Ides of March - Chapter 17

Just as Zim had dreaded, Dib's fit lasted well over two hours, which the boy spent curled into a tight little ball on the floor, clutching at his head and occasionally giving a few muffled sobs.

And the entire time, the alien sat with him, watching that he kept breathing and that he wouldn't end up having spasms and injuring himself. It rarely happened, but  Zim knew it was probably best to be on the safe side.

At least, Dib wouldn't remember any of this. Once he woke, he would be tired, confused and sometimes, understandably, frightened. That, however, could usually be fixed with a good night's sleep and some distraction.

Of his attacks or whatever happened during them, Dib never had any memories.

And it probably was best that way.

At long last, the boy stirred, a muffled whimper on his lips as he uncurled and rolled over onto his back. Unsteady hands rubbed at his eyes as Dib blinked and tried to get his eyes to focus.

“Finally awake, Dib-thing?”

Zim's voice was low and Dib was thankful for that, his ears still buzzing and his whole body feeling oversensitive to the sensations around him. “Y... yes... I'm here...”

“Where are you?”

Stretching out his cramped limbs, the boy stiffly turned his head to take a look at his surroundings. “Room after the one next to my bedroom. We had dinner... Then...” The boy's speech was still slurred and slow, but Zim was relieved to hear he was conscious enough to answer and recall the events just before his attack.

“Yes, dinner. And then?” Neither moved much yet, Dib, because he couldn't and Zim because he didn't want to unnecessarily agitate his companion just yet.

“Then...” A slow breath, and another and the human frowned as he tried scraping up the muddled bits of memory to form a full picture. “Then we made.. a plan... a plan.. to blow up the house... move the base... something.... something with blood...”

A cool, leather-gloved hand pressed to his fevered brow and Dib sighed at the allaying touch, closing his eyes. “Mh...”

“That's enough, you'll remember the rest later. Can you get up, Dib-thing? You need to get your stupid sleepy hours.”

The cool touch felt infinitely soothing and Dib found he wasn't really listening properly. Instead, his own hand rose unsteadily, to place it over the three-fingered one to keep it exactly where it was. “Gonna get up in a minute... still dizzy... just a moment.”

Sighing a bit, with a roll of his large eyes, Zim just let him, pulling back his hand after a little while, to replace it with his other hand, it being a little cooler since it hadn't been warmed by human skin yet. The touch made Dib smile and tired, honey-colored eyes opened a crack to regard his companion.

“Thank you...”

Another short minute and the human took a steadying breath, pushing himself up into a sitting position. “I guess some sleep is just what I need.” Another breath and Zim rose with him to stabilize the swaying boy when he stood, needing a moment to anchor himself.

Once somewhat safe on his feet, Dib started moving, eager to just get to his room and go to bed.

The few steps took much, much longer than usual, but he managed, glad for Zim at his side, even if he didn't touch him. He was there, simply to make sure he wouldn't fall or get lost on the short way. The gesture, small as it was, was more than enough sign of how things were between them and the boy smiled, reassured that he hadn't messed up too badly.

Finally, he rounded the corner and stepped into his room, almost instantly letting himself drop onto the soft padding of his bed. Yawning, he pushed his face into the comforters, already on the verge of drifting off. “Zim... gonna go sleep, plan 'morrow...” he mumbled, only managing to shift his arm a bit to prevent it from falling asleep beneath his own body weight.

Then, he was out like a light, breaths evening out after a moment and the alien shook his head, watching the exhausted boy sleep. Probably, he should get some rest as well. If they were to follow through with their  plan of blowing up the house and moving the base, they'd need their energy.

Catching himself watching the human sleep, Zim shook his head, turning on his heel to clean some more of the damage Gir had done before he withdrew to another of the smaller rooms to rest.

True, irkens didn't sleep. Not unless they were extremely sick or injured. But spending an hour or two in a dark, quiet room and shutting off unnecessary thoughts to recuperate some never hurt. He was tempted to mull the day's events over, analyze what had happened and...

Gloved fingers touched at his own lips in remembrance, but... No... no. Zim would not waste his rare moment of quiet with thoughts like that.

Sighing, he moved to sit on the single chair in the room, sinking into the pink cushions and letting his eyes slide shut. Rather quickly, he slipped into a kind of light doze. Still fully aware of his surroundings, but other than that pleasantly unwound and untroubled by his thoughts.

For a few, precious hours the base was drenched in silence.

By the time Zim decided he had rested enough, Dib was still deeply asleep. It was to be expected, really, and the alien found himself at Dib's door again, watching the boy's chest rise and fall evenly to make sure he was still breathing. As soon as he realized what he was doing, Zim growled at himself and turned away, closing the door quietly behind him.

It was infuriating. What the Dib was doing to him...

He couldn't concentrate properly. Now that the Dib had shown interest... THIS kind of interest, Zim found  himself very, very tempted.

And it was infuriating.

It wasn't really that he was angry at the human. No matter how much he wanted to blame it all on the boy, he knew Dib had no real clue and no real fault in any of this. Zim gave a quiet hiss. It was more an annoyance with himself that he couldn't shake off.

Even if there now was the possibility of having a willing and – he had to grudgingly admit – not entirely uncomely partner, he knew there was no way he could let that happen.

Both his pride and his duty stepped up to protest vehemently at even the slightest attempt to consider this new opportunity.

Besides...  

If even a mere kiss threatened to burn the sensitive insides of his mouth, Zim didn't even want to imagine how any other sort of contact would feel like.

Forcing himself to focus, the alien sped up his steps to make his way to the main computer room. There would be some planning that needed to be done before they blew up the house. First of all, and if only to take his mind off other things and provide a bit of relaxation, he would see how many explosives they'd need and which to use to imitate a gas explosion.

Zim grinned a bit. Yes... this would do to relax himself just fine.

It was another few hours filled with silence, making clear that Gir had to have snuck out at some point and couldn't possibly be anywhere in the base.

Not that Zim was complaining.

It gave him a bit more time to start actual preparations and at some point, he found himself thinking that it didn't really matter if the deranged little robot ever returned at all. He had no use for him. All Gir had ever done was mess things up or cause chaos on his own.

The only value the robot had was a nostalgic one. Gir was the only being... the only THING except for his equally useless computer voice he had brought from his homeworld.

After all these years here on earth – it had to be over six years since he had landed – he had no more need for a nostalgic reminder. Especially if it was one that constantly botched up and sabotaged his work where ever he went.

Shaking his head and giving an annoyed sigh, the alien shook his head. He'd not get rid of the failed attempt of a minion that easily and really... he had more important things to think about right now.

Like the delicious choice of explosives and the question if there was such a thing as “too much” for their intent. Zim knew, if it was just him, he'd blow up the house, right along with their entire district. Just to be entirely sure that there was nothing left for the earth authorities to find.

Nothing but rubble and ashes.

Zim grinned. Yes, he liked that concept quite a lot.

And the Dib had been right... maybe it was the perfect opportunity to make people stop looking for him.

He was torn out of his musings when he heard an all too familiar scream tear through the base.

Still, no matter how often he heard it, it never failed to make the alien jump to his feet, making a wild dash down the hall to the Dib's room. The doors slid open to reveal the boy sitting on the floor in a tangle of sheets and trembling limbs.

“Dib-thing?” Zim called out cautiously, not yet stepping into the room to avoid startling the boy further.

To his credit, Dib only startled a bit, snapping wide, golden eyes up to stare at the alien. It took another moment for him to get his bearings and calm down a little.

“I... I'm sorry... I just...”

“Nightmare again?”

“Yes... I didn't mean to disturb you. There just was... she was... she was talking to me and....” Zim watched with a growing frown how the still-confused human fumbled with his words and raked a hand through his unruly, black hair when he failed to put his jumbled thoughts to words.

“Shut up, Dib-thing. You just had an attack a few hours ago, if you work yourself into another, Zim will hit you.”

Somehow, this worked to calm the boy and the dark head gave a nod, slowly, slowly lowering his drawn-up shoulders and taking a few, deep breaths.

Then, he managed a little smile, wrapping his rumpled comforter tighter around himself. “I don't want to be hit. I'd rather have breakfast.”

“Ah, too bad, Zim would have quite liked hitting you.” Both grinned and Dib shrugged, pulling himself up slowly. He wiped at the residual moisture on his forehead and Zim could see he was still trembling, the motions somewhat stiff and erratic.

But he was calming and it didn't look like he was going to lapse back into an attack right away, so breakfast it was.

Still, Zim stayed and watched Dib move about a moment longer, while the boy busied himself with tidying his sleeping place and look for fresh clothes. Just when he had found a t-shirt he liked, he paused to look at the alien. “...what is it?”

“Nothing. Your head is stupid!”

Dib blinked a little speechlessly at that, left behind when the smaller male turned on his heel to march off, back to his main computer room. With a small shake of his 'stupid' head, Dib chose to simply ignore this bit of randomness and just get dressed.

Throwing his worn shirt on top of the pile of laundry that needed washing, he decided to wash up a bit himself before he joined Zim for breakfast. Even though he had showered – twice – the day before, he still felt grubby after his fit, like he always did.

Dib made quick work of that, eager to get some food into his system. Soon enough he found Zim already snacking away on something near his computer. There was a large bowl with a wild mix of different cereals sitting next to him on the control panel and he blinked. “Did... you make me breakfast?”

It was obvious how much the little alien tried not to blush. “Y... You'd have taken forever and we have things to do and explosions to prepare and Zim won't watch you idle about for ages until you've decided on what to eat.”

Dib just nodded and smiled knowingly.

“Well, thank you, this looks really good.” True, it wasn't the first time Zim had prepared meals for him, but it was a rare occasion and really, as the taller male sat down next to his companion to pick up the rather copious portion of breakfast, he very much appreciated the gesture.

“So... about moving the base... how will that even work?”