Zim has been staring at you ever since the incident at lunch. You put on your meanest glare and he quickly averts his eyes only to stare at you again.
The teacher kept droning on about how the world is doomed, doomed, doomed. Are all human schools this... boring? You fiddle with your pen, not paying attention in the slightest. You're way too tired to listen anyway. You begin dozing when suddenly Zim raises his hand.
"What, Zim?" Ms. Bitters growls, annoyed.
"Since you did not answer my question, I shall ask it again! In the event of a totally hypothetical alien invasion, how prepared do you think this planet's defenses will be?"
Is this guy for real? Is he TRYING to expose himself? While pondering the stupidity of Zim, your mind goes blank with fatigue. Before your head hits the desk Dib jostles you awake.
"Hey, the bell just rang. You ready to head home?" he asks gently. You look around; everyone is packing up their stuff.
You yawn and stretch, letting out a simple 'yes'. Slinging your bag over your shoulder, you head out of the classroom with him.
The walk home isn't very eventful. You show Dib your house and he wants to go inside. You quickly decline, you haven't been able to clean everything up yet. He walks you to your front door.
"Hey before you go," he starts, you inwardly cringe.
"What's up, dude?" You put on a fake smile.
"Do you wanna come over to my place? We can have a sleepover! I can show you all my Zim pictures and videos and—"
"Whoa, Dib." You place a finger on his lips, "maybe tomorrow ok? I have to unpack all my stuff right now." you say, pulling out your house keys.
"Oh yeah, I mean, I totally didn't expect you to come tonight! I mean, that's cool." He leans against your mailbox, shifting it a little. He notices and apologizes immediately, earning a chuckle from you. You say your goodbyes and you finally open the front door. Thank god today is over. But you still had work to do.
"Computer!" you shout, pressing the button on your PAK to disable your disguise.
"Yes sir?" your robotic companion blinks to life.
"Discreetly set cameras around the Membrane household. I must be sure that he is not planning to execute me, on the off chance my disguise is faulty." You pause, "which it isn't." You add.
"Yes sir!"
You head to your control panel and find that the cameras are already live. You can see Dib just now walking through the main door and throwing his stuff on the ground.
You watch him go about his routine for a few hours until he heads to his room. You switch off the feed because you're not a creep. Deciding to head to bed, you shuffle to the given room and initiate rest mode.
~~~~
An alarm rings but it is almost immediately shut off. Your rest mode ceased about an hour ago, and you're checking the cameras your computer set up last night. Nothing really interesting is happening so you close the laptop screen and choose an outfit for today. A (f/c) hoodie and black jeans should be good. You walk to school again, but go to Dib's house to walk with him and his sister.
"Oh hey (Y/N)!" Dib smiles brightly
"Hey, Dib!" You sling your arm around his shoulder. His breath hitches, which confuses you but you don't ask. You both wait for Gaz and then trek to school.
You sit down at your desk as Zim enters the classroom. You scowl at him but he pays no mind. He doesn't seem to be interested in you today. Thank god.
You begin doodling in your lined notebook, not drawing anything in particular. You draw yourself, Dib, and Gaz. After finishing you stare at the page. You haven't drawn Zim yet! You smile and decide to make the ugliest drawing of him possible.
...
"What do you have there?"
"AAAAHH!" you leap out of your seat before slamming your notebook closed.
Apparently the lunch bell had rung and you didn't notice. Dib gently puts a hand on your shoulder.
"Whoa, dude, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! It's just lunch time."
You shakily sigh and put the notebook into your bag "no Dib it's fine, I've just been super tired lately. Thanks for bringing me back to my senses" you chuckle and he smiles at you.
"Of course!"
~~~
"He thinks his disguise is good, but he's obviously an alien! And he wants to take over the world!" Dib yells, suddenly bringing attention to you guys. Gaz has her face in her hands and you look at your lap, extremely embarrassed. He calms down soon enough.
"I've also seen Zim walking his little green dog, but it's actually a robot!!"
Robot? Really? Zim got a SIR unit and you didn't? You'll definitely have to speak with the Tallest's sooner or later.
"And his leaders are super tall but they're actually really stupid and—"
"Dib" you interrupt, absolutely exhausted and trying to contain your rage. NO ONE speaks about the Tallest's that way. "I believe you. I believe Zim is an alien."
His eyes light up "Really? You actually believe me?" You nod. Suddenly, he jumps up from his seat, onto the lunch table.
"HAH!" He cries, pointing at Zim who wasn't paying attention, "in your FACE, Zim! I got the new kid on my side! They know you're an alien!"
Zim whips his head around to the loud noise coming from behind him. He jumps up on the table too.
"Dib-smell!" He bellows "I am COMPLETELY NORMAL!"
You try to sink in your seat and make yourself as small as possible. This doesn't save you however as Zim points at you.
"Human scum!" He shrieks, bringing all attention to you "this is untrue, yes? You are much too smart to believe the Dib-worm's lies!!" he says as he hops across tables to get to you.
Zim grasps your arm and pulls you up onto the table with him "I am inviting you to sit at Zim's AMAZING TABLE away from these EARTH SMELLIES" he shouts, even though you're right next to him.
"Oh no! Nuh-uh! (Y/N) doesn't want to sit at your table! They're my friend and they'll never sit with you!" Dib grabs your other arm possessively.
"DO NOT SPEAK FOR THEM!" Zim grips onto your arm harder; you feel as if it will bruise. "You WILL sit with the almighty Zim from now on! BE HONORED!"
"Not on my watch!"
The two start playing tug of war with your body.
This is the absolute worst. You wish you could die.
Gaz, now your savior, slams her hand into the back of Dib's knee, making him fall. The sudden loss of grip sends you flying towards Zim. You tumble for a few seconds and he finally lands on top of you.
"Release me!" He snarls. Yeah, as if you could move
"Excuse me? You're the one on top of me! Release ME!" you spit
His eyes widen in surprise and he lifts himself off of you, mumbling insults and such. You dust yourself off, glaring at him. If looks could kill, he'd be a corpse. As if nothing happened, he walks up to you and grabs your arm roughly, earning a yelp from you.
"What are you whining about?" He looks you straight in the eye. You suddenly lose your confidence. All that intense rage is gone in an instant as you remember the marks he left on your hands. That shit hurt.
"I, um" you stammer "my arm is really sore from when you grabbed me.."
His angry expression softens for a second. He's almost apologetic, but regains his harsh demeanor quickly. "You humans are such pathetic creatures..." he lightens his hold on your arm though.
He begins pulling you along with him to his table when suddenly you hear some annoying voice behind you.
"Hey! (Y/N) isn't sitting with you! They're with me!" he cries, trying to stand up
"Nonsense! This... flesh bag has chosen to sit with me!" He gently lifts your chin with his claw "isn't that right, worm?"
You furrow your eyebrows at the new name he calls you "Yeah, I guess I'll sit with you, Zim." still slightly terrified, you grit your teeth and lock eyes with your friend.
"But (Y/N)..." he whines.
You quickly give a wink in response and he immediately catches on.
"Curse you, Zim! You won't get away with this!" He announces loudly, and winks back. You smile at each other as he sits back down and you walk with Zim.
You both sit down across from each other in awkward silence. He taps a claw on the table to get your attention.
"So, human..."
"It's just (Y/N)" you correct him, trying to keep your mood stable.
"Okay... (Y/N)-human..." he squints at you suspiciously.
"Listen, Zim" you begin, "I don't know what your problem is, or what beef you have with me, but unlike all these other idiots, I'm not brain dead. I know you're not human." He slaps a hand over your mouth. His glove stings and leaves a welt; you try not to explode on him.
"SHHHH" he looks you dead in the eyes and shifts his gaze around you, checking if anyone heard. Keeping your cool, you peel his hand off of your face.
"If you believe I am not human.. then why accept my offer?" he hisses, becoming a lot quieter.
You roll your eyes "because your disguise sucks ass. Also, this" with a spoon you carefully take a glob of the "food" from his tray and drip a bit on his finger. It starts sizzling and he squeezes his eyes shut.
"Yeah. Humans don't do that," you swipe a napkin and wipe the stuff off his hand. He sighs in relief but immediately squints his eyes in disgust.
"Listen, you're probably an okay guy." lies "and I kinda feel bad for you" LIES "so I don't want you to get hurt or anything. I'll help you perfect your disguise okay?"
"Zim needs no help with his appearance!"
"Oh god, Zim," you rub your temples "take it from me. I've studi uhhh— I'm literally a human, I know how things work." Nice save, stupid.
He narrows his eyes, mulling over the idea "Very well hyooman! I will allow thee to assist Zim in blending in!" He grips your hand, "You shall now be my accomplice in taking over this PUTRID STINK PLANET"
Jesus Christ, he actually plans on invading Earth? Really? Dib was right.
"I didn't say I would help you! And you actually have plans to take over Earth?" You wrench your hand out of his grasp "are you insane?"
"Zim is perfectly sane! This is nothing to worry your disgusting little head about!" he pets your hair and you swat him away.
The lunch bell rings and you two head to class. The teacher begins talking about how everything sucks again. Your mind goes blank and soon enough the bell rings to send everyone home. You look over at Zim, curious, and he gives you a thumbs up.
What have you gotten yourself into?
(Just to update: reader is now gender neutral but male presenting. There isn't enough Zim x male/non-binary readers out there and it's a damn shame)