"Yeah, I figured," Gaz said, continuing to play her game. It wasn't like Dib was being discrete about his feelings.

"But Gaz, what do I do?"

"Just ask him out. That's what I did when I did after crushing on Jax."

Jax was her boyfriend, who she had been dating for about a year. He was loud and partied a lot, while Gaz was quiet when she wasn't angry. It was weird how the relationship worked out, but it did.

"I know," he started. "But how do I know if he likes me back? It's not easy being rejected!" Dib paced back and forth. "I mean, what would that do to our friendship? Would he stop talking to me? Would he hate me again? Does he even know what love is?"

"Calm down, it won't be that bad. You doofuses were made for each other." She looked up from her gameboy. "Tell me, how would you ask him out?"

Dib thought for a little. "I don't know? Maybe I'd tell him to meet me somewhere special and ask him? But where could that be...?"

He spent a while thinking, which lead to uncomfortable silence. Gaz walked to the door before saying," Listen, I don't have anymore time for this. Just think about it because I want to see this happen." Then, she left.

Where would he ask Zim out? Or when? Would he even accept? There was so much going through his head, and that was only about the current situation. He still hadn't lived down the moment where he ran out of a play midway. That, and he also had to focus on Zim's feelings because of his depression and-

It was just so much. Besides those things there was also the end of skool happening, and around that time he would be 19. How time flies.

"What am I going to do?" He muttered, defeated. Gaz wasn't helping at all, besides just being there. And asking his family would be pointless, because they would just fangirl over him and Zim, totally ignoring the situation. But wait...

There was one person he could ask. Sure, it was risky, but what else could he do? Yes, it was perfect...

He was going to ask Gretchen what to do.

Dib had asked her advice about his past crush, so she was the first person he thought of. Plus, she was the type of person to watch a ton of romance movies. Therefore, she was an expert.

Everything started to fall into place. The plan was foolproof, nothing could go wrong, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dib was woken up by the loud sound of his alarm. However, for the first time in forever he was actually glad to hear it. He knew that he had a chance, so he had to take it.

He quickly put on his regular attire, made breakfast (two poptarts), and opened the door to reveal someone unexpected.

"Gretchen?"

Well, that was weird. She never went to his house in the morning, only once in kindergarten. And that was only because she had missed her bus, or at least, that's what she said.

"Hi, Dib! I decided to walk to skool today, and I saw your house nearby! So, I wanted to ask if you could walk with me?" She flashed a bright smile, clearly unfazed by the 'incident'. He wondered how she could forgive so easily.

"Uh, sure. Afterall, I kind of did run away when...y'know." He coughed into his shoulder awkwardly. "I should probably let you know that Zim's coming with us, though, since we walk together everyday."

Gretchen nodded.

They walked from his house to Zim's and Dib knocked on the door. It was opened almost seconds later by the Irken.

"Dib-stink, there you are! You took forever to get here! Zim was considering just walking there by myself!" He crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I know, sorry! It just took a little longer walking here with Gretchen."

Zim looked at the girl with a judgemental look.

"You have very low standards."

Dib blushed bright red.

"No, she isn't my girlfriend! We're just friends! Also, I have high standards, for your information!"

Zim shrugged.

"Whatever."

The pair (and Gretchen) started the long journey to skool after a little more playful banter. Zim and Dib chatted about their usual topics, space and cryptids, as Gretchen watched. Sometimes she would chime in with something, but even then it was only directed towards Dib. It was like Zim wasn't even there.

"For real though, I don't get it! Just because there isn't any video evidence of him doesn't mean that he doesn't exist! Cameras aren't supposed to work around him, duh!" Dib was currently ranting about the PB&J monster to the alien.

"Yeah, right? I've had some encounters with him, and he's a nice guy! Believe it or not, it actually saddens him that scientists think he doesn't exist!" Zim crossed his arms. "It's pretty rude if you ask me."

"Yeah, Dib, I find it insulting to all paranormal investigators in the world, including me!" Gretchen said cheerily.

"You're a paranormal investigator?"

"Yup! Always have been! I'm really good at it too! I actually have pictures of an alien species too, but unfortunately they're at home!"

Dib practically had stars in his eyes.

"You have pictures? That's great! We can show them to the-"

Zim elbowed him.

"-I mean! That's great! What did they look like?"

"I can't tell you, you'll have to see for yourself!" She giggled loudly. "You're so cute!"

Everyone went silent at her remark.

"What's 'cute'?" Zim asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, it's-"

"Oh, wow!" Dib exclaimed as he interrupted her explanation. "We've made it to skool! Isn't that great?"

Zim nodded. "Yeah, I guess." He gave him a hug before walking to class. Gretchen wasn't impressed.

"That was a little long, don't you think?" She asked as she walked with him to their class.

"I guess? It felt nice to me."

"But isn't that kind of clingy?"

"A little, but he's touch-starved, Gretchen. And, I don't mind it anyways. He's a great friend." Dib blushed at his last statement, but luckily she didn't notice.

"I guess," she said with a sigh. "Just don't forget about me, okay?"

"Alright."

First period went by rather slowly. At least, Dib thought it did. All that was going through his mind was his plan and concerns. He had said the same thing in his head multiple times," If he doesn't like me back, we can still be friends." But it didn't seem like it. Zim reacted to situations very... unpredictably. So who was to say that he would want to be around him anymore?

What if he hated him after? Or, what if he told everyone else about his crush?

What if he killed him?

Dib shook his head. It was stupid comparing the situation with Torque Smackey to asking Zim out. Stupid and unfair. He could've gotten hurt or raped, while getting asked out could just be confusing for him. He wasn't an animal, he was conscious of his actions, and knew when he was in danger.

"Dib? You seem stressed," Gretchen whispered as she poked his shoulder. He gave her a nervous smile in response.

"What? Me?? No way!" He chuckled. "What makes you think that?"

She gave him an unimpressed look.

"I've watched you for years, so it's easy to tell how you're feeling. How else would I know?"

"You've what? Wait-"

Before Dib could continue, the bell rang, dismissing class. Gretchen was the first person to get up. She stretched and winked at him meaning 'we'll talk later' before walking out of the room. He followed a little afterwards.

Ms. Ally Kaholick's class was next, which was a good and bad thing. While it was good that 90% of the time she would just let them do whatever they wanted, the room reeked of alchohol. She was always drunk too, and when she wasn't passed out she was watching her soap operas on the projector at full volume. Then she would cry over the littlest things that were happening.

Of course, with a name like Ally Kaholick you really have no choice but to be that way, huh? She wasn't married because anytime she would introduce herself as 'Al Kaholick' they'd give her a weird look and walk away. Dib hoped that he would never end up like her.

Once he walked inside the classroom the familar smell of alchohol pierced his nostrils. He held his breath and made his way to his desk, which was conveniently placed next to Gretchen's.

"Alright, now be honest with me," she said with a serious look. "What's upsetting you?"

Dib took a deep breath before deciding to just risk it all.

"Well, there's this person I like... and I don't know how to ask them out. If I were to ask you, what would you want?"

Gretchen smiled brightly and blushed.

"W-What would I want? Um, let's see... I would want to go to that fair that's coming into town tomorrow! Oh! And I'd also want to see the firework show!"

Her excitement soon turned into shyness as she looked towards the ground.

"And during the end of the date, I would want you to tell me how much you care about me... and then we would kiss under the moonlight. T-That's what I would want." She gazed into his eyes longingly. "Dib? Who are you planning o-on asking out?"

He blushed and avoided eye-contact.

"It's Zim."

Gretchen nodded. Then, she raised her hand.

"Ms. Kaholick? I need to use the restroom."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, it's now or never, loser."

Dib was currently standing outside of the school with Gaz and her boyfriend. His eyes were on the Irken who was waiting for him under a small tree. He seemed to be entertained by a small ladybug that had landed on the sleeve of his hoodie.

"I don't know, Gaz... what if I mess up?"

His sister sighed before looking at him dead in the eyes.

"Listen, if I have to put up with any more of your 'what if he doesn't like me?' talk then I'm done. You two idiots have been obsessed with each other ever since he came to this damn skool. If you two don't end up together, I'll be really surprised."

She went back to playing her game, but her speech wasn't done.

"Just suck it up and go ask him out. The longer you act like a chicken, the less time it'll take for him to find some other loser."

Gaz grabbed Jax's hand and lead him away from Dib. But just as they reached the road, she turned to him one last time.

"Don't make a fool of yourself, alright?"

Dib nodded. She was right, he needed to get himself together. He looked at Zim once more before walking up to him, slowly but surely.

"Hey, Zim?"

The Irken turned to see the human.

"There you are, Dib-stink! You're late, again!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry! It's just that I've had a lot on my mind regarding... us."

Zim gave him a worried look. "What do you mean 'us'?"

This was it. All he had to do was tell him how he felt and ask him on a date. That was all he had to do...

So why was it so hard?

"Zim, I- uh, it's just that I-" Dib couldn't help but blush as he stumbled over his own words. "Well, I feel like I-"

"You're not making any sense."

"I know, this is hard for me to say! I... Zim, I have a crush on you..."

Zim stood where he was with a blank expression.

"You have a what on me?"

"A crush. I have romantic feelings for you..."

The Irken stood there, dumbfounded. Sure, he knew that Dib cared for him. But that much? It felt... nice? Really nice, actually. And it wasn't hard saying that he cared for the human too.

"Dib, I..."