(Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. Been dealing with exams so I'm 100% in stress mode. I was gonna wait until next week but I was hit with inspiration at a really wierd and inconvenient time and ended up writing an entire chapter. Hope you enjoy❤😂👌
Ps. This chapters slightly longer than the others. Yes I was that inspired)
I lay back on the couch with a giggling Gir on my lap.
For the past hour we'd been watching "angry monkey show: the movie", the little robots new obsession. It was on sale at a charity shop so I found myself buying it for him.
His reaction was priceless, quickly rushing over to hug my leg and squeal out an excited "I love you!" Before pulling me towards the couch and taking the DVD from my grasp.
Not long after that, he had plopped himself on my lap and began giggling and clapping to the shows silly premise when the title screen ascended.
In the midst of all of this, there was a clanking sound alarming itself in the background. Along with these strange noises was the frustrated yells of the irken I had grown to love.
"Ugh stupid thing!" He yelled out, causing more clanking sounds to emit even louder than before.
Gir turned to face me with teary eyes, gripping my sleeves and tugging on them quickly.
"I cant hear my movie!" He cried, somehow making his large blue optics even bigger and holding a heart melting frown on his face.
It didnt take long to convince me to do something about it, so I picked him up and placed him gently back on the couch when I stood up.
As I left for the kitchen, the robot had reached out his hands to me in a grabby motion. However, those motions stopped once the movie caught his attention once more.
My focus went back to the kitchen, the frustration of Zim starting to become worrying as he cursed to himself. As I walked into the room, I quickly took note of his position.
He had removed his PAK and sat it on the table, open. He had removed his gloves, them now cast to the side in order to take grasp of fiddly parts of the gadget. He had also clearly been banging his hand against the desk space hard; it was visible in the dark bruise forming at the bottem of his clenched fist.
His eye twitched in annoyance, drawing attention to his grimance aswell.
"Zim? What's wrong?" I questioned, alerting the irken.
He turned in his chair quickly, immediately startled by my presence. His hands gripped the arms of the chair in shock, lightly trembling.
"Its nothing" he lied through his teeth, pressing his back into the chair harder.
He's looked like this before. It reminded me of the time he completely broke down in front of me. Something was definitely bothering him.
"Zim, your clearly not okay. What's up with your PAK?" I questioned, darting my eyes towards the device on the table.
Some gears and knots had been removed and Zim had clearly been overdoing it. It looked more like he was fiddling with the device than fixing it and that only arose more questions within me. Just what is he trying to do?
The irken continued to tremble, tightening his grip on the chair.
"Its nothing important. I just need to...fix something..." he claimed, hesitating to blurt out any information about it.
"Oh really? Is everything okay? Your not missing memories or something are you!?" I panicked, pretty worried about his wellbeing.
It was possible that whatever he was trying to fix was pretty endangering to him. So it was perfectly reasonable to worry over it.
"No I'm not missing memories..." he trailed off, "I'm just trying to remove something..."
I raised a brow in confusion, walking to the opposite side of the table to sit down.
I didn't need to know what the problem was. It was okay for him not to tell me. However, I couldnt let him keep hurting himself over it.
My eyes trailed back to the large bruise on his fist and my first instinct was to gently take it.
I slowly rubbed my thumb over the dark circle, frown ever present on my face.
"Whatever you need to remove, you shouldnt be hurting yourself over it. If it's that hard to do, you can ask me for help. That's what friends do, Zim" I spoke, keeping my voice low and calm to help ease his emotions too.
There was a long pause, a comfortable one. We were frozen for a short while until Zim started to close his fingers around mine, locking our hands together.
"....I'm trying to remove some emotions..." he claimed, refusing to look at me as he spoke. "I've been feeling things that I shouldnt be feeling and its causing a deficiency in my PAK." He explained slowly, not entirely sure of how to voice the cause of his upset.
His trembling started up again, I could feel it steadily rising in the palm of my hands as I continued to rub them gently.
"Deficiency? What does that have to do with emotions?" I questioned, tilting my head slightly.
The irken released a shaky sigh, seeming unable to continue his explanation. He just stopped talking, taking a long moment to attempt at controlling his breathing.
Eventually it ended up leading to computers voice cutting through the silence.
"Allow me to explain. Irkens have a very specific system and criteria they must follow. If this criteria is not met, then an Irken is considered defective." They explained, urging Zim to nod along solemnly.
I was still clearly confused. What did it have to do with emotions? What part of the criteria was Zim failing to meet?
My eyes landed back on zim, who clenched his eyes shut. He was distressed and clearly was not prepared for this conversation.
The computer continued, sensing my confusion.
"Certain emotions in irkens are considered Defective, whether it be superiority, defiance to the empire, or deep emotional connections, like love."
I nodded, finally understanding.
Zim had a few deep connections of friendship. It may not have been the love I was hoping for but Zim has made some pretty strong emotional connections with me and Lori. Not to mention he definitely has some sort of superiority complex.
But why it was such a problem continued to elude me. What was wrong with having feelings?
"Why is that considered defective?" I asked, unsure if it was right for me to continue asking questions.
This time Zim responded, eagerly trying to regain his composure.
"Because irkens cant lose sight of their purpose. If we had any emotional connectivity, it could cause us to make decisions that lack any benefit to the armada. It just weakens us..." he stated, sounding both sure and unsure at once.
The was no way of telling what he really thought about this rule.
"But that shouldnt matter. Your feelings dont endanger anybody. And your feelings are what make you who you are." I told him, voice raising ever so slightly.
Zim growled, tightly shutting his eyes again as he snarled.
"But that's not in Irks criteria! I cant be defective! I cant!.." his yelling died down, and his grip on my hand tightened. His expression was desperate. "What relevance do feelings have any way?..." he asked rhetorically, looking away from me and trialing his gaze to the floor.
"They prove your alive. That's one thing."
His eyes widened slightly at my words before he quickly moved to look at me in awe.
Before he could say anything else I spoke again, lacing my fingers through his.
"They can help gain friendship, which means you'll always have someone there for you" I stated, listing off reasons for having emotions.
With every reason I gave, Zim continued to look suprised and completely in awe at my words. He looked like he was clinging on to every one.
"And I probably wouldn't hang out with you if you were emotionless. It's always exciting to be around you because of your emotions." I finished, placing my other hand over his in attempts to comfort him out of the insecurity bubbling up inside of him.
I picked up some of the loose parts of his PAK, gently pushing them into his palm in a silent request to put it all back together. He kept his gaze lingering on it for a good while, eventually obliging and putting it all back to the way it was.
I stood from my seat, circling back around the table to sit beside the irken.
I shuffled closer to him, pulling him into a tight embrace which was quickly returned when he buried his face deep into my neck. The shaky breathing he emitted began to slow down lightly and his movements became calm. It looked like he was beginning to fall asleep, completely attached to me and the heavy breath relaxing a little.
"Zim?" I nudged him slightly, allowing the irken to back away from my form as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.
He seemed to be in a daze, like he was tired. But is that even possible?
"Zim, are you okay?" I questioned, tilting my head in a quizzical motion.
"I just...need to put my PAK back on..." he murmured, slowly attracting the device to his back and allowing it to connect again.
A shiver went up his back and he seemed to have regained some of his energy. But he remained attached to my lap, leaning against my chest and listening to the steady beats of my heart.
"How long have you had it off for?" I asked, fiddling with his ungloved hands curiously. I rarely ever got to see his hands.
The irken shuffled in his spot on my legs, his eyes still half-lidded in an exhausted daze.
"8...maybe 9 minutes" he finally spoke, seemingly unaffected by the close call.
I wanted to say something. I wanted to let him know how scary that is. But I couldnt bring myself to speak.
He was tired, so obviously shown in the way he leaned against me and seemed to drop all of his pride in an instant. I couldnt ruin this moment of peace.
"Y/n?" Spoke the irken, gripping the edge of my shirt and nuzzling closer.
I hummed, urging him to continue as I moved my hands from his and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"When you found out that you had feelings for me...what did it feel like?" He muttered, being the quietest I'd ever heard him.
My entire face flushed, I could feel the heat rising throughout my cheeks and making the heartbeat Zim was listening to quicken.
"Do I really have to explain that Zim?" I asked, swallowing a large lump in my throat and slowly loosening my grip on his torso.
The irken buried his face into my chest once more, fully bringing his arms to wrap around my own waist.
"I just...feel like your doing something to me. I cant exactly explain it."
I wanted to ask him about it, but he spoke before I could.
"Its possible that these feelings I've recently been gaining are the same as the ones you've had for me." He continued, shaking his head lightly. "I want to be around you all the time but...I shouldnt be feeling like this. It would just make me defective. A disgrace to the empire...." he confessed, squeezing his eyes shut as he continued.
The irken remained stiff, his eyes remaining tightly shut and trembling at the amount of force he gave to keep them that way. His breathing was shallow and he clearly was panicking over what he felt and what those feelings would do to him.
There was only one way to be sure.
"What do you feel, Zim?"
Said alien slowly opened his eyes, taking a moment to adjust from the sheer force of keeping them closed so tight.
"...well...I...feel....a strange twist in my squeedilyspooch. And...my pulse increases and ....I feel warm around you...."
His explanation was vague and slow, trying to find the correct words to describe the emotions that overwhelmed him greatly.
"And your presence calms me..." he continued to list, making my heartbeat quicken to record breaking speeds.
As Zim finished listing the many unfamiliar emotions, without little to any shame, it became clear that he was feeling something more than friendship. It gave me peace of mind to know that my feeling were returned.
However...
"What would the tallest think!? If they knew about this..." he trailed off, turning away from me and sitting back on his chair.
"Zim, its okay" I tried to relax his nerves, waving my hand down in attempts to soothe him.
He shook his head quickly.
"No! It's not okay! I'm Irks greatest invader! I cant have these feelings for you!" He stated loudly, looking at his hands.
Computer intervened next, noticing my struggle to keep up with Zim and his distraught rambling.
"Sir, the higher ups dont have to know. Beside, it's very clear that you do have these feelings. You shouldn't ignore them" they suggested, earning a smile and nod of appreciation from me.
Zim froze in his tracks.
"Lie? To the tallest!?" He turned to the computer, pointing an accusing finger toward the ceiling. "How dare you even suggest such a thing!" He finished.
"Is it really lying if it never comes up in a conversation?" Spoke the deep voice of computer.
Zim was about to speak again, but froze before a single syllable was uttered. He had no comeback.
Nothing to rebuke with.
"Zim?" I questioned, attempting to pull the irken out of whatever trance he was stuck in.
It seemed to work and Zims thoughtful gaze transformed into one of preparation for whatever came next.
"Very well..." he sighed, turning to face me with a large blue hue overtaking his features.
"Y/n! I want you to be my love pig!!" He blurted out, pointing at me as if there was other people around.
The blue on his face remained prominent. Even as I myself became flushed and warm at what he just asked me.
"I- uh-" I didnt have the words to finish my sentence. I just stayed frozen in my spot, completely in awe.
Eventually the wait became too annoying for someone else.
"Ugh, just say yes, its not that difficult, you dork!" Spoke computer, using their mechanical arms to push us closer together.
We were so close that my breath became hitched and I almost couldnt breath.
"Yeah...I'd love to be your love pig, Zim" I spoke without much thought, still completely trapped in his gaze when I did.
"YAY MASTER AND CHERRY IN LOVE!! CONGRATUALTIONS MARRY!!" Squeeled the tiny robot entering the room and combining the two nicknames.
Our blushing became even more prominent, as we turned our heads towards Gir quickly.
Zim seemed less than happy about the interruption.
"GIR GET OUT!"