Finally.

Today was the day of the play.

Dib couldn't contain his excitement. For once, people would actually listen to what he had to say. He would finally be the center of attention, something he had wanted all of his life.

The class periods flew by. It seemed like in the blink of an eye it was already 7th period. During the last two minutes of class, he bounced his leg anxiously, waiting to run out of the door. He wanted to be the first person in the theatre room so that he could rehearse his lines one last time. However, as soon as the bell rang, some jerk pushed him onto the ground and left the room.

"The nerve of some people," he muttered before something caught his eye. It appeared to be a plastic vial filled with pills, and it was sitting on Zim's desk. Dib picked it up with a glint of curiosity in his eyes, before turning his attention to the label.

Recently, he had been studying Irken, so he was able to decipher a small portion of the writing.

'Zim's medication: h__t _up___ss_an__'

"Dib, are you going to stare at that weird container all day, or are you going to leave my class?" The teacher asked miserably. He had been standing there for a good five minutes, and she was starting to get very uncomfortable.

"Oh, sorry Ms. Yuri!" Dib left the class in a hurry. Then, he took out his phone and called Zim. Recently he had figured out how to contact him through his pak, so he used it to his advantage.

"Dib-stink? What do you need?" Zim asked once he picked up the phone. "You left your pill things on your desk." Dib walked to the theatre room while talking to him.

"Oh no..." he could hear the fear in Zim's voice. "You have to give those to me immediately!" Dib stopped dead in his tracks.

"Zim, I can't. My performance starts in 10 minutes!" He complained. "Your performance can wait! Those pills are extremely vital! I need them, or else in an hour... something bad will happen to Zim."

Dib shrugged, even though he knew the Irken couldn't see. "I can return them later, an hour is enough time. I promise to leave during one of my breaks," he said before hanging up. Then, he sighed.

"Come on, you got this," he muttered to himself before opening the door.

"Hi Dib!" Gretchen was standing behind it, as if she was waiting for him the whole time. "Uh, hi Gretchen..? How did you know that I was coming at this time?" He asked slightly concerned. This was the creepiest she had ever been.

"Intuition," she replied poking her head. "Now come on! We have to get our costumes on!" She grabbed his arm and lead him into the dressing room. "I have to get dressed, so I'll see you in a bit!"

Dib sighed. Then, he went into a separate room and put his costume on. It wasn't that bad looking, but you wouldn't catch him wearing it outside of the play. Especially not in front of Zim. He wouldn't hear the end of his ramblings about humans having poor taste in fashion. Not that he didn't disagree with him on that one.

Speaking of Zim... he set a timer on his watch for 30 minutes. His break was in 23 minutes, so he could quickly run to his base and back during that time. He would probably even have time to spare.

"Alright, I'm done! How do I look?" Dib turned around to see Gretchen in her costume. To a lot of people, she would be considered relatively attractive. Especially because of her outfit. But to Dib, she just looked nice. Like, she wasn't ugly, just okay.

"You look great," he said, focusing his attention on the stage. Sooner or later, he would be performing on there. Any mistake would be caught by the audience for sure. And it wasn't like he could restart, he had to keep going. What would his dad think? What would Gaz think?

What would Zim think?

Dib shook his head. All of his thoughts had been about Zim. It was very weird. But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about him. It was very annoying... yet very soothing as well. It almost felt good to think about him.

Once again, his thoughts were overwhelming. He decided to clear his head by peaking behind the curtains, just to see who his audience was.

He was able to spot his dad and Gaz, as he expected. However, he also saw his aunt and uncle, who lived in Florida. That meant that they had flown all the way to Missouri to see his performance.

That made him nervous.

What if he messed up? Or, what if he just wasn't good enough? He didn't want to disappoint them. No, not at all. He cared about them way too much, and that's what fueled his panic.

"Dib, are you alright?" Gretchen placed her hand on his shoulder worriedly. He realised that he had been standing there for a few minutes longer than he intended to. Embarrassed, he brushed it off.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just...excited. I've never been in a play before, much less been cast as the main role. Everything is so new to me." Gretchen smiled. "It's all new to me too! But I promise you- no, we'll do great. Just have faith!"

She shifted nervously.

"Hey, I was wondering... after this is all over, do you want to go out to eat with me and my family?" She looked down at the ground, as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry Gretchen, but I have to pay a visit to a friend today. You know, since I've made it my obligation to check on him everyday." Her smile faded. "Oh... I see. This friend, who is he? Or she, sorry." Dib smiled.

"It's Zim!" He covered his mouth quickly. She wasn't supposed to know. Especially since she didn't really like him from what he was seeing. "Zim." She looked hurt. "Do you... consider him more of a friend than me, Dib?" He didn't answer the question, and instead avoided eye-contact. "Be honest."

"Well, I'm not saying you're not a good friend at all! It's just that, Zim and I, we have a stronger bond. You get it, right?" Dib chuckled awkwardly, hoping she wouldn't get offended. And somehow, she didn't. "Ohhh, I get it!" Her expression brightened. "It's because he's a boy too! It's easier for boys to be friends of the same gender, than with the opposite one! I mean, it's hard to like girls and talk to them!"

Ouch. She definitely wasn't right about that.

"Uh, yeah, I guess...?" He slowly backed away from her, giving her the hint to stop talking. "Anyways, I'm going to go practice alone... so bye," he said as he walked to a lonely corner backstage. All there was in the spot was a small sofa and a window, but that was all he needed. As long as he was away from Gretchen, he was fine.

He didn't know why, but being around her made him uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. She just seemed so... obsessed with him? Like, she was always constantly trying to hang out with him, and knew exactly where he was almost all of the time. Zim's house was an exception, of course. Still, it was almost as if she had a crush on him...

But that couldn't be true. He had given her so many hints over the years that he was gay. Heck, he even told her about his crush on a boy during freshman year.

His name was Erik, and he was pretty nice. He had chocately brown hair and black eyes that looked like galaxies whenever they brightened. Sometimes, he couldn't help but get lost in them. He and Dib had become great friends, and Gretchen heard all about it.

And then, he vanished.

Dib shuddered at the thought. When he first heard the news, he couldn't believe it. How could someone disappear overnight? It just didn't make sense for him. He couldn't have been killed, because he was loved throughout the school. He was never bullied and had an almost perfect life. His parents said that Erik died in his sleep when it became public, but still, something was off.

But alas, now was not the time for reminiscing. He had to practice one last time before the performance started. And practice he did for a good two minutes before a certain green dog came in through the window.

"Mary! Mary! Master needz you!!" He screeched as he waved his arms up and down. Dib hushed him and looked around. Despite the loud screaming, no one was paying attention to him. He sighed. "I know, Gir. But my next break is in ten minutes, so he'll have to wait."

"But Mary! He all weak and stuff! Ya, his face is red and ur watch says-!" He stopped talking abruptly before exiting through the window yelling, "Squirrel!"

"What did he say about my watch?" Dib muttered. Then, he heard the teacher speaking in the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, welcome to the Hiskool version of 'Romeo and Juliet'! Now, normally the plot wouldn't start with their first meeting..."

Dib raised a brow. "What does he mean by.... oh no." He ran up to Gretchen. "We're starting with the kiss?!" She giggled in response. "Yup! One of the actors in the beginning part got sick, so we're skipping it entirely!" All color drained from the poor boy's face.

"Aww, cheer up Dib! You would have to do it later anyways," she said shrugging. "No, you don't understand! That's a really long scene! And I only have..." he checked his watch. "Seven minutes?! I have to-!"

"Now, let's begin!"

All of the lights dimmed before Gretchen ran on stage. Dib followed shortly after. He took a deep breath, and said his line. As he was speaking, he kept glancing at his watch as he lost more and more time. Once he was done, he waited anxiously for Gretchen to finish as well.

He then said his next line and the one after that, until it was time for the kissing scene. He watched as Gretchen leaned in, almost excitedly, and braced himself for what was coming.

...

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Dib placed a finger on Gretchen's lips and distanced himself.

"I'm sorry, but I have something important to do."

And just like that, he ran off the stage and outside the doors of his HiSkool, leaving behind a very confused audience.

"Damnit Zim, the things I do for you..." he mumbled as he sprinted towards his house. The beeping meant that he only had five more minutes to get there, so naturally he just left. Plus, he would take what he was doing now over kissing Gretchen any day.

He managed to get to Zim's base with two minutes to spare, which was really lucky considering the circumstances. Seconds after he knocked, the door flew open to reveal a very flushed Zim. He was sweating heavily and was using Gir's head to stand up.

"Dib, there you are! You could've given me those earlier, you stupid human!" He grabbed the pills from him. Then, he tossed one into his mouth before walking inside of the house, motioning for Dib to follow.

"Zim cleaned the house a little more while you were doing your silly little play. Speaking of which, how did that go?" Dib covered his face with his hands.

"Horrible. Absolutely horrible. I literally ran off the stage in the middle of it, just to return those pills." Zim blushed a little more than he already was. "You did that for me?" Dib shrugged.

"It was better than what I had to do on stage. Anyways, what are those pills for?" He asked as Zim took a seat on the couch.

"These? They're heat suppressants. Apparently, one of the features of being a defect is that we go through heat." He looked to the side, embarrassed. "I'm supposed to take one of those pills once a month... but something happened with my pak yesterday. It started beeping randomly, so I checked it out. And, apparently, something or someone cause my heat to worsen."

He sighed. "Now I have to take a pill once a week during every month." Dib gave him a curious look.

"So you're a girl?"

Zim gave him a murderous look.

"Of course not! I'm still male, gender just works different on Irk." He crossed his arms. "And since you're so clueless about the topic, I have no choice but to educate you. So here we go. On my planet, gender is determined by the pheromones transmitted through antennae, along with our pak's coding. What's between our legs doesn't really matter. Not anymore."

He took a moment to breath, and then continued.

"Way back then, before I even hatched, my kind was able to breed. The short Irkens beared the smeets, while the tall ones fertilized their eggs." He blushed. It almost like he was teaching sex-ed or something. "Even though they were small, the shorter Irkens' genetic makeup made them stronger. This would help them with the birthing process. And yes, both male and females could get pregnant. It all depended on height."

"However, now, it is illegal to have smeets on Irk. They never explained why, it just became law. And it's even worse when hybrid smeets are involved," Zim said wincing. He remembered watching a demonstration of what would happen as a smeet.

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

A group of guards brought the young group to a room with a long window. Then, they were told to watch as a young Irken female was strapped onto a chair. The smeets whispered excitedly amongst each other wondering what was going to happen, before the tallest at the time walked into her room. He ignored her and looked towards the window.

"Young smeets of all heights and sizes, I welcome you to the live execution of Invader Eri." He glared at her for a second, but then returned his attention back to the smeets.

"This sad excuse of an invader decided to ignore the ways of our society and breed with a batfominm!" He raised his voice as he pointed at her accusingly. "You all know just as well as I do that she broke TWO important laws. Never breed with another species, and never breed in general!"

"Now, I want to show you what happens when you disobey the empire!" He signaled an Irken soldier to press a button, and then all that could be heard were her blood-curling screams as electricity flowed through her body. She writhed trying to get free, but to no avail. After a few minutes, she fell limp, her pak spewing out black smoke.

That day, Zim learned a lesson...

Never disobey the empire.

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

"So, how do you still go through heats?" Dib asked quite curiously.

"Well, I'm a defect, remember? I still have heat, however I'm 100% sure that I can't actually breed. No matter what, it still isn't in my programming." He smirked confidently. "I don't have to worry about smeets, unlike the poor females on this planet who have no choice. Once again, Irkens win!" He raised his fist in triumph, making Dib chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said as he checked his watch. "I have a few more minutes to talk, so how does mating work between your species?" It was simple question, but Zim couldn't help but blush. "Well, when two Irkens love each other very much-"

"No, I didn't mean like that!" Dib started blushing as well. "I mean, how do relationships work? Y'know, between mates?" Zim brought his finger up to his chin and thought about it for a moment. Then, he looked back at the human.

"Well, I haven't really seen it for myself, but I do remember reading about past Irken mating. Usually, they would claim each other by biting near the scent glands of each other's necks. This would indicate to others that their mate was theirs and only theirs." He looked down, blushing a little harder. "Their antennae would also intertwine out of instinct, since they wanted to be really close to their mate. And that's about all of the information that I know."

"Wow, that's actually pretty neat. I'm assuming they're similar to human relationships?"

Zim shrugged. "I guess. They're way more sophisticated though. Irkens don't use each other for sex. They also don't care about what gender dates the other. Meanwhile, your species tries to control each other. You just can't let others live life how they want to. Pathetic, is it not?" Dib looked at the ground.

"Well, you're not wrong. But not everyone is like that. I wouldn't do that to my future partner. Even under the impossible circumstance that he got pregnant, I wouldn't leave. That's how loyal I would be."

Zim nodded. "Sure, whatever you say, Dib-stink." Dib raised an eyebrow. "Were you being sarcastic?"

"Possibly," the Irken responded as he flicked his wrist. "You aren't the most trustworthy person I know." Dib smirked. "But you let me in your house, so you do trust me!"

"Do not!"

"Do!"

"Do not!"

"Absolutely do!"

Zim grabbed the pillow laying next to him and shoved it on the human's face. "Shut up!"

Dib pushed it off of his face and accidentally brushed his fingers against one of his antennae.