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“If you drop me, I’ll literally tear your intestines out.”
“Wow, strong words coming from someone who’s life is literally in my hands.”
Zim kicked the back of his heel against Dib, hitting him sharply in the side.
Dib wasn’t sure how things ended up this way, like what conspired to get them to this point, but he was grateful for whatever allowed him to see Zim ice skating. If it allowed him to get to drag Zim around the rink, Zim holding onto his hands in a death grip.
Dib was having the time of his life.
Dib, again, wasn’t entirely sure how things got set on this path or how the conversation got started, but it was probably on that Monday.
He and Zim were walking home, like they usually did, huddled together in the freezing cold. It had snowed on Sunday, and the aftermath of that was still making things difficult for everyone, ice all over the place and dirty sludge in the street. The pretty part of the storm had melted away, now it was just inconvenient. Zim and Dib had been splashing through puddles and freezing their asses off the whole way home, and Dib was already missing summer thirteen days into December.
The sun was high in the chilled glassy sky, bouncing off of the pure white snow and making everything achingly bright, it gave Dib a headache to look at it.
At some point Dib slipped slightly on a patch of ice and almost fell over, caught off guard by it. He lost his balance, clutching onto Zim’s shoulder trying to keep himself up.
“God, fuck,” he cursed, swaying on his feet as he held Zim for support.
“Foolish human,” Zim laughed, watching as Dib struggled to regain his balance but he didn’t move away or push Dib off, “not equipped properly for your own habitat’s winter.”
“I’m not equipped for winter? You melt in the snow,” Dib snarked, letting go of Zim’s shoulder, and veering off to the side of the sidewalk to avoid more ice patches.
“At least Zim does not slip on frozen water,” he bragged, speeding up a little to keep pace with Dib.
“But that’s the thing, I can ice skate! So I’m perfectly able to handle ice, I just slid on that particular ice because it’s too thin and these shoes have terrible traction and it surprised me!” Dib defended, moving his hands around in his urgency to prove his point.
“The ice surprised you?”
“It came out of nowhere!”
Zim laughed again, and bumped into Dib purposefully, his shoulder jabbing Dib in the side.
“Regardless of the ice’s ability to surprise you, Zim doesn’t know what this ice skating is. It doesn’t seem to be relevant in proving your point though.”
“It is exactly what it sounds like.”
“Skating on ice?”
“Yeah, well, you get these special shoes and you use them to move around on this big circle of ice.”
“Hm, sounds boring.”
“It isn’t, and we should go sometime,” Dib continued, bumping into Zim back.
He knocked Zim off course a little just because of their stark height difference.
Dib loved having that advantage, really, he did.
“Although, you’d probably just embarrass yourself,I’m very good at it.” Dib continued, gloating, “I can do jumps.”
“And yet you can’t walk across a simple patch of ice on the concrete properly,” Zim snarked, walking into Dib again, and this time Dib actually stumbled a little.
“Hey, shut up.”
“Make me-” Zim started, leaning towards Dib, but he lost his balance and fell over into the snow on the grass when Dib ran into him again.
“And yet you can’t walk properly,” Dib smirked, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking ahead as Zim struggled frantically to get out of the snow bank.
Zim stomped up to Dib shoving him back, and the conversation eventually fizzled out as the two of them pushed each other around on the sidewalk.
Dib mentioned it again on Tuesday, as he and Zim walked through the halls to their class. Zim was mocking Dib as he bounced along beside him, bragging about how he got a better grade on the biology test than Dib did.
“There is nothing that Dib is better at than Zim,” he bragged, holding onto Dib’s sleeve as they walked down the hall.
“First of all I’m taller than you,”
“Irrelevant,”
“I’m better at calc than you,”
“Calc is a useless human scheme anyway,”
“And I can ice skate!” Dib finished, listing the reasons on his fingers.
“Zim has still yet to see this ice skating,” Zim argued, his hand slid down further on Dib’s arm so he was grabbing his wrist. Dib’s pulse quickened.
“I’ll show you ice skating, just name the time and I’ll kick your ass on the rink,” Dib quipped and Zim glanced up at Dib incredulously.
“I seriously doubt that,” Zim replied as he slipped his hand completely into Dib’s, intertwining their fingers and squeezing gently, Dib’s breath hitched.
“Whatever Spaceboy, I’ll show you one day,” Dib promised, it was harder to keep spite in his voice when Zim’s hand was warm and small in his own. He squeezed
Zim’s hand back before they parted off down the hallway into their separate classes.
He thought about seeing Zim ice skate as he walked to class, thought about giving Zim his jacket.
Then Dib brought it up again on Wednesday, during lunch.
He and Dib were throwing around an empty can of Monster, which Dib had finished at some point and chucked at Zim’s head, starting the cycle. Gaz was sitting next to them, effectively ignoring the pair.
“Do you have plans on Friday?” Dib asked, catching the Monster can Zim threw at his head.
“Yes, oh so many plans.”
“Oh.”
“Of course I don’t have plans stupid Dib thing, that’s called sarcasm.”
“I know what sarcasm is Alien,” Dib scoffed, throwing the can back at Zim.
Zim caught right before it hit his face, and chucked it back at Dib.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well I was wondering- shit,” Dib shouted as the can slipped out of his grasp as he tried to catch it and it hit Gaz in the head.
“Watch it!” She snapped, only briefly looking up to glare at Dib before turning back to her Switch.
“Sorry,” Dib mumbled, picking the can back up off the table.
“I don’t even know why I put up with you freaks, I could just sit with someone else but no.” Gaz lamented under her breath, furiously pushing buttons.
“I love you Gaz,” Dib attempted, smiling weakly.
“Whatever,”
“Anyway, what plans do you have Dib-beast?” Zim asked, scooting away from Gaz slightly.
“I thought we could go ice skating, like I was telling you about.” He answered indifferently, trying to seem casual.
This would be his and Zim’s first date since they agreed to stop being enemies and be sort-of boyfriends. Since they had acknowledged their mutual feelings and decided to do something about it.
(Dib still wasn’t sure what that something was.)
It’d be their first real date, anyway. Kissing and eating junk food at each other’s houses didn’t count.
Dib wasn’t sure of the parameters of their relationship, wasn’t sure if this was okay, so he was a little nervous for Zim’s answer.
Zim blinked, mouth falling open a little for a brief second before he closed it again, swallowing.
“Sure, maybe I’ll be able to show you that I’m better than you at that skating thing too.” Zim’s surprised look had been overtaken by his usual taunting smile, not even flinching as Dib chucked the can at him, Zim still caught it flawlessly.
“I hope you’re ready to be wrong,”
“Don’t be stupid worm-boy, Zim is never wrong.”
Dib kicked Zim under the table, grinning at him.
“We’ll see about that,”
Zim kicked Dib back, holding the can in his hands, pausing for a second so smile at Dib softly.
It was moments like these where Dib didn’t regret asking out this moronic alien, where Zim allowed himself to be open and gentle, it made Dib’s heart stop.
Then Zim hurled the can at Dib’s face, and Dib was so distracted that it hit him square in the forehead.
Gaz got up and walked to the library after that.
Thursday wasn’t really that noteworthy, Dib mostly just waited for Friday. He and Zim worked together on a project in biology, and Dib felt like he looked more at Zim than he looked at the actual elodea cell as they squeezed together to look through a microscope. He kept catching Zim’s eyes as they crowded over the lab bench.
They held hands all of lunch, which was unusual for them because their record for holding hands was fifteen minutes. But they sat there all of lunch, using one hand each, conversing as if they weren’t each having an internal crisis. Dib’s blood felt electric in his veins, warmth spreading through him through his hands.
Dib even got a little upset when he and Zim had to go to separate classes, he was going through a clingy phase and he wanted to just sit with Zim and hold hands for a while longer.
Then it was Friday and Dib was as excited as he was nervous. They took notes in biology, took a test in calc, and watched a movie in Spanish, so Dib didn’t really get a chance to talk to Zim until lunch, where they talked about the details of that afternoon with Dib’s hand placed over Zim’s. He didn’t say what he was thinking, that he was so nervous he felt shaky, that he had been looking forward to today all week despite that, that he was counting down the minutes until skool ended.
Everything was working out, and as the day went on Dib got less nervous about the whole situation. Eventually the skool day drew to a close and he could not have been more excited to leave.
He and Zim walked to the strip mall downtown, which had a temporary ice rink set up every year. They knocked into each other and joked loudly the whole way there, everything was easy, Dib forgot why he was nervous in the first place.
When he and Zim got there, Zim was still confident that he could show Dib up with his ice skating skills, bragging to Dib about how great he was sure he’d be.
They got their skates and Dib made fun of Zim for being small and Zim punched Dib in the arm. Dib couldn’t stop smiling though, even as Zim threatened lightheartedly to hit him with his skates, he couldn’t stop smiling because they had held hands all the way there and Zim’s eyes were big and betrayed all the affection Zim felt and the blush on his cheeks made Dib’s stomach flip.
Zim was acting put-together and confident, like always, chest puffed and chin held high. Dib almost believed he knew what he was doing.
Then Zim got out onto the ice and his legs fell backward behind him like a fawn walking for the first time. He would have face planted onto the ice if Dib hadn’t skated over and caught him before he fell.
“Oh my God be careful, I told you to start off slowly,"
“But you just got on the ice and started skating immediately!” Zim argued, legs wobbling as he stood up, leaning heavily on Dib’s arms.
“Yeah dummy, I’ve been doing this since I was five, of course I’m going to be able to skate right away.”
Zim gritted his teeth, muttering something Dib couldn’t hear.
“Hear, let me just-”
“No!” Zim panicked, clenching onto Dib’s arms tighter. “Don’t move! I’ll fall again,”
“We can’t just stay in this place all night,” Dib coaxed, voice dropping its edge.
“Then pick me up!”
The suggestion shocked Dib.
“No, I’m not going to do that.” He laughed in disbelief, shaking his head.
“Pick Zim up! It’s the most logical solution,” Zim argued.
“How?”
Zim paused for a minute, thinking.
“Then I can be certain that I won’t fall,” he explained.
“Yeah but what if I fall?”
“You won’t! You’re an excellent ice skater, you can do jumps, remember?” Zim replied, half joking half serious.
Dib sighed deeply, considering his options.
“Do you really want me to pick you up?” he asked, slumping his shoulders.
“Yes please,” Zim cooed, batting his eyelashes sarcastically at Dib.
Still, it got to him.
He scooped Zim up, letting the writhing alien get situated before starting to skate.
“If you drop me, I’ll literally tear your intestines out.” Zim warned as Dib started to skate a little faster.
“Wow, strong words coming from someone who’s life is literally in my hands.”
Zim kicked the back of his heel against Dib, hitting him sharply in the side.
“Ow, hey! What happened to all that confidence you had in your boyfriend earlier?”
Zim paused, and held Dib a little tighter.
“I didn’t realize how weak your noodle arms are, it made my confidence in you decrease slightly.” Zim complained, burying his face in Dib’s neck.
“Oh no, my noodle arms, they’re slipping,” Dib teased in a monotone voice, letting Zim droop in his hold a little.
“Filthy Earth-smell! Do not toy with Zim!” he shouted, clawing at Dib’s neck to scoot further up in his arms.
“Don’t make fun of my arms then,” Dib jabbed, smiling smugly down at Zim.
They skated around a few laps, but then Dib’s arms started to get tired.
(Maybe he did have noodle arms.)
“Alright listen Zim, I gotta put you down now. You’re heavy, my arms are tired, you keep digging your claws into my neck and I don’t love it-”
“Do not put zim down you wretched human,”
“You’re going to have to learn to skate somehow, and me carrying you around is not going to help,”
“How would you know!?” Zim shrieked, looking completely betrayed.
“Okay, I’m putting you down now,”
“No, don't even think about it”
“Alright…”
“No!”
Dib set Zim down on the ground gently, and Zim clung onto his arms with all of his strength.
Dib sighed again.
“Here you can hold onto my hands if you want, just grab onto them and I’ll pull you around until you get the hang of it.” he offered, pulling Zim closer so he’d be less likely to fall.
“Still seems less preferable to you carrying me…” Zim grumbled, hunching his shoulders.
Despite that, he grabbed onto Dib’s hands in a vice like grip, and let his legs relax so Dib could drag him around the rink.
They did several laps of the circular ice rink, Dib slowly speeding up as they went.
“There you go, you’re getting the hang of it now,”
Zim grunted, looking at the ice as it swept by under his feet uncertainly.
Dib pulled them around the rink again, staying close to the borders. They passed by a boy and a girl, the boy was shakily leaning on the girl’s arm, he must not know how to skate either. Dib smiled at the sight, it was nice to see other people in similar situations to you.
“You’re learning this really quickly, you’re doing great Bug.” He encouraged, smiling gently at Zim.
Zim looked at Dib with fearful eyes, then looked back at his feet, watching them move across the ice.
Eventually, Dib was barely pulling Zim anymore, he was more there for balance support, which is probably the hardest thing to master. Zim was learning really fast, Dib felt a rush of pride flood through him.
As he dragged Zim around the rink, Zim began to loosen up and eventually he grinned up at Dib as they looped around again.
“I think I like this ice skating thing,” Zim said as he released his hold on Dib’s hands a little, glancing behind himself.
“You’re not actually skating, you know that right?” Dib pointed out.
“Whatever,” Zim dismissed, grinning as he watched his feet glide across the ice seamlessly as Dib pulled him around.
Then Zim let go, spinning off in the other direction from Dib, hands raised in the air as if he were surrendering.
Dib expected Zim to fall, to waver, so he skated over, pausing halfway.
Zim just stood there, slightly wobbly, but then he took a hesitant and gentle slide forward. Then another, and another, and soon he was slowly skating across the ice to where Dib was waiting.
“Now I’m skating,” Zim said happily, skating a large and over dramatic step towards Dib.
“Look at you go!” he exclaimed, any annoyance at Zim’s taunting voice was melted away in the pride and love he felt in that moment.
“See, I told you I’d get the hang of it,” Zim teased, swinging his arms out to balance himself as he slowed to a stop.
Then just as Zim stopped in front of Dib, he lost his footing and his right foot curved backwards as his left folded forward, and Dib had to swoop in and catch him before he fell on the ground.
“You were doing great,” Dib breathed as he pulled Zim back up, steadying him on his feet, “really.”
Zim tried to look smug but it got overpowered by the fondness in his wide eyes, by the light blush dusting his cheeks.
“I know,” Zim managed, and Dib honestly didn’t know what he expected.
Still, a surge of affectionate feelings spiked through him, filling up his chest with a comfortable warmth and making his head spin.
He kissed Zim then, even though they were in public, even though Dib had to bend down to do it, just because it him like a freight train how enamored he was with this stupid little alien.
Zim kissed back,tilting his head slightly, putting a delicate hand on Dib’s cheek and wrapping his other arm around his neck. He tried to get closer to Dib by standing on his toes, but the action made Zim lose his balance and he started slipping forward again, and Dib almost didn’t catch him in time.
“Do you maybe want to go somewhere else and do this again later?” Dib asked, holding Zim’s shoulders.
“Yes, I think that’s the smart thing to do,” Zim agreed, he had wrapped his arms around Dib’s waist, holding onto him like a lifeline.
Dib waited just a minute longer, holding onto this moment, onto this feeling, even though he knew they’d do this again, he wanted to remember this night for forever.