have Zim dealing with the shocking revelation that his dumbass, oblivious Dib is in a room full of Dibs who all know he’s an alien.
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Shadow: “Are you telling me I went twenty years and this is going to be how he finds out?”
If it helps, he died that way by choice. It was a bittersweet ending, and he was caring for orphaned children for a long while before he died. It's sad, but some good came out of it, and he'll reunite with Twix in the end.
Yeah, there’s definitely that too. It felt a little weird to not run that one through to its inevitable course, like it sort of betrayed the spirit otherwise.
Have some scribbles for the Irken AU. Zim being an absolute angry mess.
I gave Dib one of the Vort scientists uniforms (A little personalized, because I don’t see him tolerating a long robe very well) I figure he’d find something better to wear once he and Zim have figured out what to do. Zim has his invader uniform mostly because that seems like the default Irken uniform anyway. Still playing with designs.
Anyway, sorry it’s messy as hell, but my scribbles tend to turn out better than my official stuff so *shrugs*
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Shadow: I gotta say this is probably one of my fave designs for irken Dib’s antennae ever? And the vortian scientist outfit’s definitely a good idea!
I was going through my pics and realized I should probably share this one here too. Discord’s been getting all the love lately and I’ve neglected tumblr. Apologies to anyone who doesn’t use Discord! I bring this as a peace offering!
@64bit-gamer suggested irken au egg hatching for the prize! I had a lot of fun writing this one too. :p
Wordcount: 1475
Warnings: None, mentioned past mpreg I guess?
Zim was watching the eggs. Of course he was, he’d been watching the eggs since laying them. They had created an incubator together- or rather, Dib had created most of it, since Zim had only been able to stand for about twenty minutes at a time when it was being put together two weeks ago. The eggs were settled inside, and had begun to move four days ago, tiny wriggles of life inside the shells that were just translucent enough under the light to show the bodies within.
It was too blurry to determine any details besides the fact that the one that had come out second was a bit smaller than the others. Zim could tell it apart because it had three pink spots on it. The third egg had two, and the other two didn’t have any. So far they’d been telling them apart by numbers- Dib didn’t want to commit to any names until they all hatched safely, and Zim had begrudgingly agreed.
He yawned, scratching at his stomach. It was strange- four months was a blink of an eye to a hundred years, but so much had changed that it felt like he’d lived an entire life since the day he’d started feeling sick and the control brains had turned his existence inside out. His Pak had mostly healed the marks and the after-effects of birth, but it was still strange to feel himself back to a normal weight even a week and a half on.
A light began to flash just as he started to stand up, and he pinned his face to the glass when he saw just which one it was. He jabbed the intercom button on the wall with one of his Pak legs. “Dib!”
There was a crackle of static. “What?”
“The eggs!”
“Is something wr-”
“They’re hatching!”
Dib dropped something heavy- Zim could tell because he let out a swear before the intercom dropped the connection. A moment later, the lab’s door slid open, with Dib bundling his robe up in his fists in order to run faster. He crossed the floor in seconds, staring into the incubator. “Did any get out yet?”
“Four is starting,” Zim said, a grin spreading across his face. “Last out and first hatched, they’re a smart one.”
“Would that make them oldest or youngest?”
“Oldest,” Zim decided as he watched the hairline crack spread over the shell. The tiny irken inside was making their way out, and it made his spooch flutter like he’d swallowed live grease, but in a good way. He reached for the button to open the chamber, but Dib snatched his wrist, pulling it away.
“No, we don’t want to mess it up. What if it hurts them? As soon as they open the egg, we can take it out.”
Zim narrowed his eyes at Dib and opened his mouth to protest when there was a pop that made both of them whirl around. The egg had completely cracked down the middle, and inside was a tiny smeet with their eyes still squeezed shut. Dib didn’t stop Zim when he jabbed the release button this time, and he carefully lifted the smeet out of the remains of the shell. They were sticky, and Zim looked around for something to wipe them off.
Dib handed over a towel that he’d hung on the wall for when he was working with oily equipment- luckily, it was still clean- and Zim started patting at the goo over the minty green skin. When they were mostly dry, Zim sat down. Or, more accurately, he collapsed to his knees, staring at the little smeet as they yawned with new eyes slowly blinking open.
They were vivid blue, and Dib let out a little squeak. “They’re- they’re just like mine.”
Zim couldn’t help but feel a little jolt of jealousy, but when the antennae perked up it immediately disappeared- they matched his much closer than Dib’s. A good mix then. Another light lit up on the incubator, and Dib knelt next to him, holding his hands out. Zim set the smeet in them and stood back up.
Two of the smeets were hatching at the same time, Three and One. Zim bounced on his heels, the fabric of the uniform Dib had made brushing the front of his legs as he did.
“This one’s a girl,” Dib called, but Zim barely cared, focused on the eggs that were cracking like faultlines. One emerged first, with antennae that looked like handlebars on the end already perked up. They were kind of chubby.
“So you’re the one who made me so big,” Zim said, lifting them up and starting to brush over them with the towel. They squirmed, letting out a little cry, and the bubbling grease-feeling intensified, with a bagful of sugar mixed in for good measure.
He already knew he would do anything for the smeets, but seeing even the larger one so tiny in his hands… it ran warmth through him like liquid sunshine. He passed that one to Dib too, who was grooming the ends of the oldest’s antennae that had been soaked in egg-slime.
The next one already had their eyes open. He lifted them out carefully, seeing the magenta practically sparkle in the lab’s fluorescent lights. With a jolt, he realized that one antenna was shorter than the other.
“This is a boy,” Dib said. “I think. Man, it’s hard to tell. We left gender blank on the Paks, right? I’d rather not-”
“Look,” Zim said, holding the sticky little one out to Dib.
“Oh, they have your- ! Oh.” Dib tilted his head. “Well, one of your antennae doesn’t work entirely and you’re fine, right? They’ll be okay.”
Zim turned them around, and they reached for his thumb with a smile, grip already tight. Zim could hear Dib rummaging around for the Paks, but his gaze was riveted on the smeet in his hands.
He’d made them. He’d made them, and they weren’t perfect, but their eyes mirrored his and the smile on their doll-sized face equaled the grin on his own.
He loved them. Love was new and confusing and too fast and not fast enough all at once, something irkens hadn’t dreamed of in millennia, but he knew for certain he could feel it because of how Dib’s smile made him feel, and this was deep down the same.
Dib nudged his side, holding out the last one. They were clearly the runt- the other smeets were tiny, but the final one was about two thirds the size of their siblings. Not that it mattered- Zim had come out somewhat small himself, and right now he felt like the luckiest irken in the galaxy.
“They’re all healthy. This one will just probably be short, their breathing is still normal.” Dib walked over to the second blanket he’d laid out on the floor where the other two smeets had been laid. They crawled over each other, tugging at antennae with tiny tongues sticking out of their mouths. Dib set down the small one and took the one with the short antennae from Zim, carefully lining up the chip-sized Pak with their back before carefully plugging it in.
Electricity arched through them, dancing through their eyes and making their chest glow for just a moment. Their antennae perked up when the glow faded on the Pak’s ports, and their smile widened as they looked up at Dib.
“Papa!” The voice was high enough Zim felt confident calling it a girl.
“Hello, little one,” Dib murmured, rubbing the top of her head between her antennae. She let out a little happy chirp, before Zim held out his arms, palms up.
“Let me hold ‘em, I wanna-”
“Alright, I’ll plug in the others.” Dib nodded at him, carefully depositing the smeet in his hands. She looked up at him, blinking.
“Papa… two?”
“I am Zim. And I’m the one that had you, so I get to be papa one,” Zim said, carefully cupping his hands so she could lean back on his fingers. He lifted her up to his face, and she leaned against his cheek, nuzzling her own against it.
“Papa one, then!”
There was a little chorus of smeet voices as Dib plugged the other three Paks in. Zim looked over to see two of them hugging Dib’s boot, and the blue-eyed one in Dib’s hands was examining her own foot with awe.
He gave the girl in his hands another little nuzzle, and she let out a tinkly laugh, before following the noise to see her siblings.
“Who’re they?” She asked, quirking her head to the side.
Zim dug deep into his Pak’s dictionary for the word, still foreign even though the feeling was growing familiar.
