NEON HEARTS

Chapter Three

The ceiling came crashing down around him, covering Dib in what he hoped was just dust and not fucking mold. He opens his eyes, wipes off his poor glasses and is almost surprised to see a bundle of green and pink laying in the dust in front of him.

“Squee, I’ll call you back.”

He hangs up just as Zim starts pulling himself off the floor, stabilizing himself with his PAK legs. Zim dusted himself off, ruffling the drywall out of his hair and murmuring something about having to fix his racoon stripes later. Dib waited for him to turn around and say something, but when he just kept fiddling with his things, he spoke up.

“Zim. are you following m-”

“AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIGH.”

Zim screamed, high pitched and much longer than Dib thought possible. Awesome.

“Dib-thing!” He shouted, turning around to point at him. "I was doing no such thing!"

"Really? Because this is the third time we've 'just bumped into each other' today." Dib grabbed hold of Zim's arm before he could get away from him. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing! Zim is and always has been perfectly fine!"

Dib let the words hang around them for a good second, watching Zim's obstinance melt into nerves as he stared him down. Finally, he let go, pushing the little green gremlin away from him.

"Whatever. Do what you want, see if I care."

He hopped back up onto the sink, taking out his phone and completely ignoring the alien in the room. If he wanted to leave, he could go anytime he wanted, but Dib wasn’t gonna let him ruin his day.


abductee
All good on the city front?

X files
About what you’d expect.

Zim fell through the ceiling.

abductee
Oh, joy.

X files
You’re telling me.

abductee
What’s his deal again?

Run of the mill earth conquering or is it just, like, crop circle shit?

X files
Yknow what, I think he's done crop circles before.

abductee
OH MY GOD

Dib couldn’t help snickering, muffling the sound with his hands. It was hard to be angry and despondent while talking to Squee. He shifted to get a good view of Zim in his phone camera without him noticing, capturing all his green and neon pink, dust covered glory.


X files
Attatchment: photo_1849373g.png

Thought you should see what i'm dealing with here.

abductee
Wow you meant it when you said went through the ceiling

And holy fuck those boots? Theyre like half his height what the hell.

X files
HONESTLY. i thought hed grow a little more the last three years

abductee
He looks like a fucking chiiiiiiild

X files
You’d think i could throw him with one hand right?

But he knocked me over running into me earlier

I swear he's denser than a brick

abductee
Like a weighted blanket :0

X files
EXACTLY LIKE A WEIGHTED BLANKET


Dib is so wrapped up in texting and sharing, in his opinion, hilarious observations about Zim, that he doesn't notice coming up beside him, trying to look at his phone screen. The alien squints and tilts his head, taking in not only the frankly eye watering speed that Dib could type with his thumbs, but also the words going up the screen.

"Are you... talking about me?"

Dib paused in his typing for a second, not looking at Zim. It took him a moment to start back up again and answer.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Are you perhaps coordinating with a teammate or government agency?" Zim asked conspiratorially, squinting his eyes. "Or spreading Zim's secrets on your sticky human internet?! What are you planning, Dib?"

"None of the above, idiot." Dib grimaced, pointing his phone screen for Zim to see better. "I'm talking to my foster brother and you're the only thing to talk about right now."

Zim looked at him blankly and Dib had to take a second to comprehend the fact that this hundreds of years old alien soldier had spent multiple years on earth and hadn’t heard of the foster system. He might have a stroke.

“Alright, you know how I was gone for like, three years?” He asked, waiting for Zim’s nod. “Well humans have something called the foster system in place for when a child doesn’t have proper housing for some reason, whether their parents are abusive, they’re orphaned or if they’re given up.”

“And Dib was... unhoused?” Zim asked slowly. “Like a dog?”

“Basically. My dad sent me to a foster home across the state for three years. Like a dog.” he grumbled, feeling anger rise up into his throat. He took a second to breathe so he didn't break something before continuing. “When you’re put into the foster system, most kids are put into a foster home, which is when an adult volunteers to take in children. They're called your foster parents and any other kids in the house are called out foster siblings.”

“So this foster brother was also given up?” Zim nodded, looking at the phone. “And now you’re not brothers anymore, but you still talk.”

“Or course we do!” Dib snorted, “It’s only really been a day since we saw each other, and I couldn’t forget my only friend for three years.”

Zim laughs, loud and obnoxious. Dib doesn’t know how to feel about his tragic backstory being outright laughed at, but he’s not sure he expected anything different from Zim in the first place.

“So Dib is an outcast wherever he goes!” the little shit squeals. Dib does not feel bad for punching him.

“Fuck you, man.” He says, hopping off the sink and slipping his phone into his pocket. “Doesn’t matter anyway. I told you, I’m done with this alien hunter shit. Do what you want, I don’t care.”

Dib looked back to sneer at him, but Zim looked... sad. Or, upset. He didn’t know, it took a long time for him to even register Zim felt emotions, let alone emotions other than anger and hubris. He almost felt bad for saying it.

He was saved from having to think through anything about this situation by the bell ringing. Dib grabbed his stuff and made to get out of there as fast as physically possible. The bells only just rung and there's already someone trying to open the door.

He unlocks it at the first knock, trying to walk around whoever's blocking the entrance, but the boy looks between him, Zim and the mess in the bathroom for a second. He thinks the kids gonna say something about the mess, but instead he points and says (far louder than necessary)-

"ZIM AND DIB SKIPPED CLASS TOGETHER. "