Invader Zim ZADR: How did we get here?

Chapter 8: What's a birthday without Zim: Part 1

Seems I have been gone for a while...sorry.

Besides that, let's go back to my dilemma from the last chapter. I've come to a decision. I'm gonna put the ideas for my one-shots in the main story. Not all of them, just the ones I thought would help develop Zim and Dib's relationship. After all, considering the focus of this story is on them, I should try my best to flesh out their relationship with each other as much as possible.

So settle in, there's going to be a lot of yelling.

"WHERE IS THE DIB!!!" Zim screamed out into the class, who had in an act of fear, moved their desks as close to the walls as they could, just so they could be as far away from the green psycho. They would make a run for it if it wasn't because any sudden movement or noise would earn a predatory glare from Zim, who was impatiently waiting for an answer.

"HE IS LATE!!! THE DIB-THING IS NEVER LATE!!!" He continued to scream, neglecting the fact that Dib had of course been late before. Many times, in fact, considering Zim had the bad habit of unknowingly disturbing the human's sleep cycle, with his plans that were executed in the dead of night. Not that Dib had ever admitted that to Zim, scared that the alien might just use it to make his life more difficult than it already is.

After still not receiving an answer, or at least one that could satisfy him, he looked at the unfortunate substitute with a manic stare, leaning forward on his chair. He then pointed intensely at Dib's empty chair and desk, which stood by itself, as everyone had the correct assumption that it was best to move as far away from there as possible. Then while still pointing, Zim stood up on his chair, staring down at the young substitute.

"That...is Dib's chair. Dib is SUPPOSED to sit there. Why...IS IT EMPTY!!! TELL ME, OR ENDURE THE WRATH OF ZIM!!!" Zim continued with a fiery passion, with his classmates looking up at him with both terror and a slight sense of feeling proud. This feeling probably came from them being happy that Zim was at least doing something vaguely normal, asking where his friend was.

But the teacher wasn't able to enjoy the finer details of this situation, as he frantically booted up his computer, and as if someone was pointing a gun against his head, searched through anything that could explain the disappearance of Dib, someone he had never heard of before. But at moment, he was willing to set up a fan club for this random kid, if it meant that the insane green kid would stop looking at him like he was about to jump him any minute. As if an answer to his desperate prayers, he finally found an email from the teacher that was supposed to have had this class.

"U-uh he's...SICK! Yeah, that's why he isn't here...would you please sit down now?"

Zim gave him a long and frustrated glare, but eventually, he did sit down with a little *Hmpf*, crossing his arms. The students and teacher alike let out a sigh of relief, and everything continued as normal. But an unnerving sense of unease followed the invader all through the loathsome skool day. It was during that time that he came to know a most gut-wrenching feeling. Dependence. No matter how hard he tried to blend in with the other human pigs, he couldn't escape the need for Dib. He tried denying it as much as his will would allow it, but in the end, he had to accept that the Dib-beast was what made his time in the skool passable.

He was at first enraged and confused by the discovery, but as he made his way back to his base, he slowly twisted the situation into something he could comprehend, and therefore deal with accordingly.

"GIR!!!" Zim yelled as he kicked his door open. The skool day wasn't technically over yet, but he had greater things to fulfill, so he had walked out of a lecture where the teacher was spewing out about some truly unimportant matters, such as 'ethics', and 'war crimes'. Those things were simply beneath the superiority of Irken culture.