Dib took a step back as Gretchen leaned in for a kiss.

"No... I can't do this sir." He turned to look at the teacher. "Is there any way that we can change this scene? I don't feel comfortable kissing her. I just don't think I can do it." The teacher, Mr. Kendric, chuckled. "I can see that you're nervous, boy! But, I want the play to stick to the original script as best as it can. So, you're going to have to suck it up," he said in an almost condescending voice.

"Please sir, are you sure we can't do anything about this? Would you sacrifice the comfortbility of one of your actors, just for the sake of a small kiss?" Mr. Kendrick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dib, this isn't just a small kiss. It shows the love between Romeo and Juliet, without them even mentioning it. We can't just skip over this major detail!"

"Alright, well, what if we waited until the actual performance to kiss? Would that be fine with you?" Dib asked desperately. He wanted to be better prepared for when he would have to do it. Afterall, this caught him completely off-guard.

Mr. Kendric sighed. "Do you promise to not put up a fight on the day of the play?" The boy nodded. "Fine. For now, we will skip the kiss, but you can't escape it forever!"

Dib let out a breath of relief. Thank God. He wasn't excited for the real kiss, but at least he would time to mentally prepare himself. He really didn't want to think that his first kiss would be with Gretchen. Or that it could be his last. Instead, he turned to look at his partner, who had a look of betrayal on her face, before it disappeared.

"Don't worry Dib, I understand! I need time to prepare myself too," she blushed. "It's not everyday that you kiss your best friend!" The boy was about to correct her, but he was quickly shushed by the teacher. "Now is not the time for chitchat! Let's get back to rehearsing!"

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

"And remember to memorize your lines!" Yelled Mr. Kendric. "The play is next week!"

Currently, rehearsals were over, and now everyone could go home. Or, everyone except Dib. He had made a promise to visit Zim everyday to check on his well-being. He didn't feel comfortable with leaving the alien alone for long periods of time anymore. Especially because of last time. If Dib hadn't have gone there to apologize, Zim would've bleed to death.

He shivered. Now was not the time for this. Right now, he had to visit his friend. He was almost out of the theatre room, when he heard someone call his name. He turned around to see Gretchen running after him from across the area.

"Dib, wait!" She caught her breath as she stood next to him. "I was going to ask you if we could study for our math test at your house later." Dib shrugged.

"Sure, why not? Just, try to get there around five o'clock or something. I... have to do something real quick," he replied vaguely. He remembered that the last time he had mentioned Zim, Gretchen stopped smiling. Dib assumed that she just disliked him, and didn't want to make her upset again. So, he didn't bring him up.

"Five sounds wonderful! I'll see you there!" She replied cheerfully, before skipping away. Dib had always wondered how she managed to be like that, even in dark times. It seemed that nothing could make her sad. Well, maybe not nothing.

He got himself together and walked to Zim's house. Today, he would help him clean up his mess from the day before. Sure, it would take a lot of work, but he wanted to make it up to the alien. He wanted to remind him that they were friends, and that he wouldn't hurt him again. Instead, he would be treated nicely. That was the plan.

Once there, he knocked lightly on the door, only to be surprised when it opened immediately by Gir.

"Mary!!! Ur here!!" He yelled enthusiastically. "Master is cleaning da house!" Dib nodded. "Thanks Gir." He walked inside to find Zim attempting to replace the lightbulb on the roof. Unfortunately, it was too high up, even with his pak legs. It truly was a sight to see.

"Here, let me get that for you," Dib said as he held out his hand to receive the lightbulb. Zim groaned. "Curse you humans and your tall height!" Still, he handed it to him and crossed his arms. The boy chuckled. "It's not my fault that Irkens don't really grow." He grabbed the old lightbulb and put the new one in its place.

"But... if it makes you feel better, you're taller than you were before," Dib said shrugging. "Really?" Zim asked, quite shocked. He didn't feel any taller. "Yeah, six years ago you were 4'9, but now you look to be about 5'1," Dib stated as he tightened the bulb in its location. "There." He took a step back and looked at his handiwork.

"Wow, that's a lot for six years..." Zim muttered. Dib gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" The alien shrugged. "Irkens don't grow, like you said before. Once we hit a certain age we stop growing. Some of us are lucky, and grow an inch every ten years, but that's it." He looked off to the side in deep thought. "But, since I've been on earth for six years, I can only assume that it's this planet's gravity that's making me taller."

"That would make sense," Dib said as he grabbed a broom. Then, he handed Zim a dustpan. "Remember, we're supposed to clean this up today." Zim sighed. "I know, I know."

The pair cleaned the glass, along with other things, off of the floor, before doing other tasks. Eventually, the house was spotless. Well, mostly. The lab below them wasn't completely clean. Still, they could always do that later. After all, they had been cleaning for about three hours.

"Okay Zim, I have to go. It's almost five, and I promised to study with Gretchen during that time," Dib said looking at his watch. "But if anything happens, please call me with your pak phone. I want to be able to help you." Zim nodded.

"Well then, I'm off." The human gave him a quick hug before leaving the house.

"Oooh! You like Mary!" Gir screeched at Zim.

"Well of course I do! He is my friend after all." Gir started giggling. "No, you wanna marry Mary!"

Zim blushed bright pink. "Marry? You mean the human love tradition? Why would I- we're just friends!" He stated, flustered. "I'm not sure you understand how marriage even works, Gir."

"I doooo! When two people lovez eachotherz, one gets on a knee and proposes! Then, theys get married! And after that they-!"

"Silence!" Zim yelled as he pulled on his antennae. "How do you even know any of this stuff?" Gir shrugged. "I watches TV a lot!"

"Whatever. Gir, Dib and I are just friends. Got that?" He looked at the robot expectantly, waiting for any sign of confirmation. "U guys getting married!" Zim deadpanned. "No, friends."

"Married!" It was no use. No matter how many attempts he would make, Gir wouldn't give up. He didn't seem to understand that Zim was merely friends with the human. Just friends, nothing more. Unless the human did want to mate with him...?

Yeah, it was a stupid thought, but it was also entertaining. To think that two different species could mate... it really intrigued him. The Irken didn't know how humans became mates, so the idea wasn't too out there either. But, then again, Dib did mention them being friends a couple times. Not mates, friends. And he trusted him enough to believe him.

But he couldn't help but imagine being with him. Just for fun, of course. Unless?

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

Dib panted.

He ran the whole way from Zim's house to his, just so Gretchen wouldn't ask where he was. It wouldn't be that bad, if the houses weren't a mile away from each other. Or, it seemed like it to him, at least.

He walked inside of the house and checked the time.

4:55 pm.

There were still five minutes before Gretchen was expected to arrive. He exhaustedly collapsed onto the couch next to Gaz, who was busy playing Super Smash Bros.

"Were you with your boyfriend?" She asked, not once looking at him. "My what? You mean Zim?" She raised an eyebrow. Then, Dib realized what she had asked. "No, wait! It's not like that at all! I misheard you, I swear!" He yelled as he blushed furiously. "I mean, I think I might be gay... but not for him!" Gaz shrugged. "You never know."

Dib sighed. "I'm 100, no, 10000 percent sure that we won't ever get together, much less get married! In fact, I'm so sure, that if you end up being right, I'll allow you to punch me in the stomach on our wedding day!" He said smirking. "Sounds like a deal to me."

The very second that it turned five o'clock, Gretchen was already at the door. She rang the door bell, and waited for him to answer the door. But instead, Gaz did. "What are you doing here?" She asked, almost as if she cared. "Hello Dib's little sister! I'm here to study with Dib! He promised that at five o'clock-" Gaz yawned. "Dib, the creepy girl's here!" She yelled, before disappearing into the house.

Dib ran to the door. "Sorry that I kept you waiting! I was tired from running over here." Gretchen giggled. "That's okay! It was nice meeting your sister! She's... something alright." The boy chuckled. "Yeah, she really is. Anyways, let's go inside, we can't stand here all day."

He led her into the house, and then into his room. "Alright, so which page do you want to start with?" He asked as he took his textbook out from his bag. "I guess page 69, since that introduces the lesson," she responded simply. "I want to remember every detail for the test!"

"Okay, let's start!"

Everything seemed to be going fine for them. Sure, it wasn't the most ideal thing to be doing, but at least it was better than nothing. So, for two hours, they studied long and hard, until something caught Gretchen's eye.

"As the rectangles become thinner and thinner, they cover the area under the graph better. The area of a rectangle is easy to calculate, so... hey, are you alright?" He gave Gretchen a concerned look. "Huh? I'm fine! It's just that..." she looked next to his bed. He followed her gaze until he realized what she had been staring at.

"Ohhh, um." He had totally forgotten about his wall covered in pictures of Zim. It must've looked really creepy. "I never knew you guys were such great friends," she said, trailing off at the end of her sentence. Dib chuckled awkwardly. "Yup, we... really are. Shouldn't we continue studying?" He wanted to change the subject before he died of embarrassment.

"How long have these been up there?" She asked, eyes still glued to the pictures. "Well, uh, I don't know? I guess since 7th grade? Except, my intentions back then were just for studying him, rather then what they are now." He blushed, looking down. Why did he still have those pictures anyways? It's not like he needed them. They were just too good to throw away.

"Wow, that's a long time. Do you have any pictures of me?" She asked further, hope sparkling in her eyes. "Well... not really. I really only have pictures of Zim." Dib rubbed the back of his neck. Their interactions were getting way too awkward.

"Oh. That's great, I guess?" She looked down at the ground with a frown. "Hey, if I didn't know better, I'd say that you look a little jealous," Dib commented with confusion and concern. Gretchen never showed any emotions other than pure joy, and sometimes tranquility. So this was totally new.

"Jealous? Of what?" Her smile returned. "Dib, we're best friends! Of course, that doesn't mean you can't have other friends, but I'm your number one priority! What could I possibly be jealous of?" Dib looked off to the side. He wanted to correct her and say that she wasn't his best friend, but he bit his tongue. A comment like that could really hurt her. After all, she was just trying to be nice.

"Nothing. Sorry, I just assumed from your expression that you felt that way. But anyways, let's continue studying, shall we?" He wanted to finish as quickly as possible, since there was now awkward tension between them. Plus, she made him rethink a few things when she brought the pictures to his attention.

"Okay!"

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

Gretchen went home after another hour of studying. They had managed to cover most if the content in the book, so it was labeled a success. However, just because she left, didn't mean that his thoughts did.

He couldn't stop thinking about his feelings on Zim.

Friends didn't horde pictures of their friends and pin them to their wall. They also didn't spend all of their time thinking about them. And they most certainly didn't question if they had feelings for them.

Zim wasn't necessarily bad looking, now that he thought about it. Especially without his disguise. In fact, he was actually pretty cute. There wasn't anything wrong in the looks department, that was for sure.

But, there were still complications. The first being that Irkens don't mate. Zim could be an exception, since he was different, but that wasn't really clear. Human relationships had the possibility of being confusing to him as well, and Dib didn't want to put him through anything.

The next problem was that Zim might not return the feelings in the first place. Sure, he had feelings. But for Dib? Probably not. They had spent the majority of their lives battling each other, so it would be hard to go from friends to lovers that quick. Of course, he could be proven wrong, but that was very unlikely.

Dib sighed. It was really strange that he was even considering any of this. Who would've thought that he would befriend his enemy? Or become more? It was all so confusing.

"He's just a friend," he muttered. "Just a friend."

That stupid alien was making him feel things.

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

Bzzrt!

"Damn it!"

Zim was busy tinkering with his pak down in his lab. So far, he was having no luck.

Ever since the Torque incident, he had tried improving his safety features. Sure, his pak legs were good, but they weren't good enough. He needed something that was easier to use. Something less violent. After all, he didn't want Dib to get mad at him again.

He took a deep breath and reattached the pak. There was no point in continuously failing. So, he called it a day.

But, just before he reached the elevator, he heard a faint beeping noise coming from his pak.

"Oh no..."