--Previously--

Luckily, it wasn't too late. I was only tired because of what Gir made me do - I also felt bloated. Overall, I felt awful and dirty. So before going to bed at an early time (9:00 PM), I had a long, warm soak in the bath. Afterwards, I got changed, said goodnight to my dad and hopped into my bed.
I drifted off to sleep with music playing from my headphones once again. A somewhat peaceful dream replaying in my mind throughout the night.
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Unfortunately for me, those 'peaceful dreams' never lasted for more than 5 seconds. All night, Dib was phoning me non-stop! About what? Zim.
Apparently, he and Gaz walked past us when we were on the way to Zims. Dib wanted to know if I had found out any extra information about Zim. Just maybe he thought I had rooted through Zims base. Now, we both knew well what it looked like, but for some reason he thought Zim had trusted me to investigate it. I vaguely remember him phoning me back at 2am just to tell me that Zim may trust me too much. That he is 'too affectionate towards me'. If only he had known it was quite the opposite.

Anyway, I got just about 2 hours of sleep last night. I woke up a mess, my hair basically tangled around my neck, my eyes barely open, walking like a zombie. For some, this behaviour was normal first thing in the morning, but for me it certainly wasn't. Right as I was about to pour myself some cereal, I heard a slam and my Dad groan in frustration.
Right away, I rushed to his office. It was far from organised - papers were scattered, 10 coffee cups were on his desk. It seemed like me and him were going through the same problem.
"You've sat here all night again, haven't you..?" Dad nodded before smashing his head into the keyboard, unknowingly deleting a file. I collected the coffee cups and balanced them. Before leaving, I said:
"Take a break, it'll do you good."

I poured my cereal and made myself some orange juice. I was just about to take a bite, but then a knock on the door startled me - it also left me quite frustrated. I answered anyway, surprising myself with Gaz.
"Oh, hello?" I said, confused as to why she was here. After last night, I expected it to either be Dib or Zim. I'm partly glad it was Gaz though.
"Hi." Rudely, she stepped inside. "Sorry about Dib. He called you, didn't he?"
"All night..." I replied.
"I can tell. You look and smell awful."
"Oh, thanks." I sarcastically replied, to which she slightly giggled at. She followed me into the kitchen so that I could finish my breakfast.

She just watched. It gave me an alert feeling. I knew Gaz - this behaviour was like her. So it made me feel better about the situation, but sometimes even she creeped me out. The little things it was. Sometimes, she looked soulless.
I continued munching on cereal until I was met with a clean bowl. Then, I put the dishes in the sink and we went to my room so that I could get changed. Gaz waited on my bed. She played on her gameboy while I got dressed. I was fine with her being in the room with me while I got dressed. We're both girls and I knew she was no pervert. She didn't even look anyway - just aimlessly played her games, the faint music in the background.

The minute we stepped out the door, I got scared by Dib. It even surprised Gaz a little. I mean, she'd expect something like this (he is her brother) but at the time she never thought about it. While I gathered by breath, Gaz sighed in disappointment.
"Dib, did you follow me again?"
"I had too!! It's rare for you to just knock on (Y/N)'s door! What changed?" From hearing this, you'd expect him to feel some sense of jealousy. But really, he wasn't jealous. It was more - for him - a feeling of suspicion.
"Relax, Dib. There's nothing wrong with me wanting to hang out with her." With that, Gaz took my hand and stormed out of the apartment block. Dib only stood there, stunned to speak.

The two of us ended up spending the day at the arcade! Gaz could tell I enjoyed them as soon as we got there. She smiled at that. Me and her ended up playing a bunch of 1 v 1 games. Fortunately for us, most rounds were a tie. Other than that, it was usually Gaz who won. It was a fun day if you ask me! Other than Dib that morning, we weren't disturbed anymore.
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Later that evening, I decided to go and see Dib. My Dad allowed me to, so I barged into their house as if I owned the place. I was given full permission to my Professor Membrane (which is basically like winning an oscar). Speaking of which, I felt awkward after marching to confidently into the kitchen. Neither Dib nor Gaz were in there - just their Dad.
Professor Membrane turned around and ignored what he was doing. He looked over to me, smiling. I couldn't see though. I could hear the squeak of the kettle before it shut of. That was his queue to finish the coffees. I was unexpected and so he offered to make me a coffee. I didn't want to hassle him or anything so I shook my head,
"No thanks. Do you know where Dib is..?"
"Oh, he's up on the roof again with his 'paranormal studies'. Just when will that boy ever think about real science?" It was a rhetorical question. I just stood by there awkwardly, awaiting a response. Professor handed me a coffee and asked if I could take it up to Dib. I, of course, nodded. And so I was off to the rooftop.

I spotted Dib in the distance and walked up to him. Next to him was an untouched comfortable spot for another to sit in, it was almost like he knew I was coming!
"Hey!" I coughed.
"Oh-? Hi..."
"Your Dad made you coffee." I handed the drink to him, which he pushed aside.
"I don't like coffee."
"Oh I know!" I chirped, slurping the steaming hot drink. To which, he raised a brow. The silence was unbearable. What was I supposed to say?! Even Dib hated it. It wasn't until around 5 minutes later, he spoke.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, confused.
"I don't really know to be honest. Just felt like coming here..." I looked away. "Was there any reason you spent all night bugging me about Zim. You kept repeating the same stuff over and over again!"
"Yeah... Sorry. I guess I was just mad..." Dib frowned, checking his laptop. I tensed at that. It made me feel guilty, something wasn't right.
"Mad?! About what..?" I touched his shoulder.
"Meh, just my Dad again. You know, he doesn't believe my theories and everything. I've seen for myself that Zim is an alien but he just doesn't believe it!"
"Well it does sound crazy..." I thought out loud, wanting to slap myself for saying that. "But you know how he is. Even if he were to see it for himself, he'd play it off as a dream."

We both sighed in sync, looking up at the stars. It was peaceful, but the depressing kind. It was so quiet that you couldn't even hear cars passing by, so quiet that you'd think you were deaf. That wasn't the case.
"Listen, I know I'm friends with Zim, but just know that I'll always have your back. I have no favourites and I'm not picking sides, I just want you to know I do care about you. Your Dad is hard to please, I know that from my Dad. It was crazy how they both became friends as my Dad is similar to you. But hey, they did! Maybe soon your Dad will start to warm up to you. " I rubbed his shoulder. Dib smiled warmly at that, watching me sip his coffee once again. It was relieving to know that even though I got along with Zim, I stayed friends with Dib. He was also happy to know that I didn't find him weird after his spam calls. He doubted that I ever wanted to talk to him again after that. I guess that was another reason to upset him. I didn't blame him, he was in a tough situation. I was just glad that he was able to crack a smile in the end!
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A/N: Happy new year! I didn't really know what to do for this chapter but here we are! Hopefully I'll update soon. Here's some art of Professor Membrane because why not? :

Word count: 1500 words

Amberzoeheart~