You HATE me, But I HATE You more: ch.5
(sorry for the long wait. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Comments are most welcome)
Today at Skool, Zim couldn’t help but notice all the other students were talking about “Prom” And who they were going to ask to go with them or what they were going to wear.
At first Zim just assumes its just some useless Urthling ritual… but than he hears something about “Prom king, and prom Queen”
Curious, Zim pulled out a small device from his pack and searches through the human database to figure out what exactly the prom king is, and to his delight, it seems like becoming Prom king could help him rule the Skool and possibly even the whole Urth!
Zim begins to laugh, but he's interrupted when Dib suddenly appears behind him.
“Just what are you up to now?” Dib asks, narrowing his eyes at the alien.
Zim nearly jumps before quickly moving away, putting distance between them.
“Why, I'm just SO curious about this, PROM thing that everyone is talking about” Zim says, but Dib doesn't seem to take this very well.
“Oh no you don't Zim. You are NOT going to ruin my chances to take Plotty to the prom!” This disgusts Zim.
“That PLOTTY-human is just mind controlling you, Dib! She's making you too stupid to see it”
“Whatever Zim, I'm taking Plotty to the prom and I'm not letting you ruin this for me” Dib says says before walking away. Zim glares, furious.
“Ugh! Stupid Dib! Why does he still insist on being around that Plotty!? I already told him about her mind control, but he just refuses to listen to me…!” Zim grumbles, wishing he could choke the other boy until his eyes popped out, but even if he did, Dib would probably still insist on being around that GIRL....
Suddenly, Zim feels his chest tighten and something sickly in his belly. He quickly scans himself with his device again, but once more, his vitals appeared to be normal like usual.
Just what had Dib done to him?? Was it some kind of undetectable human poison???
Sitting at his desk, Dib vaguely listens to his history teacher while he watches the sky through the window, trying not to fall asleep… but he dozed off anyway.
It's not of any particular memories, but Dib dreams about being 12 again, trying to catch Zim and stop his evil plans… Things really aren't like that anymore, are they?
Zim has become a lot less focused on conquering the earth and more so just harassing him. And Dib on the other hand has nearly put his paranormal investigations to the side to focus on High Skool and just be… a normal teenager.
“Dib.”
“Nh….”
“Dib…!”
“Zim…??” Lifting his head from his desk, Dib groggily opens his eyes, only to realize the person in front of him is his teacher, looking none too pleased with his recent nap.
“Dib, I'll excuse you this time, but if you fall asleep in class again, I'll have to report you,” She says.
“Y-Yes ma’am,” Dib replies, not wanting his dad to hear another word about his misdemeanors at Skool again.
He sighs, wishing he was home right now, feeling kind of depressed after that dream.
When he looks out the window, he realizes it started to rain while he had been asleep. It's a good thing he's always prepared… Zim on the other hand, did not come prepared.
Since there hadn't been any rain, Zim forgot to bathe in his paste this morning.
Once Skool was over, everyone grabbed their umbrellas, and those who forgot to bring their own either had a friend to share with or made a mad dash home.
Zim nervously stared at the rain. It was a week ago that he applied his paste, but maybe it would still be effective?? He sticks a finger out only to quickly retract it, feeling it burn from just a single drop of rain.
Zim cursed under his breath, wishing he had never believed a human weather-man, as clearly, the sky wasn't as sunny as predicted.
Unfortunately, however, while standing around, one of the students decided to have some fun and shoved Zim down the small flight of stairs and into the rain. Zim hits the ground, feeling the small puddle of water forming on the concrete burn his skin, as well as the rest of the endless downpour falling from the sky. He screams and squirms around like a dying bug before managing to get up off the ground and under a tree.
This new shelter doesn't provide much cover, but it was better than nothing.
Feeling his body burn and blister, Zim holds himself tightly, damning this planet's water.
“W-Why does it hurt more than usual??? “ Did it have something to do with whatever Dib had done to him???
Excited to finally get home, Dib meets up with Gaz, telling her his amazing plan about sharing an umbrella with Plotty, but she doesn't seem that interested, instead, she seems more interested in a particular tree out by the front of the Skool.
“Gaz are you-” Dib stops mid-sentence, noticing a few of the students laughing, mimicking some kind of bug before pointing at the same tree Gaz was staring at. Then, it finally clicks. Zim is behind the tree.
Dib looks at the tree for a moment, but he can hear Plotty approaching with her friends… He looks back towards the tree again, thinking about his recent dream…
“Hey, Gaz… I'll meet you back home. Tell Dad I’m running late.”
“Alright…” Gaz says, and just like that, Dib takes off toward the tree without saying another word. She watches and smiles ever so slightly, approving of her brother’s decision.
“What's wrong Space boy? Did your robot eat all your paste again??” Dib laughs, mocking the green boy. Zim glares, furious, especially because Gir actually wasn't at fault this time.
“Silence, Dib-worm!! I-” Before Zim can continue, Dib suddenly holds out his umbrella over his head. Zim’s body instantly feeling relief from the rain with the new shelter.
“Unlike you MIGHTY Irkens, I can handle the rain,” Dib says, letting himself get completely soaked by the rain.
Zim glares at him, feeling something sickly and squirmy in his stomach again, so he shoves Dib to the ground after taking the umbrella.
“You- Do not mock the Irken empire!!” Zim says, but Dib just laughs.
“D-Do not laugh at Zim!!”
“I’ll stop laughing when you're MIGHTY empire isn't affected by a little water” “Dib teases, standing back up to his feet.
Pissed, Zim begins to make his way home, but he's annoyed further when Dib follows him.
“Do not follow Zim! Just because you gave me this water shield device, does not mean I will allow you into my base!” Zim hisses.
“It's an umbrella. And yeah, I know… but if I don't walk back with you I won't get my umbrella back, and I'm pretty sure Dad’ll be mad if I lose another umbrella” Dib says, walking beside Zim.
Zim grumbles, but its when Dib suddenly sneezes that Zim practically jumps like a cat and backs away from him, his back hitting the wooden fence beside him.
“G-GERMS!!!”
“It was just a sneeze Zim” Dib says, hoping the alien won't come back to Skool covered in weird burger meat again.
“But….so….GERMY!”
“Zim-!” Dib sneezes again and Zim screams.
“D-don't come any closer to Zim!!” Zim says, most likely threatening to kick Dib if he didn't listen.
“Geez, alright” Dib, not wanting any more injuries, agrees to keep his distance, rolling his eyes.
While they continue the rest of the walk in silence, Dib starts to shiver and can't help but wish he had just walked Plotty home, then he would still be dry and wouldn't be freezing his butt off for the ungrateful alien.
Zim on the other hand, was somewhat pleased that Dib was antagonizing him again instead of drooling over that stupid GIRL, even if he WAS annoying.
He looks at Dib for a moment, soaking wet as he gets pelted by the rain, then he looks down at the umbrella handle in his hands, and his stomach feels sick again, but this time, his chest tightens.
Thanks to this device, his body was already dry and his pack had healed his body from the rain, but Dib was just a weak and pathetic human, so his temperature had gradually dropped while in the rain… and despite that, he still gave away his water shield device to him.
Zim, staring at the ground intensely, steps close enough to Dib, allowing the umbrella to cover them both. Confused and even shocked, Dib looks at him with a bewildered expression.
“U-unlike you STUPID humans, I, A MIGHTY Irken, can recover quickly from such rain…! So… Zim shall share…. BUT DON'T EVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN!!!” Zim says, his face suddenly feeling warmer than usual.
Dib just stares at him, and blinks a few times… because he had to be seeing things right? There was no way Zim was… blushing right now…right???
“I-I won't, promise…” Dib says, but when he wipes away the water from his glasses, Zim was already looking away…
He must have just been seeing things earlier. He’s pretty sure Zim isn’t even capable of blushing.
The walk home is still silent, but Dib's been able to somewhat dry off a little bit by staying out of the rain, and thankfully, the rain finally starts to let up as Zim’s house comes into view.
As usual; upon his arrival, Zim’s ROBO Parents welcome him home, as well as Gir from the kitchen..
Dib couldn't help but lean over, feeling nostalgic at the sight of the house, as well as the smell of freshly made waffles coming from the kitchen.
Zim freezes, his antennas practically sticking out of his wig when Dib’s chest presses against his face. The dampness of the shirt burns, but that's not why Zim’s face was burning up, his heart racing, as if desperate for oxygen.
“Y-Y-You're mission is over!! N-Now be gone with you!!” Zim says, shoving Dib onto the pavement, and tossing him the umbrella back before quickly slamming the door behind him. His heart was pounding so quickly, he thought his chest might burst, and his face felt so hot, he felt like he had been baking in the sun, not to mention the weird flippy feeling in his belly.
“T-This is simply not normal!!”
“Aww, what's wrong master??” Gir asks.
“ T-That Dib….h-he 's done something to me!! H-he’s planted a bomb inside me or something!!” Gir cheers in delight, wishing he himself could explode.
“Q-Quite Gir! T-Tests! I need to run more tests!” Zim says before he rushes to the lab, running various tests on himself, and typing in all the strange symptoms he's been experiencing. He runs everything through the computer, hoping to get a proper diagnosis this time.
“Calculation complete. Results. You are in love with the Dib creature.”
“What!? There must be some kind of mistake!! I can't love! I'm Irken!! A-And Dib is the enemy!!” Zim says, feeling his face heat up and his chest swell, almost as if his own body was disagreeing with him.
“According to Irken history. Love is not impossible for the Irken empire, it is simply just irrelevant. Though unused, Irkens still retain their required bodily organs for reproductive purposes in case the Irken Empire should ever reach dangerously low numbers resulting in near extinction.” The computer exclaims, horrifying its master.
“T-This can't be…!! I-I can't possibly be in love with Dib….!! I… I HATE him!!” Zim says, as if declaring war with the universe, and maybe even himself.