School trip of changes

Chapter 6: Day 4 Distraction and Tears of Happiness

Dib's mouth stood open as he felt his eyes producing tears. "...what...?", of course he had understood what Zim said and meant, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to have to understand the horrible fact that his love to the green Irken was not right and apparently not even allowed. He was too late. That bitch Natasha, Tash, was first and took Zim. He was rightful hers by Irken law.

Zim sighed, looking at Dib apologizing. "I knew this day would come..."

The human was shocked. " You... you knew I love you?" Dib was terrified. Just picturing Zim thinking about how to tell Dib that there was no way they could be together hurt the boy.

"Not exactly... but I knew that there was going to come the day that one of you humans would find interest in Zim, after all I started fitting in. I had no clue you didn't hate Zim like you pretended to do...", Zim admitted sadly.

"I wasn't pretending. I just... didn't know myself." The boy felt that the tears made their way down his cheeks now and he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

"Goodnight, Dib." Zim said and lay down, ending the conversation with that. The pale boy didn't answer to it, he just lay down as well. He cried silently for not being able to call the green teenager his own. For realizing how much he really cares for his green classmate too late. If he would have found out just before the Irken mating time, he would have had a chance. Then a thought rushed through Dib's mind "I still don't know if he loves me back or not..." It was true. Zim hasn't answered that. He just said that Dib couldn't love him. But what chance was there? How tiny must the chances for this relationship have been?

One thing was sure. By the time him and Zim wake up tomorrow nothing would be like before.

7:00am

Dib's alarm clock beeped to wake all the boys in the room up as usual. As Torque and Keef wanted to stay in bed and turned around to sleep some more, Dib sat up and looked at Zim, who stood up to get dressed, ignoring the stare of the human. "Anyone wanna stay here with Zim, coz I'm not very hungry." Dib was about to say that he'd stay, but he knew that the green Teenager was trying to avoid his human companion. Even now that they decided to be some sort of friends, after the talk they had last night, both of them should try not to spend that much time together.

Aron then raised his voice, while getting dressed in a pair of jeans. "Yeah, I'll stay, I'm not that hungry, either and I really don't wanna listen to that annoying teacher's voice."

"Excellent.", zim answered and finished getting dressed.

After Dib, Keef and Torque got dressed they went to eat breakfast. While Torque and Keef ate their food, not too happy with whatever it was, Dib couldn't eat a single bite. It felt like there was some sort of ball stuck in his throat that made him unable to talk or swallow. When someone asked him something, he responded with nodding, shaking his head or just some small sounds or words.

The female teacher and Mr. Elliot entered through the main door and immediately spoke up, before they even ate something. "Good morning, kids!" No one listened, everyone continued to talk and make noise. The female teacher seemed to be really pissed today, at least that's what Dib thought. He didn't know why, but she caused the impression that she was mad. Only that weirdo Elliot was still smiling happily. Was he happy about no one listening to him? Not caring about Elliot's relaxed response to the kids' reaction, the female teacher took out a whistle and blew into it. The noise was earpiercing and immediately shut everyone up. "Good morning.", all the teenagers said in a chorus. Everyone except for Dib, he still wasn't able to talk. "As you might have noticed, today is the last day of this trip." Sad noises and "awws" were heard in the crowd. "Now you all know that for this being the last day of this trip, Mr. Elliot and I might have planned a really interesting and fun day for you." Happy and exited talking came form the teenagers. "But we didn't. Instead we decided to use this last day to let you write an essay about this trip. It has to be very long. When you're done, Elliot and I will check if it's long enough. If it is, you can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the youth hostel. If it isn't you'll have to write it all over again." The kids were obviously starting to complain about that.

Mr. Elliot then said something. "And to make this a little more fun, we decided to let you all also write a short story or a little poem we will be reading our tomorrow when we're on our way back to America." He smiled. Someone in the crows yelled. "How's that fun?" And Elliot got a bowl of weird breakfast into his face, right after that he started to run around screaming and the teenagers laughed. Dib didn't feel like laughing at all. He just wanted to lie in his bed and die. He sighed and stood up, walking past tables with laughing and talking teenagers, bringing away his untouched food. He made a sign to Torque and Keef that he'd be heading back to their room now. If he'd start immediately with the essay he might be done before noon or at least afternoon so he could do something else and see if he could find anyone there was anything to do with beside Zim. So the black-haired teen went back to his room and found Zim and Aron playing cards.

"Hey.", Dib greeted. "Hey.", Aron repeated and Zim just gave Dib a short glance. "What are we going to do today?" , Aron asked, expecting some sort of tour. Zim didn't seem to really pay attention, even though he was actually listening to every word the human said.

"Well, the teacher is being a bitch, so she lets us write a long essay about this trip. Afterward you can do whatever the hell you want. Oh and if you are interested in embarrassing yourself in front of everyone you can write a poem or short story and read it out in front of everyone tomorrow in the airplane.", Dib said and laid on his bed, looking at Zim's hand with the cards in it.

"Yeah, right.", Aron sneered. "Well, I am a person who hates to follow rules, but does it anyways, so I will start right now." ,he said putting the cards away. "does anyone have paper and something to write with?"

"Yeah." Dib gave him some sheets of paper and a pen. Aron sat down and started writing, he seemed to be very fast with this. Aron was nice. He was also being nice to Dib. Maybe they could hang out later, since Zim wanted distance. But if Dib wanted to hang out with him, he needed to finish fast too, so he took what he needed and tried to start writing. But Zim kept disturbing him. Not the real Zim, the Zim in Dib's head. He was always there, distracting him from his essay.

"That's interesting."

"huh?", Dib asked and saw Zim looking over his shoulder, staring onto the paper. "Why's that interesting I just wrote-" He looked at the sheet of paper and saw that he drew a heart with D+Z in it while he was distracted by the Irken in his head. "Uh..." He blushed.

"Who's Z?", Aron asked, also staring at Dib's sheet of paper.

"What the- How did you get here? You were just over there, writing!"

"You sat here drooling for half an hour so I wanted to know why.", the boy explained. "So... about the Z?"

"uh... well...", Dib looked at Zim without Aron noticing. "I've always liked tat person a lot... but was too stupid to notice it..."

Zim sighed. "And who is that person?", he asked, hoping that Dib could find an excuse.

"Zita." , Dib lied.

Aron looked at Dib, grinning. "Yeah, she's kinda cute." Aron went back to write on his essay. "I just thought it might be someone else... Natasha tells everyone weird things."

Dib was curious. "What kind of things?"

"You being gay... and in love with.. .well... Zim. I didn't believe her but.. .well... the Z just... surprised me a little."

The human boy was shocked. Natasha told everyone that kind of things about Dib? Why the hell would she do that? Dib did nothing to harm her. He barely talked to her! How could she dare to do that? Was she maybe jealous because Dib got to spend so much time with Zim? Or did she just hate him because she did?

"Don't listen to that bitch, Natasha... she's an attention-whore, I don't think you can trust her.", Dib growled a little, looking at Zim, even though he spoke to Aron, the words were meant for the green boy at his side.

Zim knew that and responded. "Ignore Dib, he's just jealous because Natasha gets to be with many more humans than the Dib gets to. Also Zim was Dib's friend until he started dating Natasha." Zim explained, glaring at Dib.

Aron, who was just staring at the sheet of paper in front of him commented on that. "Ohh, so that's why Natasha told everyone that he's gay... " He looked at Dib. "So it's not true?"

Dib shook his head. "No. … Hey, I wonder where Torque and Keef are."

"I met them when I went to the bathroom, they said they had no intention in writing this essay so they snuck out." Aron shrugged.

"oh, I see." Dib returned to his essay and continued to write. He looked at Zim, who had for some weird reason already finished. However he did that, the sheets of paper lay neatly written on the table in the room. "You're already done?", Dib asked confusedly. How the hell would Zim be able to finish in half an hour. "Yes. You want me to write yours too?" , the alien offered.

"you would do that for me?", the human boy asked.

"Yes. Zim doesn't hate you, Dib-stink. Don't think things you can't be sure about. Zim doesn't like you as much as you love the Zim, but he doesn't hate you. " with those words the alien grabbed Dib sheet of paper and read the few sentences. "This is no good." he ripped the sheet of paper apart and threw it into the trashcan next to the table. "Let me start all over again for you."

"Okay...", Dib mumbled, barley audible, he tried to fight the blood that was rushing to his cheeks , but without use.

Aron left silently. Just thinking his part to this.

And so they sat there. All alone. Zim writing Dib's essay. "Why are you writing it for me...? You could just... leave me here alone writing. You could go visit Natasha..." , the human said quietly, but loud enough for his companion to hear.

The alien immediately stopped writing and looked at Dib. "Do you really think I hate you...?"

The black-haired boy didn't really know what to say. They had decided to be friends so he couldn't actually hate him, at least not as much as he used to do. But loving the green Irken could also be a reason for the one spoken of. "I don't know..."

The irken sighed and left with the pen and the paper. Leaving Dib just sitting there, unsure about what to do. Then Torque and Keef came in. Neither of them looked very happy. "Thought you snuck out." , Dib said.

"Well, we tried and if Smiley McGay over here wouldn't have commented loudly about The clothing of a girl that was just entering the youth hostel we would've made it.", Torque glared at Keef. "I should have gone by myself. What about you ,weirdo, being all alone here?"

Obviously, Torque wasn't searching for someone to fight with, neither verbally nor Physically, well, Dib ignored the "weirdo" . "I dunno, one moment I was with Aron and Zim, next moment both of them are gone, so I pretty much had nothing to do."

"Where did Zimmy go?" , Keef asked, making Dib mad. No one should call the Irken, HIS Irken 'Zimmy'.

Dib shrugged.

"By the way, the teachers decided just now that we are going for a night hike. If I and this little creep are missing we have to repeat the schoolyear. At least that's what the teacher said. Damn she was pissed.", It might have been just talking out of anger, but it was safer to obey the moody teacher than in the end really having to repeat the schoolyear. "It seems like something for little kids, but at least we don't have to hold hands like little kids."

Zim then came in, letting the freshly written essay fall into Dib's lap, but before anyone could say anything the Irken left again.

"What's wrong with that guy?", Torque asked.

But he received no answer.

The whole day long Zim wasn't seen by anyone. Not even Natasha knew where the green Irken was. Dib felt how much he missed the little alien and wished badly he was there physically, not only in the young man's heart and mind. No matter what he did, the green one interrupted his train of thought all the time. Was it when he was plying chess with Aron, when he was reading or when he was playing poker with Torque and Keef. Zim always gave him company in his head, maybe even unwanted company.

Later that day, at early night the teenagers all got dressed in jackets and shoes, so that they could do the night hike. Then all of them waited in front of the entrance to be counted by the teachers. Dib took off his glasses to clean them with his jacket, when he noticed that someone moved in front of him. His vision was blurry, but he could realize the familiar skin color. Zim. When he put his glasses on he saw the other one even better. "Zim? Where were you all day?", Dib asked, worry in his voice.

"That's none of your human business." Was the response that came from the alien. Even though the answer sounded somehow harsh, Zim's voice was warm and calm. It was really weird hearing the usually really annoying voice of the Invader like this.

Dib was surprised by the answer. He had expected that Zim would give him a good reason for not being there all day, knowing that the human must've been worried. "Alright..." The black haired human looked at his feet. "Don't you wanna go to your beloved Tash?", he then asked quietly. He didn't really mean it. He didn't want Zim to leave him alone once again, but the green skinned teen heard the question anyway. Irken antennae were very sensitive, even under a wig.

"No, I don't. And don't you ever dare to say that she's 'my beloved Tash' I never said I love her or even like her, I just said she was my Irken mating partner." a slight, but not strong glare came from the fake purple eyes just before the kids were counted by the teacher.

Dib now looked at the other. "I thought you loved her, you actually don't?"

"No." Zim replied dryly. "As I told you, Irkens don't mate out of love. It just brings confusion and chaos. Look at your human news sheets. People seem to get killed because they were in love with the wrong person weekly. To prevent this just make it be against the law. That's what our past almighty tallest did." Just speaking of 'tallest' made Zim feel pain in his probably none existing heart.

"Yeah, but if it was against the law many many people would get into jail for loving. And going through with that on the whole world is likely impossible. I mean, there are countries already where you don't marry out of love, you just get married when you're just a kid to someone your family wants you to have.", Dib explained.

Zim looked around. "This is really not the place to discuss this, is it? We were already counted. Let's hide in the bushes.", he suggested. A nasty smile appearing on his face.

"Don't you wanna go with Ta-"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, NO, I DON'T, BECAUSE I DON'T LOVE HER!", The irken yelled. Another clear case of Irken anger. Everyone stared at him as the only noise audible were the birds flying away.

"Alright, it's okay...", the human held his hands defending in front of him. As Zim didn't show any signs of calming down, Dib didn't know what to do anymore. The teacher remembered being yelled at before. "What's wrong with that kid?", she asked.

Zim growled.

"It's okay, he'll be fine, we should just start walking and he'll relax. You won't even know he's here.", the caramel eyed human tried to explain to his teacher, who just nodded numbly, apparently going with that seemed to work out just fine for her.

When they started walking, Zim pulled Dib aside into the bushes, not caring that he human lost his glasses on the way and that this was a bush with thorns in it. "ow! Zim, you idiot!", Dib whispered. The alien shushed him, holding his hand onto the other's mouth, who blushed at that and just took Zim's amazing scent it. When the others were gone, the hand was removed and the Invader cheered for not having to go on something as childish as a night hike. "Yay! We don't have to go!", he sounded as happy as Gir when he ate waffles or tacos. "Oh, sorry about yelling, by the way. You know … the anger."

The human nodded. "Yeah... that's not even my problem right now, when you pulled me, you made my glasses fall, I think they broke. So... yeah." , he complained.

"Pathetic human." Zim cursed and picked up the glasses, since he was able to see very well. He stood up and so did Dib. Then the Irken put the glasses gently over Dib's nose and ears, it just had a little crack in one lens, he was able to still use it. "There you go."

"Thanks...", the teenager mumbled under his breath as he blushed from Zim's touch. "So, do you wanna talk about-"

Zim pressed his lips against Dib's, both of them blushing. The Irken stood on the tip of his toes so he was tall enough to reach for Dib's lips with his own. The Invader's eyes were closed, showing pure enjoyment, as he wrapped his arms around the human's neck and started messing his hair. The caramel eyed one soon closed his eyes in enjoyment as well, wrapping his arms around Zim's waist. This moment of pure passion lasted for a few minutes, both of them gasping for air a few times. Dib felt tears rolling down his pale cheeks. Tears of happiness.

It was then that Zim got back to stand on his complete feet and looked up at his love, holding both of the other's hands. "I don't love Tash, I was just forced to mate with her. And if on this planet love is more important than orders and law I will go with it and use it as my chance to be with who I really wanna be with." He blushed shyly. "And that is you, Dib-love."

I had a LONG delay from all my fanfics. Especially this one. If anyone still reads this, thank you you are a loyal reader and you get a big thumb up by me. T-T

NightFuryLove: Yes, Sis Natasha's Irken, mwahahaha. Thanks^^

Neutral747: Dibby:Yay Me: My OC! D:

Depressed Chibi: Why thank you for calling me evil, mwahahahhaha! Oh and thanks^^

XxproperxsadxladyxsilentxX: Sorry the update took so long ^^;

NnytheHomicidalLoveofMyLife: Thank you^^

Futuregirl112: Nuuu, don't die D:

Darkdagers: yes, poor him, yell I didnT' continue soon, still, thanks ^^;