True to his word, Dib was all seriousness while he and Zim worked side-by-side on the nano-pod. Zim had managed to bypass the security guarding the enlargement ray and brought out his own specialized tools from his PAK. The alien chattered endlessly throughout, with criticisms, comparisons, and outright mockery for hyoo-man engineering.

"You have to use the secondary drive processor, not the tertiary one!"

"That configuration will never work. The deflector assembly is obviously incompatible with a yoke sharpener of that size!"

"What on Irk are you thinking, trying to fit that spring latch so close to the retainer shaft? Have you the brain worms?!"

Despite this, Dib could tell he was secretly enjoying himself. Zim couldn't keep the appreciation out of his eyes upon examining the high quality craftsmanship.

When they were done, a few hours later, they both stood back to admire their work.

The nano-pod looked exactly the same.

"That's amazing," Dib whispered.

"Naturally," Zim preened.

"Who knew you could cram so much artillery into such a small space? There's not even a bulge." As if to prove it, he stepped forward to run his fingertips down the smooth flat front of the pod.

Zim smacked his hand away, "Stop touching it!" he scolded.

"It's MY ship," Dib protested, glaring at him and rubbing the back of his hand.

"Unfortunately," Zim agreed, then clapped and rubbed his hands together with a wicked grin. "Now, what are we destroying with it?"

"WE aren't destroying anything," Dib put his hands on Zim's shoulders and spun him around, pushing him back outside. "YOU are going out to create havoc on the city and I'M staying behind to… to run some reconnaissance."

"Wait!" Zim dug in his heels and spun back around. He straightened as tall as his smaller statue would allow and jabbed an angry finger in the center of Dib's chest. "How do I know I can trust you, human?"

Dib rolled his eyes. "We've been through this. You already tested my loyalty and I passed." He grabbed the lapel of his trench coat and pulled it outward, revealing the inner lining and the golden irken symbol pin. "Remember?"

Zim bit the inside of his cheeks, not wanting to admit he'd forgotten.

Truth be told, he already had implicit trust in the Dib-beast. There was no need to test him further, and yet... there was something Zim wanted from him. He couldn't say what exactly. It was a nagging feeling, something that tugged at his mind whenever the human said things and... did things to him when he was upset. He wanted a reason to be upset now and so he went on insistently, "That was then, this is now! I want reaffirmation!"

The Dib cocked an eyebrow at him. Zim's face was flushed and his breathing was becoming harsh, almost husky. Dib's hands twitched and he had to make a conscious effort to restrain himself from reaching out to caress the alien's cheek.

What the heck is happening here?

It seemed he'd been caught in a dangerous situation that could destroy everything he'd worked so hard for, if he didn't handle it carefully. He wracked his brain for inane cultural rituals that could be useful.

Slowly, Dib began lowering himself to the ground. Zim watched him warily, locking his gaze with the human's during the descent. Dib touched one knee to the ground and with his right hand reached out, taking the irken's right hand in his. Zim said nothing, just looked on curiously. Dib touched his forehead to the back of Zim's hand.

"In human monarchy, a kiss to the back of the hand is a sign of devout loyalty and fealty to one's lord," he explained.

Zim smirked and waited for the human to do so.

Instead, the Dib turned his hand over, so the palm was now facing upward. "But since we're equal partners, I don't owe you that." He looked up at Zim's face with a cocky smile. "Instead, I'll offer you this, with my promise to always be on your side."

Saying so, Dib kissed the palm of Zim's hand. It sent a pulse of electricity up the alien's arm and down his spine.

"... gain," he said almost inaudibly.

Dib furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Do... that" Zim gulped, "…again."

The Dib continued to stare at him oddly. Then, slowly, he brought his face down and touched his lips to Zim's palm once more.

Another electric pulse shot hotly up Zim's extremity. It fed into him, fed some lurking hunger that had only recently manifested itself. This was it. This was what he wanted.

As if reading his mind, Dib planted another kiss, further up, on his wrist this time, and looked up into Zim's face questioningly.

Zim stared back him and, almost unconsciously, licked his lips.

Dib felt his face explode with heat. Before he could stop himself, he started kissing a slow trail up the alien's arm. Zim's breathing grew heavier on each advance, and by the time he reached the irken's shoulder, he was practically panting.

He should have stopped there. The rational part of his mind shot up red flags and flashing sirens, indicating he was approaching something dangerous. But his rationality wasn't in control at the moment.

Dib's ministrations proceeded in toward Zim's collar bone, up his neck, down his jawline, and then...

Stop-stop-stop-stop! Dib's mind screamed at him.

Zim turned to face him, face flushed, eyes pleading.

STOP STOP STOP ST-

They were kissing.

Crap, Dib realized he'd gone too far. Then Zim snaked an arm around his back, pulling him in closer, and his other arm clutched at the back of the human's skull, locking his head in place as his long segmented tongue shot into his mouth and tasted him.

Crap-crap-crap-crap-crap!

Dib's right hand had, at some point, made its way up Zim's side until it was kneading his antennae gently through his fingers.

Zim gasped, breaking their lip-lock. Dib, opening the eyes he hadn't realized had fluttered closed, looked down at a wondrous sight. Zim's eyes were glazed over, his face was flushed dark green, and a string of saliva connected the tongues from their mutually panting mouths. Dib's warning sirens had reached such a high pitch they were no longer audible and the only sounds left were their ragged breaths and his own hammering heartbeat. He had time for one last Craaaap, before Zim's hand behind his head yanked him back down for another kiss and the last vestiges of rational thinking slipped away.

Zim had the sudden urge to pounce on the Dib-thing, pin him down like a meat-thirsty hogulus does its prey, and feel his struggles and writhing beneath him. He could picture it so clearly in his mind: the boy's tall lithe figure laid out like a feast before him. He dug sharp claws into supple flesh and attacked his mouth more hungrily than before.

Dib winced in pain as the claws drew blood, and the shock of it brought him back to himself. He broke the kiss and was suddenly, glaringly aware of the chaos surrounding them.

The flashing red lights and blaring sirens that he once thought were only in his head were going off all around them in the room. Not only that, the doors were slamming open and shut, the fire suppression system was blasting heptafluoropropane gas from the ceiling nozzles, and the computer was screaming "DANGER ALERT! DANGER ALERT! DANGER ALERT!"

There was no fire, no earthquake, no obvious danger to speak of, so what the heck?

His eyes fell upon his forgotten laptop. The one he'd been using earlier while talking with...

"DAMMIT, SHIP-ME!" Dib tried to yell above the din. "TURN IT OFF! I'M SORRY!"

The Dib-ship either didn't hear or didn't care. Dib realized all the noise and commotion was definitely going to attract unwanted attention. It was likely his father was on his way even at that very moment. He had to shut the systems down, now!

Dib tried to reach the consoles, but was yanked away by irken hands. He turned to find Zim glaring angrily up at him. "We're not finished here!" he snarled.

"Zim, read the damn room!" Dib waved his arms dramatically at the mayhem around them. "We need to shut the systems down, now!"

Zim looked around irritated, as if only just noticing a pesky fly in the room. Instantly his spider legs deployed from his PAK, each glowing bright red at the tips. His body lifted off the ground as the legs carried him off to the center of the chaos, where he stood on a tripod of legs. The rest of the legs inverted and took careful aim, accompanied by a sharp charging noise and brighter glow at each tip. Before Dib could stop him, Zim fired his shots and brought an instant, violent end to the pandemonium.

Zim turned back to face him, the radiance from his eyes and PAK legs almost blinding in the sudden darkness, as if fueled by the fires of Hell. Dib stared open-mouthed at the glowing red demon that was now approaching him, accompanied by the metallic clicking sound of his spider legs on tiled floor. The flickering lights from sparking wires were the only other source of illumination in the room.

Zim lowered himself to Dib's height but didn't stow his legs away. "Now," he rasped as he slid one claw through Dib's hair. "Finish what you started."

Before Dib could answer, Zim captured the human's lips with his and returned to kissing him with a voracious appetite.

But the Dib wasn't having it.

He pushed the alien off of him and held him at arm's length; his face eerily illuminated by Zim's own glow.

"What the hell, Zim?!" he chastised the Irken. "I wanted to shut off the system, not destroy it! Now look what you've done! Do you not realize how important a part of my mission this is?!"

"This," Zim cupped the human's chin and brought it close. "This is more important."

Dib took a second to study Zim's face. There was something different about him. He seemed more… well, feral might be the word he was looking for. It was obvious that further attempts to reason with him would be futile.

He sighed. Well, there weren't any immediate threats, although they were surely on their way. He had maybe a minute or two to enjoy himself. "Yes, yes, you're right. This is important." He reached up to return the gesture and started stroking Zim's cheek with his thumb.

Zim seemed to lean unconsciously into his hand followed by a low rumble that could've been either a purr or a growl. "…Again."

Dib smiled and indulged him, bringing their faces together for a short chaste kiss. But Zim dug his claws on either side of Dib's face to keep him there and force him deeper.

"Ow!" the human cried and pried his hands off. "Zim, that hurts! Could you quit gouging me, please? It really ruins the mood when you do that."

Zim grunted in annoyance, but nodded that he understood. He leaned in again and Dib didn't move away. Zim was calmer this time, slower, and made a conscious effort to only nip lightly at the soft human lips.

"Mmm…" Dib murmured in approval in between breaths. "Good… just like that…"

Zim was pleased, but then the Dib pulled away again and when Zim protested, the human simply said, "Believe me, I wish I could. Maybe at a later time when we're not in immediate danger?"

Zim looked at him exasperatedly. "What danger?!"

Then he heard it: the sound of helicopters and police sirens. They were still a ways off in the distance, but closing in fast.

"Tch!" Zim clicked his tongue. "It's one thing after another… I'll kill them all!"

"That's the spirit," Dib smiled fondly. "Before you go though, can you help me find the nano-pod?"