The house was completely demolished.

Tables, couches, and every other piece of furniture were covered in scratch marks, with some being fully ripped apart. All electronics were nowhere to be seen, the only trace of them being shattered glass on the floor. The only thing that wasn't completely broken was the lightbulb illuminating the living room. That was it. Everything else was left in ruins, as if a twister had passed through the building. Dib shuddered. And then, he noticed something else that was wrong with the house. Something much more disturbing.

There was pink blood everywhere.

Dib felt sick to his stomach. He knew that he needed to find Zim before he bled to death. "Zim?!" He called out. "Gir?!" There was no response. He carefully entered the house, avoiding all of the broken furniture lying around. He would have to fix that part of the problem later. "Zim?!" He tried again. "Gir?! Anybody?!" This time, he heard muffled giggling coming from underneath him.

He took a step back, startled, and watched as Gir jumped out of a large pile of glass. "Hiya Mary!" He squeaked. Dib gave him a small wave. "Hey Gir. Do you know where Zim is?" He asked the robot, hoping that he would get a real answer. Gir nodded. "Mhmm!" Then, he grabbed Dib's hand and led him towards the kitchen. "He over there!" He shouted, pointing to one of the kitchen walls. And surely enough, there he was.

Zim had his back to the others, and was staring at the wall, blankly. He was sitting on the floor with his knees up to his chest. All around him was writing in what Dib assumed was Irken. And from the clues he was getting, they probably didn't say good things. "Zim?" He asked, concerned. "Can you hear me?" One of his antennae twitched, giving Dib hope. He slowly put his hand on the alien's shoulder. "Go away," Zim said solemnly. He didn't make an attempt to move his hand, however. He just sat there, sulking.

"Zim, I want to apologize," Dib started slowly. "I want to apologize for not listening to you, and...for lashing out," he said, feeling guilty all over again. "You shouldn't be sorry. What you said was correct, Dib-stink," Zim responded simply. "Everything was. I really do destroy everything around me. And... I hurt others as well." He turned his tear-stained face to look at the human. "I didn't mean to hurt them, Dib. I just... couldn't stand there and let them harm me. I'm sorry."

Dib cupped his cheek. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Zim. You were just defending yourself, right?" Zim nodded his head. He then turned his whole body around to face Dib. "So, are you comfortable with sharing what happened that night?" The human asked softly. Zim nodded, once again. Then, he took a deep breath.

"After I left your base, I got a call from Gir. He asked me to get a few materials from the store, as we were running low on supplies. I had a bad feeling, but I chose to ignore it. And, I paid the price. Everything was fine until..." he winced. "Until someone pulled me into an alleyway. Soon enough, there were five humans surrounding me. Torque was in the middle of them, and I knew he didn't have good intentions."

Zim looked at the ground. He hesitated, but then continued. "He hurt me, he hurt me really bad, but as soon as one of his friends said something to him, he stopped. Or at least, I thought he did. He... said something about me being 'gay' and 'disgusting'. And then he said that since I am those things, I wanted to be 'fucked'."

He hesitated again. "I don't know what those words mean, but after what he did, I don't want to know," Zim stated, before pausing. "What did he do?" Dib asked, clearly concerned for Zim, but also pissed at Torque. He knew that he could be a jerk, but from Zim was saying, he could've been faced with criminal charges if he, and the others, were still alive. That was way more than he expected of him. "He pushed me against the wall more and... used his mouth organ against my neck," Zim spoke again, unable to look the human in the eyes. "I didn't like it, Dib. It felt disgusting... I felt disgusting." Tears clouded his vision. "I felt so vulnerable, so... horrified. So, I lashed out, and killed them."

Zim started sobbing again, but he didn't see it as much of a problem anymore. He just wanted to relieve himself of the stress that he had gone through in the span of a week. The stress that had built up until he couldn't keep it in anymore. The stress that made him want to do bad things to himself, and maybe to others as well.

"Something's wrong with Zim," he stated as he shed more tears. "Something terribly wrong. I keep screwing up over and over again... something an Irken never does. Something even a human can't do..." he looked into Dib's eyes. "I let my stupid feelings get to me all the time. I just wish that I was like other Irkens, or that I was like... you."

Dib was speechless. There were so many thoughts, so many questions that were buzzing in his head like a colony of bees, swarming in every direction.

Zim wanted to be like him. He wanted to be like everyone else. Everyone else, but himself. It saddened him. Especially since he knew that he had worsened Zim's condition when he yelled at him in that classroom. He didn't mean to say any of the things he had said. He was just... mad. So, he let all of his anger out on Zim, not caring about the consequences. Zim trusted him.

And he hurt him in return.

"Zim," Dib spoke softly, causing the alien to wince. "What you did... was actually justified. If you had just let them get their way, you could've been raped. Then afterwards, they would have murdered you. So, you did the right thing and protected yourself. There's nothing wrong with you. And everyone messes up. For example, the Tallest messed up when they said you were useless." He gave him a tight hug. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I lashed out on you without knowing any of the details on the incident. It was very stupid of me, and because of that, I hurt you." Dib started to feel like he was going to cry too.

"Zim, I want to go back to being friends. I don't want to hurt you anymore, I just want to see you happy again. So, what do you say?" He stopped hugging him briefly, to see his reaction. Zim nodded. "I would like that very much."

Dib stood up and stretched. Then, he held his hand out to Zim. "Let's go get you patched up. I don't want you bleeding out." Zim took his hand and stood up slowly. There was something wrong with his left leg, that was for sure. "Zim, can you tell me what happened in here?" The boy asked as he brought him to the couch. Or, what was left of it, anyhow.

"I don't remember, my memory is all fuzzy right now. I just, woke up in the middle of all of this," he made a gesture to all of the wreckage as he sat down. "Zim doesn't know why he did all this. It must've been stress or something..." he muttered the last part. Dib nodded as he pulled out a white box from his backpack. "Alright. Zim, do you have any snacks in the house? Because I'm going to tend to all of your wounds right now, and you're going to need something to distract you from the pain." Zim pointed towards the fridge.

"I have some popsicles in there," he started. "But I'd wait a little before opening that door, because Gir likes to hang out in there." Dib nodded. Then, he opened the fridge door, only to have his face attacked by the little robot. "Mary!! Mary! Look!!" The robot held up a popscicle in his hands.

"Uh, good work, Gir. Can you give that to Zim?" Dib asked awkwardly. He still didn't know how to act around him, since he was unpredictable. However, he was starting to learn, even if it would take a while. Gir nodded vigorously and ran towards Zim yelling nonsensical words. Dib followed shortly after. He then knelt on the floor besides the Irken's broken ankle, and pulled out a bandage from the white box.

"Alright, I'm about to start, Zim. Try to distract yourself," he reminded him, before removing his boot slowly, and wrapping the bandage around where the ball of his foot would be. The alien hissed and tore off the wrapper of the popsicle, putting it in his mouth immediately.

Dib took a quick glance at the alien to see his expression, and ended up blushing at the sight. Zim was sucking the tip of the popscicle in a suggestive way. It wasn't on purpose, obviously, but Dib couldn't stop himself from thinking of dirty thoughts. He caught himself staring at him and quickly went back to doing his job. He circled the bandage around the arch of Zim's foot, before looking at him again. There was no reason to this time, he just... liked what he saw.

Zim was currently taking in more of the popscicle, and had even wrapped his long tongue around it. That didn't help Dib's blush at all. The human took a deep breath and went back to the task at hand. The whole popscicle thing was way more distracting than he thought it would be. He pulled the bandage diagonally from the bottom of Zim's toes across his foot's top, and finally circled it around his ankle. Then, he sighed in relief. That was very stressful, and not for the right reason.

"Alright Zim, I'm done with your ankle," Dib spoke before looking at him again. And oh, how he wished he hadn't.

Zim had the majority of the popsicle in his mouth, which was pretty impressive, but for Dib it was too much. He stared in disbelief as heat rushed towards his face. He knew very well that his friend was just enjoying a sweet treat, but he couldn't stop thinking about how... sexual it looked. And the shape of the popscicle was really not helping his case.

He cleared his throat, receiving Zim's attention. "I, uh... I'm going to start bandaging everything else now," he stuttered awkwardly. He didn't know why he was feeling so flustered. Zim was just eating a popsicle. There was no reason for him to be thinking of him like that... right? Yeah. He just had a dirty mind, that was all. He had no feelings, other than friendship towards the alien...

Hopefully.

Dib gently grabbed Zim's arm, and checked the injuries on it. There seemed to be only cuts and bruises from the glass, which were easy to treat. So, he grabbed a cotton ball and soaked it in an antibiotic fluid. Then, he dabbed it against the Irken's cuts to clean them.

"Zim." The alien looked at him. "Why is being a defect such a bad thing in your society?" Dib asked him as he cleaned his wounds. "Defects have dysfunctional paks, giving them things that most Irkens don't have. Like, emotions, or free will." He looked at the ground, antennae pinned back against his head.
"Being a defect means that the empire can't control you. You can't be terminated by the control brains, since your pak would destroy them, so they turn to their other option. Making you feel like nothing."

His breath hitched. "The Tallest have tried to get rid of me so many times. I didn't know it at the time, since my pride made me oblivious, but now I understand what they were trying to do. They've sent me to Hobo 13, they've given me a spaceship that was heading towards the sun, they've even given me this mission. They said it was the most important mission of all, but obviously that wasn't true. Not in a schmillion years." Zim winced when he felt the cold air touch his cuts.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't think being a defect is bad," Dib started. "You have so many qualities that other Irkens wish they could have. Sure, you have emotions that sometimes get in the way, but I like you like this. I'd much rather have you as a friend than a coldhearted soldier who's only purpose is to destroy Earth." He smiled lightly as he bandaged his arm.

He then moved on to clean the next one. "I don't get it," Zim muttered. "Get what?" Dib started bandaging his arm. "I don't get how you don't find me even a little weird or horrible," he continued, looking at the human. "Why would I think that? I don't find you weird, just unique," Dib responded as his finished both arms.
"There."

He slowly got up and grabbed his things. "I have to go now. My dad is expecting me to return home in about five minutes, so I'm going to have to run. But don't worry, I'll check on you everyday." He gave Zim a quick hug. "Be safe, alright?" And with that, Dib was gone.

"Aw, you guys are cute!" Gir yelled, giggling.

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Eventually, it was the next day. Dib and Zim went back to hanging out like they normally did, which made Gaz feel relieved. Whenever her brother wasn't with Zim, he would tag along with her and talk about conspiracies and stuff. Saying that he was annoying would be an understatement. So now that they were friends again, she could finally have peace and quiet.

"So, Zim..." Dib started. Currently, it was lunch time, so the pair was conversating at their table. And Dib wanted to help Zim catch up on a few things. "Recently, Gretchen invited me to be Romeo in the school's 'Romeo and Juliet' play. And, I was wondering if you wanted to come to the performance next week," the boy said as he ate his sandwich he had brought from home.

"Hmm... is that something that friends do?" Zim asked with a tilt of his head. "Yup." The Irken thought for a little. "Alright, I will attend your human play. However! Zim will be a little late, because he has... something to do," Zim said with a flick of his wrist. Dib smiled. "Great."

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After another three long hours of skool, it was finally time for rehearsals. Dib hugged his alien friend goodbye and ran to the theatre room as fast as he could. There, Gretchen was waiting for him.

"Wow Dib! You look much happier today," she remarked. The boy shrugged. "I made up with Zim today, so I guess I'm glad that everything's back to normal." Gretchen's smile faded. "Oh." Dib gave her a confused look. "Is something wrong?" He asked obliviously. "No, nothing's wrong at all. It's just that I'm so happy for you!" Her smile returned. "Anyways, we should probably take our seats. We should be starting any second now."

She lead him to the seating area, and there they stayed for a good five minutes. Then, the theatre teacher walked in.

"Alright boys and girls! Today is officially the first day of rehearsals! So, I want all of you to each grab a script from me when I say your name, and your role. Understood?" The class nodded. "Okay, first up is Don Keigh as Mercutio."

Dib sat in his seat, swinging his legs back and forth, waiting for his name to be called.

"Next is Jay Walker as Tybalt," the teacher called out. "And after him is Amanda Lovelyn as Lady Capulet."

"So, who did you get cast as?" Dib asked Gretchen. "You'll find out soon enough!" She said giggling.

"Zita Atiz will be Lady Montauge, and Luis Presly will be Benvolio," the teacher shouted as he handed the students their scripts. He then called out a few other names before reaching the last two characters.

"Last but not least, we have our main characters. Romeo will be played by Dib Membrane, and Juliet will be played by... Gretchen Davis! Come get your scripts!"

Gretchen giggled. "Isn't this such a coincidence?" She put her arm on Dib's shoulder. "We've been friends for years, and now we're being cast as Romeo and Juliet! It's like this is our fate." She looked to the side and blushed. Dib blushed as well, but not for the same exact reason. He was more concerned about the way Gretchen was acting. It was almost as if she thought that this play actually meant something.

"Heh... yeah." He removed her hand from his shoulder. "Let's get our scripts, okay?" They made their way on and off the stage and sat back down with their scripts. Then, rehearsals officially began.

Something that Dib had noticed about the script was that it was about 20 pages long, which was going to make memorizing lines much harder. Especially since he was one of the main characters. He just hoped that his dad, Gaz, and Zim would be able to attend. Then, all of this practicing would be worth it. The whole thing would be worth it.

"Alright everybody! We're on Act one, scene five! Get into your places!" The teacher announced as the students rushed to find their locations. Dib took a deep breath, and began saying his lines.

"If I profane with my unworthiest hand. This holy shrine, the gentle sin, is this: my lips, two steady pilgrims ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." Dib raised an eyebrow. That was a little weird, but he assumed the line was supposed to be a joke or something. He waited for his turn again.

"Have not saint lips, and holy palmers too?" He looked around the room, trying to see if he was being tricked. He was familiar with the Romeo and Juliet play, and knew what happened in it. However, he thought that they wouldn't let hiskoolers actually do what it was implying. Yeah, they wouldn't allow that, right?

"Oh then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray; grant thou, lest faith turned to despair." Dib looked at the teacher and tried to show how uncomfortable he was, but the man wasn't paying attention.

"Then move not, while my prayer's effect, I take." He braced himself for the teacher to end the scene, but he didn't. Instead, he yelled out something that made his soul leave his body.

"Alright, now Dib and Gretchen, it's time for you to kiss!"