NEON HEARTS

“Get your filthy hands off me, earth baby!” Tak’s ship hissed at him as he scraped the paint on its side off with an old knife, wiping at it with his hoodie, throwing it across the ship’s side when he didn’t need it. He could just barely hear her over his music playing full blast.

“Do you want my name off your ass or not?” He barked back, glad that the garage is separate from the rest of the house so he could be as loud as he wanted.

It’s been a while since he even saw the ship, so for a moment he was worried it would still tower over him, as foreign and terrifying as it was everything he ever dreamed of. Luckily for him, Dib is older, taller, wiser and can snark back now. He wanted to get right into the cockpit and fly around for the night, but the ship was stubborn and butt obsessed as always. ‘There's no way I’m letting your smelly human butt touch my seats!’ It was kind of annoying, but he’ll get his way in the end.

“Must you play such incessant noise?” The ship continued, “If I had ears, I would rip them out in front of you.”

“Didn’t ask, don’t care.” he scraped a little harder than he probably should have, and was absolutely not surprised when one of the ship's tentacles whipped out to slap his exposed back. He wouldn’t lie, it hurt. He hissed and kicked out at the cinder blocks holding the ship up.

He was used to being thrown around, either in fights with Zim, altercations with other kids, or in the many, many explosions he had caused in this very garage as a kid. He had been very hurt in his life, but he never really got used to being in pain the way Squee had. He could deal with it, fight through it, he always had before, but it still sucked. He still felt it.

“Fucking hell...” Dib reached to rub at the bruise undoubtedly forming on his back,too distracted by the sting to notice the garage door opening behind him.

“What are you doing?”

It's like his whole mood fell all at once. His whole body froze for a moment, like maybe if he didn't move, she would move on like a T-rex. The harsh music that had felt so comforting a moment ago started to grate on his ears, the cool air on his upper body made him feel exposed.

Gaz isn't a dinosaur though. She walked into the garage, turning off his music as she went.

"Seriously, Dib, it's midnight, what are you doing in here?" She asked again, looking up at him.

He'd gotten taller over the years, he knew that, but it was still weird just how much smaller Gaz seemed now. When he was younger, any height difference didnt matter, because he knew she could kick his ass no matter what. Even now, with a good few inches on his side, it didn't bring him much comfort.

"What's it look like?" He tried to play it cool, like he wasn’t still afraid of his little sister under all the anger and hatred he'd felt the past few days. "I'm working."

“And you couldn’t do this during the day?” She griped.

“As if you’d be asleep anyway-” Dib snarked under his breath, stiffening after it came out, completely ready for Gaz to have both heard him and hit him for it. When the hit didn’t come, he relaxed and tried to pretend his first reaction to his little sister wasn’t fear.

They’re both very quiet and very still. Dib is itching to continue his work, to scrape and clean and fix and have something to do. A different, steadily growing part of him is itching for a fight, to hurt someone and be hurt in turn. That part of him doesn’t help anything, hasn’t since his first year at Olvarez’ house. He got into a lot of fights.

“You didn’t walk home with me.” Gaz said, just as abrasive as she said anything, but quieter.

“I didn’t think you’d notice.”

It was quiet again for a long time before he turned around and saw Gaz had already left.

~~~~~

If given the chance, Dib definitely would have skipped school the next day and the day after that and probably the whole school year. He'd given the first day a valiant effort, but he just didn't give enough of a shit to warrant dealing with the absolutely mind numbing curriculum and incessant student body. He managed to get out of going the next day, at least. Dib totally would have stayed home longer if Gaz hadn’t dragged him out of his room, would have slunk away into the city if the professor didn't stand in the doorway and watch them get on the bus, would have snuck out behind the school if the rest of his peers weren't staring him down, following him with their eyes and their whispers. It's all very annoying.

He very transparently wasn’t paying attention to class, scribbling on his arms in red and black sharpies, band logos and little skulls and lyrics up and down the length of any available skin he could get his hands on. It was about as close to meditative as he could get, if he was being honest, but it still left his mind to wander.

Mostly, he kept looking at Zim. And Zim kept looking at him, then looking away like he didn’t expect to get caught. The guy is... a mystery. Almost more so then when Dib was actively trying to catch and maybe murder maybe expose him. At least then, he had a solid idea of what he was up against, an alien, an invader, something with more experience, more resources and more pure years under his belt then Dib could ever hope to acquire who was somehow still a fucking idiot. It was almost funny, if it wasn’t also a constant source of stress and annoyance and pain.

Now, he was still certainly annoying, just as loud and obnoxious as ever, yelling in the middle of class and seeming utterly inept in any aspect of social interaction possible, but it wasn’t the same. Where before, he seemed almost entitled, like he just expected everyone to shut up and listen as he yelled, like he had anything to say. Now, he just seemed desperate. Maybe it had always been like that, maybe Dib was just too far into his own head to see it, but when Zim yelled out answers and emoted wildly, it reeked of attention seeking behavior.

Was that why he looked at Dib so often? Was he just as curious, trying to figure this new, unrecognizable Dib out like he tried to find Zim out, or was he watching for his attention? The thought bothered him.

When the bell rang, he got up and walked out, trying very hard not to get baited into a fight whenever his classmates would shoulder past him, pushing him around, snickering all the way. Fucking children. Maybe he’d just skip his next class all together, find a new bathroom to lock himself in, since the other one’s closed for construction. Not like it’d make much-

“Ow, fuck.”

Dib groaned, running into what felt, for a moment, like a fucking brick wall, sending him to the ground. He probably would have preferred a brick wall.

He pulled himself back up, not bothering to look up at whatever behemoth of a person he’d gotten bodied by until he was steady. At the very least, it wasn’t anyone Dib remembered from Skool, just an absolute unit of a teenager, easily taller than him and far wider. Just his fucking luck. Dib tried to move past him, to find somewhere to duck out of his line of sight as the giant turned around to glare at him.

“The fuck are you looking at?”

“Not much,” Dib shrugged, once more trying to find a way past him, but the guy just wouldn’t give him an opening.

“Hey, you...” The guy frowned for a long moment, before some kind of recognition lit up his eyes in just. The worst possible way. “You’re that freak new kid.”

“Glad to know my reputation precedes me.” He rolled his eyes.

“I’on know that the fuck that means.” He looked him over. “Why do you dress like a-”

Dib very purposely did not register the last word he said. He’d heard it enough times before that he didn’t want to hear it again.

“God, did you see those two-”

“Fucking freaks, both of them-”

“I heard they-”

“And that kid with the horns-”

“Fucking fa-”

Dib didn’t think, too caught up in getting those memories out of his head. He just moved, trusting his body to act in his best interest.

So, working in his best interest, he fucking socked the guy. He must have taken him off guard, because he managed to get him to stumble back, giving Dib time to get ready for any retaliation. Not his first fight, not his first fight with someone so much bigger than him, but his first fight in a while without someone to back him up. He missed Squee and Pepito.

~~~~~

Dib is not surprised whatsoever to have landed himself in the principal’s office. He can feel one of his teeth is loose, his eye is gonna be swollen for a while, and he has a split lip. Not the worst outcome, given the size difference between him and... whoever it was he just fought. But he was used to being at a disadvantage in fights, and bigger guys usually aren't.

Dib gets suspended, also unsurprising, and Membrane is too busy to get him himself so he sends a screen. Fucking typical. He also pulls Gaz out, probably so he won’t have to make two trips.

They both climb into the car, stuck in the back so he wouldn’t have to look at the stupid fucking screen controlling the car, just another reminder how far his father’s influence reaches, how far he’s been ingrained into the daily life and functioning of The City, if not the world. It’s annoying, never knowing what he’ll see with his dad’s name emblazoned on the side.

He reaches for his headphones, but Gaz stops him, grabbing his wrist until he looks at her.

“What the fuck did you do?” She hissed at him.

“I didn’t do anything!” Maybe he’s a little defensive, but it’s not like he started it. “I was just trying to get to class.”

“You punched out one of Dredge’s teeth.”

“His name is fucking Dredge?” This should not be surprising to him, given he also knew a kid named Chunk.

“Forget it!” Gaz growled, letting go of him and turning away, staring out the window.

Dib shrugged, ready to go back to listening to music and not giving a shit. This time at least, he got his headphones over his ears before gaz spoke again, quiet and gravelly.

“Just... warn me before you pull that shit again.”