Chapter 1

It was in complete silence that the shadowy figure slinked down the sidewalk, avoiding street lamps, turning his face away when the occasional car passed by. He walked briskly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. It had to be almost midnight, but that was fine; he was less likely to be noticed, and the person he was meeting with specified this time. He didn't want to upset her.

She could be terrifying when upset.

Finally, he reached the house he was looking for. There was an electric grid around it that served as a fence, but he got a running start and jumped straight over it, coming down softly on the grass beyond. He glanced around, then hurried over to the wall, looking up at the second story windows. One had been left open by a crack. Perfect.

The sophisticated device on his back opened up, and four metal legs stretched out, lifting him high into the air. He used these to propell himself up to the windowsill, grabbing it with the legs and providing him just enough leverage to get his hands up and shove the window open, pulling himself in.

The spiderlegs retracted, and he landed gently on the carpeted floor inside, turning to close the window and latch it.

"There you are," a quiet but stern voice said behind him.

He turned, seeing a tall girl of seventeen, with long hair dyed purple and intelligent amber eyes. "As promised," he murmured, bowing dramatically.

She just rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a suck up, Zim."

Zim straightened up and pulled back the hood of the coat he was wearing, revealing his antennae and allowing his red eyes to gleam in the moonlight filtering in through the window. "Gazlene, I didn't have to come here. There are much more important things I could be doing with my time right now. So you should appreciate my company."

"Uh-huh. And I told you to just call me Gaz." She stepped toward him, grabbing his collar in both hands as if she was going to strangle him.

"Very well... Gaz." Zim glanced over her and saw that she was already dressed for bed, wearing a thin white nightgown with black lace trim around the sleeves and hem. It clung to her hips quite nicely, accenting her figure. He raised his eyes, smirked fearlessly, and pressed their lips together.

Her eyes widened, and her grip on his shirt loosened. He took a step forward, putting his hands on her waist in an attempt to guide her. Then her eyes narrowed, her hold became stronger, and she pulled her mouth away, slamming him roughly against the wall.

He just barely held in a pained yelp."Gaz, what-"

She leaned close. "You don't control me." She raised a hand to his cheek, digging her fingernails in. "I control you." She kissed him deeply, pulling his face into a more comfortable position as she did. He struggled for only a moment before relenting and closing his eyes, kissing back. He draped his arms loosely around her waist, just enjoying how warm her body was, how it pressed against his. He felt a thrill at doing this; her brother was in the room right down the hall, and he had no idea!

When they separated, Gaz said, "Why are you so addicting?"

Zim grinned. "I'm just that amazing."

"Not really, but... damn, I can't get enough of you." She drifted her hands down his shoulders, kneading into the muscles, forcing the tension out of them. "And it makes it even better, knowing that Dib would have a panic attack if he saw us like this."

"Yes, imagining his reaction makes this all worthwhile." Zim lowered his head, nipping at her collarbone and making her shiver.

"Really? His reaction? Shouldn't having the privilige of being with me make it worthwhile?"

"Uh... yes, of course! The fact that you're my enemy's sister is just an... added benefit! Not the most important part, of course not. The important thing is that you're my girlfriend, and... and I love you."

Her expression didn't really change, except for her to lift her eyebrows a little as she said, "I love you too, idiot." She hugged him tightly, almost hard enough to break his ribs. In fact, he was pretty sure he heard an invertebrae pop.

He embraced her for a while, and then they ended up sitting amongst a pile of blankets on the floor of her room, watching a movie while cuddling. She had popped a bag of popcorn earlier, and took it out to snack on. It didn't last long, though, and Zim expressed a desire to go to the kitchen and get some Little Debbie cakes.

Gaz shrugged, pausing the movie. "Go ahead, but be quiet. Dib should be asleep by now, but you never know."

Zim nodded and stood, leaving the room. He glanced over at Dib's door, but it was closed and there was no light shining from beneath it. He snuck over to the stairs and slid down the railing to get to the bottom. He landed, and in the quiet house, the sound seemed much too loud. He flinched, but no one responded, so he continued.

Once in the kitchen, he began pulling down various boxes from the cabinets, taking a couple snack cakes from each and putting them back.

The rustling and creaking of cabinet doors must have reached upstairs, because then Zim heard his rival's voice call, "Gaz, is that you down there?"

He froze, antennae perking as he heard a door open upstairs. Maybe if he stayed quiet, Dib will just think he imagined it and go back to bed.

"Hello? I already heard you, being quiet won't save you."

Zim stayed quiet anyway, though began edging back into the living room, trying to figure out a way back upstairs without being seen. He could just go outside and up into Gaz's room through the window again, but the front door was locked, and unlocking it would surely make noise.

"I'm coming down!"

Zim muttered a curse and put the snacks in a pocket, standing taller. Well, he knew he would have to face Dib eventually. It was only a matter of time until he got careless.

He watched as the older teen came down the stairs slowly, and then tensed when he saw that he was holding a shotgun, pointing it right at him. Zim instinctively held his hands up, stepping back.

When Dib got halfway down the stairs, he stopped and blinked. He held the gun with one hand so he could adjust his glasses, then returned it to its position against his shoulder, finger on the trigger. "Zim? What are you doing in my house?"

"Um... what? Oh, is this your house?" Zim looked around as though shocked. "How odd. Well I guess I should leave, so sorry to bother you, and..."

"You stay right there." Dib took a few more steps down, aiming the gun at Zim's heart.

Zim was reasonably worried. Earth weapons weren't as high-tech as the ones built on Irk. They didn't fire intense lasers. But those metal bullets did a pretty good job of ripping huge, messy holes in people. "Well damn, my charade is up. Um, Gaz?" he called. "Your brother wants to shoot me! I would prefer if that didn't happen!"

"Gaz isn't going to help you," Dib scoffed.

And then Gaz walked down the stairs and snatched the gun from his hand, opening it and removing the shells. "You didn't even pump the stupid thing first, how are you going to shoot him without one in the chamber? Moron." She slid the shells down the front of her gown, and handed the now useless gun back.

Dib glanced at her chest, but decided against trying to get them out. "Gaz, do you know anything about this? Zim's been snooping around our house."

"Well of course he has, he was getting snacks for us."

Zim nodded, smiling as he took a Swiss roll out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "I got plenty, now we can get back to our movie!" He walked toward her.

Despite the gun being empty, Dib jabbed the barrel into his chest anyway, knocking him back. "Get out."

"Dib, I invited him here," Gaz said firmly.

He stared at her. "What?"

"You heard her," Zim said, going to her side while Dib was distracted. "We met up late at night to try and avoid you. For a while, it worked."

"A while? ...How long has this been going on?"

"About two months," Gaz replied. Zim nodded, smiled, and kissed her cheek.

Dib's jaw dropped. "Wait, are you two...?"

"We're dating," Zim said casually, easily plucking one of the shotgun shells out of Gaz's nightgown and examining it. She hardly paid attention.

This time, Dib hit him in the face with the butt of the gun.

With a violent curse in irken, Zim fell to the floor, both hands covering his face as blood poured out of his mouth.

Dib took in a breath and turned to Gaz, "Now, as for you-" and promptly collided with her fist, which knocked him to the ground, where he writhed in pain next to Zim.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him again," she growled, in a voice of pure malice. She leaned down to help her boyfriend up, and he smiled weakly at her, though tears were running down his face from the pain.

Dib just groaned and picked himself up, rubbing his bruised jaw. It felt like one of his teeth was knocked out of place. He tasted blood.

"Are you okay?" Gaz asked Zim.

"Oh yeah. I've had worse," he replied casually.

"There's blood literally dripping from your mouth."

"Nothing to worry about, it'll heal." Zim used his shirt to clean the blood off his face and neck, but he had a good bit of it still in his mouth. So he spit it at Dib.

Swearing angrily, Dib leapt for him, but Gaz got between them, holding them apart with both hands stretched out. "STOP. Dib, I'm dating Zim. Get over it."

"Gaz, he's evil!" Dib shouted. "He's going to destroy Earth! He'd kill all of us if he got the chance!"

"Not all of you," Zim commented.

"Why would you date the guy who wants to completely obliterate humanity as we know it?"

"You and I both know he's not going to do that. He's been here for seven years and hasn't come close to succeeding. Stop worrying about it. I'm almost an adult, Dib. It's my choice who I date."

"Yeah, but... it's a terrible choice!"

"Maybe to you, but to me, it was a good decision. Unlike most people, Zim actually respects me. Not out of fear, but out of admiration. He's hopelessly in love with me, he calls me the sweetest names you'd never expect him to say, and is always fun to be around." She was exaggerating, but Dib didn't know that. "I've grown attached to him over the past few years, and now, he's the only one I could imagine being with."

Dib sighed, glaring at Zim. "I can't stop you. It is your choice. But Zim is manipulative and evil. He could just be using you."

"Oh, please. If anything, I'm using him." She twirled one of his antennae around her finger, and he purred. "Don't worry about me, I can handle him."

"I don't like you seeing him. If you must be with him, don't do it near me."

"Fine. Come on Zim, let's go back to my room." Gaz grabbed the shotgun shells and threw them over her shoulder. Then, arm in arm with each other, they went back upstairs.

After a few moments, Dib followed, putting away the gun before returning to his room. He did not approve of this at all. He knew Gaz could take care of herself, but he's known Zim for years. He knew what he was like. So he couldn't help but be afraid for his little sister, and could only hope her judgment that Zim wouldn't hurt her was right.