Salt and Sugar [ZADR] [IZ Au]

Banishment

Zim paced around his base, his mind racing. How they longed to call their tallest, but he knew all too well that he no longer had connection to the armada.

He sighed. His mission might've been fake, but he knew he would still have to keep up the act. After all, they couldn't let their sworn enemy find out that they no longer posed much of a threat. If he found out, who knows what would happen.

Zims phone vibrated, and they took it out of their pocket to see what said enemy wanted now. Much to his surprise, despite the fact that the human hadn't in a while, he didn't threaten him. Rather, Zim was greeted with a "Good morning" and a "how r u doing?"

The sudden kindness continued to confuse the irken. He grumbled. The Dib must be pitying me.

They answered him with "wonderful." not bothering to ask him back.

...

"Thats good :)"

What the hell did that mean?

Dib smiled at his phone. He was glad Zim was doing okay.

Suddenly, he shook his head violently. Why should he care how Zim feels? It's not like they even like each other. If anything, Dib WANTED to see him upset!... Right?

His smile had quickly faded. He hated to admit it, but he didn't like seeing Zim so mopey. Of course, he still acted mighty energetic like usual when he was around Dib, but recently something seemed off.

Dib shook his head once more. Nothing is wrong, he thought. You're just being paranoid.

And even if something was wrong, why should it matter? It's not like it was any of Dib's business.

...But what if it was his business? What if Zim was planning something, and putting up an act in order to lure him into some kind of trap? And now that Dib thought about it, why was he even being kind to him? They were his enemy!

He probably just pitied him. I mean, he did watch him cry on the floor of a dirty public bathroom for 3 minutes, and Zim didn't even like when something was unclean. Pity made way more sense than actually caring about them. At least, he thought it did.

Dib lost his train of thought, however, as more yelling was heard from downstairs. "I hate weekends..." he grumbled.

Reluctantly, Dib went downstairs to get himself food. Surprisingly, he missed when Gaz was the favorite child, and when his dad wasn't at home as often. Because now, Dib was ignored completely while his family members continued fighting over god-knows-what, and if he wasn't he was forced into the argument.

And not long after he reached the kitchen, Dib was pulled in against his will.

"HEY, DIB!!" Gaz yelled. He flinched, and turned to look at her. "You agree that being at home and locking yourself in your own lab doesn't count as caring about your children, right?"

"Gazlene, I have work to do you know-!" The professor spat.

"Shush, let the man speak!" She looked back at Dib. "Well?!"

"I- uh-" Dib could feel a cold sweat come over him. "Oh, leave me out of this!"

He turned away and made himself a slice of toast, trying his best to tune out the other two who continued yelling at him and each other. Dib quickly grabbed a plate and ran up to his room, not bothering to butter it. He didn't want to be down there any longer. Hell, he didn't even want to be in that house any longer, they screamed at each other like this way too often for his liking. The only time they weren't yelling at each other was while his dad was out, or when he and his sister were at school.