Malfunction (ZaDr)

Chapter 12

Dib ran in a panicked state through the pouring rain. His head was rushing frantically trying to process what had just happened. As it rained harder and he cried more it became increasingly more difficult to tell what was rain and what was his tears. He wondered how long he had felt this way about Zim, how long he had these feelings for him. He wondered if maybe it was just his loneliness and his constant need for affection causing him to feel this way. 

When he had finally arrived home he was completely soaked from head to toe with pieces of his dark wet hair stuck to his face. He was visibly tired and distressed when he closed the door and sighed. Gaz paused he gameslave and looked up genuinely worried. Her eyes widened when she noticed his red puffy eyes and shot up from the couch furious. 

"What did that green bitch do to you!?" 

Before Dib could even look up to give her a proper answer, she was already getting a jacket on and stuffing a pocket knife and brass knuckles in the pocket, ready to rush out of the door.

"I'll fucking kill that little shit!" She shouted with rage as she shoved Dib out of her way to grab the doorknob.

"Gaz no, stop," Dib grabbed her wrist, "It wasn't his fault..." 

"What can I do to help you then? You clearly need some kind of cheering up." 

Dib thought for a second before speaking, "Hold on," Dib walked upstairs to his room and searched through his dresser before finding a purple raincoat that he wanted to give to Zim but kept forgetting. He took it downstairs with him and handed it to Gaz.

"Here, all I need you to do right now is bring this to Zim. I'm pretty sure he forgot to apply his waterproof paste today and the incident lead to me leaving him under the overhang of the school to wait out the rain by himself. Would you mind bringing this to him so he doesn't have to wait to go home?"

"Yeah, I can bring this to him for you, but he'll be lucky if he escapes without a single scratch." 

"Please promise me you won't hurt him," Dib looked at Gaz with a dead-serious expression.

"Fine." She replied quickly.

Dib wasn't convinced so he held out his hand to her.

"What?"

Dib just kept looking at her and made a 'gimme' gesture with his hand.

"Ugh, fine." Gaz groaned as she handed him the brass knuckles and knife. 

"Thank you."

"Whatever," Gaz rolled her eyes while stuffing the coat into a bag and slinging it on her back, "I'll be back." 

Dib watched Gaz head out of the door and he went back upstairs to get dried off. Once he was dry he threw himself onto his bed and his eyes began to water as the realization that he probably just ruined his friendship his him. 

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Zim sat with his back against the brick wall. He had been sitting there for a little over an hour waiting for the rain to calm down so he could walk home. He fidgeted uncomfortably while trying to think of a way out of this situation he got himself in. For the first time in his life, he actually regretted being overconfident and arrogant. He wished that he would have just laughed awkwardly in response to Dib instead of literally trying to kiss him. Zim mentally cursed himself for acting the way he did. He knew he wasn't working for anyone anymore, but he still felt like he was falling for his enemy, despite being friends.  

He stared off and began to imagine what kind of mess he would have to deal with getting home. He already knew Gir couldn't be trusted alone for a half an hour let alone an entire school day then some. As Zim was lost in thought, he saw a familiar purple-haired girl walking along the sidewalk. He found it odd especially since she wasn't even on her gameslave. Zim could swear that was the only time he had ever seen her without it in hand. She was holding a black umbrella and a purple raincoat. He watched her walk out of curiosity until she was close enough for him to realize she was walking towards him. Zim stood up and waited for her to come close enough for him to approach her without the rain touching his sensitive skin.