okay but an au where zim actually tries to blend in and acts like a normal human, but dib is still as weird as ever, crazy-talking about aliens landing nearby and such. no one takes dib seriously, laughing him off while zim makes sure to be extra careful whenever his disguise is off (because that freak scares him!). but things seem to be going really well and no one is the slightest bit suspicious of zim (not even dib!) even though zim is overall still a dweeby little outcast...
but soon enough dib manages to get ahold of pictures (albeit really blurry) of the little green creature, immediately obsessing and adding them to his super weird collage. at first, when dib calls zim about the discovery (claiming zim is the only one he thinks will understand), zim panics and tries to hide it.
but when dib starts showing suspicion towards zim, zim makes a risky move to try to get dib off his tail by pretending to be a weird alien enthusiast, too. he immediately goes all in and pretends to partner up with dib to track down the mysterious alien (who definitely isn't him, no! it's not like they're the exact same height, live in the same neighborhood, and both have green skin - that's just a condition anyways, surely!). what follows is death note-style master manipulation and mind games as masks start to crack, feelings start to be put on the line, and zim struggles to keep his cool.
but what's this? zim is actually starting to like hanging out with that crazy freak and even starting to enjoy their strange misadventures together? despite totally having a very clear, very detailed end goal to take him down before he can find out zim's secret?
and maybe just maybe the dib-thing is actually kinda... cute. at certain angles. under very specific lighting. and maybe it's just the thrill or fear of being discovered that's making his heart pound whenever he's around dib. or could it maybe be that he's starting to really like their nighttime stargazing, their radio spying, and mutual stalking?
maybe if he just plays along with it long enough, it will eventually resolve itself, right?
