Zadr Oneshots

Nightmares

An/ hey, been a few months, sorry bout that. Im working on finishing some old wips but could really use some new prompts if anyone has them. Anyway enjoy a weirdly soft zadr story

It was an odd feeling, finding comfort in the greater of two evils. The way his trembling body curled around zims without a word, it was almost like a child. His wide eyes squeezed shut, his shaking hands pulling zim closer, the whimpers that died in his throat, the tears he blinked away. He was scared. Zim knew what it looked like when dib was scared, he knew what it felt like, he knew everything about it, except for where it was coing from. It was easy to smile when he was the one making dib react like this, it was easy to fight off whatever thing made dib feel like this, but when he looked around the cold emptiness of his house, it was just them. Just him and a trembling dib under his hands. 

Nightmares, what a silly thing so uniquely human. To be scared of your own mind, to flinch away from beings not there. The thought had occurred to zim that he might, at least partially, be to blame for some of these. He's watched dib jerk awake yelling too many times after too many fights, he's watched him whimper and flinch and cry while not even conscious enough to remember it. Sometimes zims name, sometimes his family's, sometimes just incomprehensible noises. Zim did not pity. It wasn't built in his DNA, pity led to softness, softness wasnt permitted under invader protocol. So he didn't know what he felt, he didn't know why he felt like this when he curled his arms around dib almost protectively. His fingers hovered over his back, his antenna flicked and clicked almost curiously. He didn't know what was after dib, but he didn't intend to let it get him. 

Dib shuddered when he felt zim entertwine their legs, reminding himself again and again it was just the invader, it was just zim. He opened his eyes, because the faces of teeth and demons behind his eyelids were nearly too much to bear. He was face to face with the chest of zims invader uniform, he took in the pink in the darkness before his eyelids fell closed again andrepeated the process. He resisted the urge to jerk and turn, to look over his shoulder again and again to make sure nothing was there, mostly because he was already pushing his luck even being inside the base let alone zims arms, but also because Zim was there. Because he was looking vigilantly over his shoulder, guarding him, protecting him from things not even there. 

because the hands that would grab for him when he closed his eyes were no match for the claws that pricked his skin, no matter how gentle the invader tried to be. because the eyes that threatened him in the shadows were nothing compared to the burning red ones burning holes into the back of his head. Because he believed that zim would keep the monsters away, if only because when he died it would be by his hands or not at all. it was the strangest comfort, to find warmth in the cold grip, to find light in the black hole of zim.

He wanted to be less commforted by it, wanted to recoil in disgust at even the thought that zim was the one wrapped around him. But a fresh burst of anxiety exploded in his chest, and he couldve sworn that when he curled tighter around him, when he buried his head into his chest with a shuddering gasp, that zim curled tighter around him too. That under his breath he shushed him and his fears. He told himself he was imagining it, that this was all just a dream in a dream, that hed wake up in his own bed soon enough, but a three fingered hand eased itself against the back of his head to hold him in place, the claws light as a feather against his scalp, the rumble of almost a protective purr rattled his skull. He breathed in deep, breathed in the smell of zim, the sweet and bitter scent of fun dip and cough syrup, the way it filled his shaking lungs almost eased him. It was a familiar evil, one so much more comforting than the imagined ones. He knew that smell, had smelt it when zim would pin him and threaten to slice open his throat, had smelt it when zim would get just inches away and hiss curses and threats of dissection so low that only dib could hear, it settled in his chest, it shook him to his very veins, it eased his anxiety. Zim wouldn't kill him, not now at least. He'd threaten and yell and probably drag him out by his hair when the dawn came, but for now he wouldn't hurt him, not on purpose anyway. Dib was his prey, not the monsters under the bed’s. He curled a hand in dibs shirt, pulling him as close as he could get, curling his body around him. He didn't quite understand what was happening, didn't quite understand why he was letting it happen, whatever it was. 

Dibs breathing slowed, the lure of exhaustion drawing him in, and zim decided he didnt have to think about it. He was an invader, a soldier, a protector of irk. And as far as he was concerned, dib was irken property. And he wouldnt let this happen if some part of him, didnt want it to happen. In that way, he could rationalize that this was simply him taking what he wanted, like he was supposed to. In that way, it made things easier for both of them, when zim gently tucked dibs head under his chin, when he spoke to him in hushed irken.

“Mine” he whispered, so quietly dib could only feel it in his throat “nothings going to hurt you, youre mine. Zims.”