In the Dark Chapter 17

     Dib could only nuzzle Zim's wet face with one of his own wet cheeks, his tears mingling with Zim's. "Zim...I'm so so sorry...I never meant for any of this to happen...If I had just realized when he asked me to take off my clothes that it wasn't a physical examination he wanted to give me, none of this would have happened..." he spoke in broken sentences, his voice shaking as he sobbed to the Irken. He hated the fact that Zim was now crying as he reached up with one hand to wipe Zim's tears away but couldn't make them stop. It hurt him even more seeing Zim so hurt as his hand slid down Zim's face to rest on his shoulder so he could pull him closer and press himself to the Irken's body. He tried to kiss wet lips to Zim's neck, attempting to comfort the alien much in the same way as Zim was trying to comfort him with warm hugs and reassuring words. But nothing seemed to be helping as his crying took on a voice of its own. In that moment, he couldn't speak anymore from how hard he was crying. He could hardly even breathe as he gasped for air, unable to calm himself down.

     The alien couldn't speak for some moments either as his tears continued to run down his face. Then suddenly, without any warning, they began coming out as pink tears. It was a reaction that most Irkens could experience when they underwent a feeling that they had never felt before, which Zim was now having. It was at this point that the Irken seemed to calm down. He stopped shivering from the resentment and anger coursing through his body, and his breathing became more normal. "Do not be sorry, Dib. That raping stink monkey should be..." he said in a very low voice as the pink tears continued to run down his cheeks.

     After a few moments, Dib managed to blink his eyes open halfway, his tears blocking his vision of everything. Bringing a hand up try and wipe some of them away, they were quickly replaced with new ones. Turning his head to then try wiping them away on Zim's uniform shirt, he pulled away after a moment to look up at Zim. Seeing the pink tears rolling down Zim's cheeks from his eyes, Dib had a look of terror come across his face for a moment. "Z...Zim?! Are you bleeding?!" his voice shook as he thought the pink color was the result of his tears mixing with blood. He couldn't see any actual cuts anywhere on Zim's face which led him to believe it was something actually in the Irken's eyes. Could it be possible that his tears had somehow burned Zim because of the water in them? Fingers twitching, Dib reached up slowly to wipe them away so he could get a closer look, new tears threatening to fall from his own eyes at the thought that Zim might be hurt because of him.

     Zim took Dib's hand in his own, stroking it a little with his fingers. "I'm fine. They're just pink tears...Irkens have them when they are experiencing a new feeling..." he smiled warmly at the human, tears now becoming less on his face. He didn't want to worry Dib. Furthermore, he didn't want to lie to him. He just wanted to calm down and BE with his human.

     Dib sniffled wetly, his gaze half lidded as he stared at Zim. Zim's smile did little to reassure him as he squeezed the Irken's hand and brought it up to his cheek to nuzzle gently and hold there as he spoke in a low voice. "So then...What ARE you feeling right now?" he asked, his eye dropping to the ground before closing to let more tears slip down his cheeks, some spilling onto Zim's hand as he held it there. He didn't want Zim's hand to leave his face as the Irken's touch made him feel safer somehow. It was proof that the Irken was actually there and this wasn't just a dream, proof that Zim wouldn't suddenly disappear on him. The Irken was there, and that was all that he needed. Even when the tears wouldn't stop, his breathing began to return to normal as he slowly began to calm down little by little. Zim's own calming down played a big role in his calming down, as without Zim, he probably would have cried for hours longer. He still didn't want to pull away any time soon as Zim's closeness was the only thing keeping him from breaking down completely again.

     Zim closed his eyes as his tears began to dry off. "...First I felt...I don't even know. Anger, frustration, rage, all at the same time...I felt an anger I've never felt before towards the man who raped you, and I've never felt this guilt on myself because I wasn't there, where I could have saved you...I know, I know. It's NOT my fault. I understand that. I feel less guilty now that I've calmed you down a little...And resentment...I've never felt that before...I felt so so sorry for you. I'm glad you came to me last night though. You came to the right place...And I needed to get rid of all that hell inside of me so as not to break. So...I did that through my tears." the alien glared a little, looking at his own tears. "These evil pink tears of DOOM! I HATE THEM! And I hope they'll dry off soon!" he cursed a little as he wiped away some of them from his eyes, never letting go of Dib as he nuzzled up to the boy as well.

     Dib nuzzled Zim's hand one last time before moving to kiss his damp cheeks gently, bringing a hand up to help him wipe away the tears there. Then, hugging the alien tightly, he rested his head on the Irken's shoulder, breathing Zim's scent deeply in order to calm down more. If he calmed down, Zim would too. He needed to do at least that for the Irken as he hugged Zim with one arm and brought the other one up to wipe away his own tears the best he could. "Thank you...for helping me through this. If it weren't for you, I doubt I would be able to recover from this. But because of you, I think I'll be able to get through it. The memories may continue to haunt me for years to come, but you'll keep me sane, keep me from doing anything I may later regret...if I'd even be around to regret them...You're my reason for living, and I want to make every moment I spend with you mean something special because...because until only recently, I realized I've owed you my entire life since the first day we met. I almost threw everything away so many times before, and I need to make up for that. You deserve so much better than what I've done to you in the past, and I just wish I had realized that sooner." he whispered before turning his head to kiss Zim's neck gently.

     Zim smiled a bit, his eyes closed. His tears had by now disappeared, and his cheeks became a slight blush color. "To look back and compare the past and the present is a little funny. I remember I caused a lot of trouble back then as well...Like the time I dropped that GIANT water balloon on Earth...Or blew us up with the accelerated explosion...Still can't figure out how that happened...Hey, but I remember us working together a few times too. Like on Halloween and that time I turned us into bologna. We worked together in the lab, remember?...But when it came to asking each other for help... That didn't work out so well...I remember going to your house to use your telescope. Didn't get too much out of THAT. Or when you came to my base to ask for help getting your sister back to normal. Fat chance...Oh!...And now that you really believe me and all...I did manage to actually SAVE this stink planet one time. If it wasn't for me, this whole planet would be fried in a sun right now." he looked to the side a bit, a proud smirk upon his face. "Now I'm glad I didn't melt your head like I promised I would…” he giggled a little.

     Dib had to smile at least a little at those memories, letting out a somewhat amused noise. "Yeah, well, I guess I owe you a kiss for not melting my head off..." he pulled away from Zim's neck to press his lips to Zim's gently. "And a little something 'extra' for saving the world despite your hatred for it. But that will have to wait until after I'm over this flu. Until then, how about some of this to pass the time....?" he framed Zim face by cupping his cheeks with both of his hands before leaning in to first kiss Zim several times on the lips before moving to kiss his entire face in several different spots. A few on the forehead, some between the eyes, his cheeks of course, and a couple down by his chin. Finally pulling away, he smiled and blushed a bit as he continued wiping his eyes dry with his wrist, his glasses going askew on his face as he did so. Zim reached up to remove the spectacles from Dib's face before leaning in to kiss him one last time on the lips lovingly. Dib let his eyes slip closed as he kissed back also, this kiss lasting a little longer than the others before they pulled away to smile at each other. Dib was just close enough to make out Zim's smile as the rest of the Irken was fairly blurry.

     Zim's cheeks blushed red when Dib said he would give him "something extra." for saving the world. They then began turning a pinkish color again as he closed his eyes and nuzzled into Dib's chest once more. All the little pieces of the alien's failures of destroying earth AND Dib were finally paying off. Zim gently wrapped his arms around the boy. "And I can't wait for you to be healthy again....But don't we still have that project-thingy to work on?" he asked as he looked up at Dib with only one eye opened.

     Dib closed his eyes and leaned forward to kiss Zim's head lightly before resting his cheek there. "Don't worry about the project. You finished your part, so now only I have to finish working on my part. Then during the break we can work on the actual presentation part of it. Unfortunately, knowing our teacher, he won't let us just read off of our papers. He'll want us to have a good portion of what we're going to say to the class memorized. But just so long as we practice what we're going to say, it shouldn't be too bad. We just have to decide who's going to talk about what." he said, taking in a deep breath before yawning tiredly. Then, opening his honey colored eyes about half way, he blinked a few times as he looked around the blurry kitchen. The mixing colors were making him a little dizzy as he closed his eyes again and nuzzled his cheek more against the top of Zim's head as though it were a pillow. He wanted to move to the living room but didn't want to disturb the Irken pressed so comfortably against his chest. The small body was so warm and just seemed to fit so well right where he was. Zim's antennae twitched slightly, brushing by Dib nose, making him sniffle more than he originally had been.

     After a few moments passed by, Zim realized that he was falling asleep now too. It was so quiet and comfortable that the Irken didn't want to move. He only managed to smile and just BE there with his human. 'Gir is probably watching TV on the couch right now and...Dib's body is so warm...' the Irken thought to himself in his head as he brushed one of Dib's cheeks with his antennae.

     Dib was tired, and he wanted to lie down with the Irken pressed tightly to his chest as he slept. The alien already seemed to be half asleep as he didn't respond to Dib after he had finished speaking. Opening his eyes to barely open slits, he lifted his head enough to search for the blanket he had left in the kitchen. Finding it partially laying on the ground and partially laying on the chair next to Zim's, he reached over the best he could to grab it and wrap around Zim's back after he had pulled the Irken the rest of the way out of his chair to hold close. Shifting to a sitting position rather than a kneeling one, he flopped down onto his back in the middle of the kitchen floor, too lazy to get up and carry Zim out to the living room. Letting Zim use his chest as a pillow, he pressed one last kiss to the Irken's head before closing his eyes to sleep. His breathing finally settled, his chest rose and fell steadily even with Zim's weight against it. The Irken wasn't too heavy, making him nearly the perfect size for Dib to be comfortable with.

     Several hours passed in which both Zim and Dib slept peacefully in the middle of the kitchen floor. Zim's antennae resting right in Dib's face, he sneezed once as the tip of one of them brushed right under his nose. Sniffling slightly, he let out a small noise before breathing out against the sensitive appendage. His breath tickling the thin stalk, Zim twitched his antennae slightly again, brushing under Dib's nose a second time. Dib wrinkled his nose, trying to keep the tip from tickling his nose, but it was no use.

     He sneezed a second time, then a third, finally sitting up with Zim still clinging to his front when he sneezed one last time. Running one finger under his nose and sniffing once more, he blinked his eyes open to look around. Everything was still blurry as he could hardly make out anything in the kitchen. But he knew they were in there because of the hard floor underneath him. To say the very least, it wasn't the most comfortable place to fall asleep.

     It didn't seem to stop Zim, however as he was perfectly content using Dib's body as a soft and warm mattress. Well, mostly content anyways. All the sudden movement had him letting out a small whine and growl as he shifted slightly in Dib's lap to get comfortable again. Dib smiled and kissed his head gently, bringing a hand up to stroke his antennae lightly. The Irken seemed to curl even more in on himself at the sensitive touch, letting out a happy sound as his tongue hung out of his mouth.

     Looking down to his own chest, Dib realized the Irken had been drooling in his sleep. Making a slightly disgusted face, Dib tried to shift Zim enough so he could wipe it away with the blanket. Zim protested against Dib moving him around any more, however as he tightened his hold on Dib to keep the boy from moving him away. Dib put up quite a fight trying to move Zim without waking him up until he heard the Irken growl more in a low voice. Sighing in defeat, Dib rolled his eyes. "Geese...The least you could do is drool on the blanket instead of all over me..." he whispered, more to himself because he didn't want to wake Zim.

     After a few more moments passed by, Zim finally closed his mouth, his drool starting to become a weird purple color. To Dib, it seemed he knew a lot less about the Irken body than he had originally thought. That made Dib wonder whether Zim even knew about his own purple drool. Nuzzling even more into the human, Zim's drool soon began to dry off, another quality that made the Irken's drool different from that of a humans'. But as fascinating as it was, Dib knew Zim didn't care. The Irken just wanted to be left to his sleep.

     Dib continued to watch Zim sleep, his slightly annoyed look turning soft as he smiled again. At least Zim seemed happy where he was. Stroking one of Zim's cheeks lightly with his fingers, the alien seemed to press his face more to Dib's hand, his mouth coming awfully close to one of Dib's fingers. Without any prior warning, Dib felt something wet and warm close around his finger. Looking down, Zim was happily suckling at one of Dib's fingers in his sleep.

     At first Dib didn't mind it too much, thinking it was kind of cute, but then his eyes shot wide open as Zim's sucking turned to biting. "Ouch!" he yelped out loudly as he pulled his hand back, holding his finger close to his chest and away from Zim's mouth. The Irken had sharp teeth, and Dib could make out the bite marks on his finger. Looking back down at Zim, the Irken was now chewing on part of the blanket rather than drooling. Well, at least he wasn't chewing on Dib's shirt. Bringing his hurting finger to his own mouth to suck on in an attempt to make it hurt less, he began looking around for his glasses. He hadn't seen what Zim had done with the spectacles. Last he remembered, Zim had been holding them. Moving the blanket a bit, Dib tried to see if Zim was still clutching them in those Irken claws of his.

     Neatly folded up in his hand, Dib went to reach for them but heard the Irken let out another low growl. It was if he sensed what Dib was trying to do before he even did it. Letting out another sigh, Dib sent the sleeping Irken a disappointed look. "Aw, come on, Zim. Not this again." he reached down to try and take them from Zim. Zim wasn't going to give them up that easily though. He clutched them tighter in his hand, sending Dib one last warning growl in his sleep.

     Dib gave the glasses one good yank, but Zim wouldn't let go. The Irken brought down the hand he was using to cling to Dib to help secure the glasses in his grip as he clutched them closer, refusing to let anyone take anything away from him. Dib tried again, however. He pulled at them just to have Zim pull back. This was becoming difficult as Zim was pretty strong for such a small alien. Dib wasn't about to give up though. Pulling with all his might, he thought for a second he was going to get them. What he wasn't expecting was the Irken to unconsciously punch him in the face when he wasn't getting his way.

     Zim's fist met Dib's nose with a sickening crack. Dib was quick to ditch the glasses so he could grab his nose with both hands. "Goddammit, Zim!" he felt something wet. Looking down at his hands, he could see it was blood. His nose was bleeding, though thankfully he didn't think it was broken. Zim was happily curled up in a little ball with his prize, shifting shortly after to his side, rolling off of Dib's lap onto the kitchen floor. Stretching a little in his sleep, he went back to curling up with the blanket to sleep soundly.

     Dib glared slightly at the small bundle as he looked around for something he could use to get his revenge. It didn't take him long to think of something. Zim seemed to be such a heavy sleeper, he doubted whether Zim would wake up as he found a bunch of colored markers that belonged to Gir and a small camera he always kept with him in his trench coat pocket. Using one hand to hold his nose to keep blood from going everywhere, he grabbed one of the black markers to draw two large circles around the outside of Zim's eyes and a line in between them to connect the two so Zim looked as though he were wearing glasses. Then, taking a red marker, he drew what he thought Zim's eyes looked like on his eyelids. Smirking evilly, Dib continued to draw random doodles all over the Irken's face before using his camera to take a picture as he tried to keep from laughing too loud. He'd keep that for later. Watching Zim sleep, Dib could hardly keep from laughing as he waited for Zim to wake up.

     After another 10 minutes had passed, Zim finally gave out one last cute noise before opening one of his eyes to see Dib smirking evilly at him "...Hello...Dib? What's wrong with you? Why so evil?" the alien asked, giving him a totally curious look.

     Dib tried to hold in his laughter as he used the hand he was using to keep his bloody nose under control to cover his mouth at the same time. "N...Nothing..." he spoke after a few moments, a loud snort escaping him, making his nose bleed a little more. Reaching for the table, he quickly located a napkin to help control the blood flow, his eyes never leaving Zim's oblivious face. "You're a...a really heavy sleeper, you know that?" he had a hard time speaking without his sentences being broken up as he buried his face in his hand and laughed silently to himself, his body shaking with the action. This was even better than the incident with Gir and the waffles. He knew it was risky and the Irken would probably beat the hell out of him when he realized what Dib had done to him, but for Dib, it was totally worth it.

     A few moments later, Gir came walking into the kitchen, humming a little tune to himself but stopped when he saw Zim's face. Giggling insanely, he pointed at Zim. "Mastah, you look funny! Are you a clown?!" he squealed happily. Zim looked completely confused as he looked back and forth between Dib and Gir.

     The Irken gave in after that statement, stood up, and went to open his pantry door that was in the kitchen. Taking a mirror out of it, he looked into it to see Dib's creation on his face. The alien jumped a little as a result then let loose a loud yell at the prank as he held the mirror a little farther away from himself so he could see his entire face in it. He quickly covered his mouth, his eyes looking a little scared. Then they caught Dib with a hard glare as a small vein showed up on the side of his head from all his anger. Under his hand, his sharp alien teeth were now showing as they were just begging to bite Dib. "YOU!" he yelled at Dib with anger in his voice, panting a little. "HOW DARE YOU....?! AAAARGH!!!!" he couldn't finish his sentence out of frustration. He KNEW it was Dib's art since Gir looked as though he had no idea what was going on here. Neither did Zim.

     As Zim began to advance on Dib, stomping loudly towards him, Dib took a few steps back, laughing nervously. "Hey, come on, Zim. Can't you take a joke? It doesn't look that bad on you." he snickered into his hand. It didn't seem to help as Zim began cracking his knuckles, balling his hands into fists. Oh yeah. Dib was dead. Backing up more, Dib came to a dead end as his back hit the wall and he was trapped. The Irken came dangerously close to him, a loud growl coming from his chest as he raised his fist up.

     Bringing it down fast and hard, he smacked Dib right on the top of his head, making him let out a pained yelp. "OW! GODDAMNIT, ZIM! NOT AGAIN!" he screamed as he brought both of his hands up hold his head. Feeling a bump forming right where Zim had hit him, he winced before glaring back at the Irken. "What the hell was that for?! It's not like I hurt you! I could have done much worse than drawing on your face considering you bit me, wouldn't give back my glasses, and nearly broke my nose!" he exclaimed angrily, his glare growing colder as he held his hurting head, feeling a headache forming already. Eyes going wide suddenly, he seemed to notice something dripping from one of Zim's hands. He couldn't see it too well from where he was standing, but he was able to make out the color. Red. The color of blood. Noticing the broken shards of his glasses sticking in Zim's hand, he looked up to the Irken who still looked pissed. He must not have noticed he had broken Dib's glasses in his hand, his anger blinding him for the time being.