Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dib sat at a small booth with his sister and father in a rundown Burger King. Gaz sat beside him, playing on a new game the Professor had got for her GameSlave. Intensely focused on her game, she didn't even look up when her dad sat down at the table with their food.

"Alright, children. Here are each of your dinners." He spoke professionally, as if still talking to one of his fellow scientists in the meetings he was always so busy with. Reaching into the bag, he took out a cheeseburger and gave it to Dib and placed a small fry with chicken nuggets in front of Gaz, who finally looked up from her console. The Professor bought nothing for himself, but sat politely with his kids anyway.

"Thanks, Dad." Sounding unusually pleased, Gaz grabbed one of the fries. It felt nice to finally sit down and have a dinner with her family. Or at least, it was nice until Dib decided to start talking.

"Hey, Dad. You're not gonna believe what I just saw at school today." Gaz audibly sighed, her usual bad mood returning as she already knew what was on her brother's mind. "You should've seen what happened with ZIM today. When we went outside for recess," he took a bite of his burger, "his eye contacts fell out on the playground!"

"Wow," his dad pretended to have interest in the conversation, "I bet it was hard for him to see for the rest of the day without his contacts." He checked his watch, making sure to keep a track of the time.

"No, Dad!" Dib facepalmed, "Not like that. I mean the contacts he uses to look like a human! They fell out at recess when some kid hit him with a kickball. And the thing was, no one questioned it!"

Gaz scowled, hoping to end the already annoying conversation as quickly as possible. "He had pinkeye, Dib. Remember?" She spoke through gritted teeth.

"You know that isn't true Gaz! People who have pinkeye don't have their eyes fall out at recess." Dib rolled his eyes. The Professor looked up from his watch, not hearing what his son said, "Ah, pinkeye, was it? Pinkeye's caused from people who don't wash their hands and then proceed to touch their eyes, you know."

"ZIM's definitely the type of guy who doesn't wash his hands," Gaz retorted, even though she knew he wore gloves. Looking at both of them, Dib sighed at his family. It wasn't the first time he was ignored by them, but it didn't make it any easier to accept. "Guys, it's not pinkeye! He's an alien! A horrible, freakish alien that wants to take over Earth. You know this already."

Now it was the Professor's turn to sigh. "Now Dib, it's not nice to call your foreign friend an alien. I'm sure he has full citizenship, and it's not good to use that term nowadays, anyway." Gaz flicked a fry at Dib, making a face at him and hinting at him to shut up.

"Dad, he's literally an alien! He came from outer space!" Dib slammed his hand on the table.

"Dib, stop yelling racial slurs in Burger King."

"I've literally never done that before! Why are you acting like this is a repeated occurrence?"

Gaz elbowed his rib harshly, "Shut up, Dib!" she growled.

Still, Dib wasn't ready to let the conversation end. He'd been through this same dialogue time and time again, and he wasn't ready to let his dad turn him down once more. "Oh, come on, Dad! Why do you never believe anything I say? Why can't you for once just listen to me?"

"Son, I do listen to you. Not to your insane rambling, of course," Dib scoffed, "but still, I do. I just wish you'd leave this foolish paranormal nonsense behind! It's not healthy to stalk your classmates and tell them their dads are secretly yetis." Dib crossed his arms, still believing that to be true. "You need to look at reality: at real science! I'm here for you, son, but I wish you'd see the truth."

"No, I wish you'd see, Dad." Dib spoke so softly that not even Gaz next to him heard. He smiled bitterly, thinking of the joke that was his dad being there for him like he claimed to be. If his dad truly loved him, he wouldn't call him crazy and make him feel so insecure about his interests.

Resting his chin on his hand, he looked glumly out the Burger King's grungy window next to his booth. He took a melancholic bite of his burger thinking of a way to convince his father that he wasn't crazy. If only there was something he could use as proof that his life's discoveries weren't a hoax.

Then it hit him.

The monkey. Dib's Special Monkey. Of course, Dib could finally prove everything to his dad with his monkey.

He remembered the little toy monkey that his father had given him after he returned from one of his science trips. The Professor had brought back a present each for Dib and Gaz when they were little, Dib's being the monkey, and Gaz's being a brand new GameSlave.

The monkey, his father said, was gifted to him from a strange man who claimed the monkey was "haunted". Knowing Dib, the scientist thought it was a good gift to bring home to him. Of course, he thought it was a silly idea, but he figured that maybe Dib's fascination would die out if he realized that the toy was merely an object. However, this only fueled Dib's fascination with the paranormal, something that Professor Membrane still regrets supporting.

Dib kept the monkey, but never found anything strange with it. Of course, the toy itself was a fierce-looking monkey with large cymbals, cartoonish bloodshot eyes, and large, reddish teeth, which might have been unnerving to some, but Dib loved the monkey just the same. Still, he liked the monkey, as he thought it was a special gift from his father. It was a special gift, and was a monkey, hence its name. Dib was a very creative child.

Gaz, on the other hand, hated the toy. She always scowled and threatened to break it if Dib brought it near her, though he never understood why. Maybe she just wasn't a fan of stuffed animals.

As he got older, Dib lost interest in the simple toy in due time and put it away in a box in his closet. There it sat for years, growing dustier and more ragged. For quite some time, Dib even forget he'd had it.

But now, the idea of taking the monkey back out sprang into Dib's mind. If the monkey truly was haunted, then he'd finally have some proof to show his dad. To prove to him that he wasn't insane, and that he was worthy of respect.

Of course, he couldn't remember the monkey ever having any paranormal properties, but still, maybe he could see if taking it out would do anything. Even just getting a video of it moving would suffice as proof, Dib believed.

Satisfied with his conclusion, Dib finished his burger in silence, determined to put his plan into action.

Chapter Text

Dib excitedly ran up the stairs to his room. Opening the closet, he reached up to the top shelf and grabbed a crusty wooden box. Upon inspection, there was at least an inch thick layer of dust covering the box.

Blowing a large cloud of dust into the air, Dib cleaned the lid and then opened it. Inside was the same Special Monkey he remembered from his childhood. The little brown toy with its now silent cymbals stared ominously up at Dib, a frozen expression of ferocity on its dilapidated face.

Dib took out the ugly monkey and wiped some cobwebs off of it before placing it on his desk. He wasn't sure what to do with it now that he got it out, but he figured that it might do something on its own. He would wait until night, and then set up cameras around his house to capture any footage of the moving toy.

Normal haunted objects would move on their own and often at night, according to Dib's research, so he would leave it alone and focus on it later. For now, he would pay attention on his other research until the time came that the monkey be unleashed.

Booting up his heavy computer, he opened an old favorited tab to check on the Swollen Eyeball network and see what anyone had to say. He found nothing new, of course, minus a few hate comments and people mentioning how big his head was. He sighed, about to do something else, when he heard a knock at his door.

He wondered who it could be as he descended down the stairs. Nobody ever knocks on the Membrane's house really, and if they did, they wouldn't come over so late at night. Curiously opening the front door, Dib was quite surprised, and more then unhappy, to find an all-too familiar face looking back at him.

"Greetings, Dib!" ZIM shouted at the boy, his usual, protruding voice echoing through the stiff silence of the crisp night. When saying Dib's name he made sure to emphasize how disgusted he was with it.

Dib sighed and facepalmed in irritation. Why was he here, tonight of all days, too? "ZIM? What are you doing here?" Dib questioned, sounding just as disgusted when repeating his enemy's name. He looked even more confused when he saw that ZIM had brought a suspicious black bag with him, as well as a disguised GIR. "You're not going to try and probe with house with your weird alien stuff, right?"

"Not this time, Dib-stink! I've come to your pitiful excuse for a base for a 'sleep-oh-ver' tonight." His voice faulted as he tripped over the word "sleepover," before quickly regaining his prideful composure.

"A- what?" Dib looked at him shocked. ZIM paused for a moment, before quickly turning to GIR. "GIR, you told me that's what the humans call it!" he hissed under his breath. However, GIR was paying no mind to him, and was much more focused on a French fry that had been left on the sidewalk.

Dib shook his head again, laughing aloud at ZIM's confusion. "I know what a sleepover is ZIM, but uh, why are you coming here for one? We literally hate each other."

"Oh, yeah." ZIM stared blankly. "Well, people who hate each other spend time together, right? That's just like us! So ignoring that pointless information anyway, I merely came here to engage in fellow human interaction. I totally didn't come over for any other reason! Nope, Nuh-uh, NONE!"

"Uh huh," Dib crossed his arms, not nearly fooled. "NO OTHER REASON!" ZIM shouted again, as if his point wasn't already more than made.

"Right." Dib, not feeling up to dealing with ZIM's nonsense, took a step back inside his house and grabbed the door knob. He was about to simply close the door and walk away, when the Professor walked by.

"Ah, Dib!" the man clasped his hands together in delight, noticing ZIM standing in the doorway. "Your little green friend is coming over to spend time with you. How nice of him!"

Dib shook his hands rapidly. "N-no, wait, Dad, ZIM isn't here to-"

"AH, hello, Dib's creator-thing!" ZIM quickly cut off Dib, bowing at the much taller man before him. "I have indeed come over to 'spend time' with your offspring! I will be residing here for the night."

"Splendid! It makes me happy to see my son finally spending time with real friends and not insane people on the computer."

Dib turned red, embarrassed that his dad insulted him in front of ZIM, who smirked cheekily at him. "God, Dad, now's not the time." Dib huffed under his breath. Seeing this as an opportunity, ZIM welcomed himself into Dib's house, ignoring the loud groan that came from the child.

"Thank you, Dib-father! I'll now begin to "hang out" with the Dib and proceed to do normal human sleepover activities." He saluted the Professor and dropped his large bag on the floor. Dib scowled as ZIM dropped his suspicious alien bag in his house. "Hold on, what's even in that thing? It better not be an alien death ray or something."

The Professor gasped aloud, surprised that Dib would say such a thing right in front of his friend. The things he said the dinner table were already bad enough.

However, ZIM didn't even question it and proceeded to unzip his bag. A large amount of clothes, all happening to be spare disguises of ZIM and random human attire, as well as a normal-looking toothbrush, fell out of it. "These are my sleepover materials, Dib! Surely you know about bringing your items over when sleeping at a friend's house?"

Dib stared down in awe, genuinely surprised to see that ZIM brought something normal for once. ZIM pretended to nonchalantly look at his hands, not realizing he was wearing gloves.

"Ah, wonderful! You two have fun now, and don't stay up too late." The Professor walked through the kitchen archway, leaving the boys alone.

As his dad left the room, Dib turned around to face ZIM angrily. "Great! Now I'm stuck here with YOU all night." He crossed his arms in discontent.

"Yes, I don't like this either, really," ZIM tapped his foot quietly, "but this was a necessary course of action." Dib was about to explain how it wasn't necessary in any way, but was immediately stopped as GIR began to walk inside.

The little robot let out a loud screech as he ran in holding a pigeon that he'd stolen from outside. "CHECK OUT THIS PLACE, PIGEON. IT EVEN HAS A FRIDGE!" GIR bolted over to the large, white appliance and stared in awe. The pigeon flew to the ceiling, cawing in protest.

"Hey, don't go in there!" Dib protested at both his fridge and the pigeon now stuck in his living room, but GIR already opened it. The robot was delighted to see a beautiful array of Burger King leftovers, just waiting to be eaten. He was about to reach in, when ZIM pulled him aside.

"GIR!" he shouted, "Don't touch food that belongs to the Dib-human! It could be infected with, uh," he paused, "bad stuff."

"BUT I WANNA EAT THE CROWNS!" GIR pointed the Burger King chicken nuggets that were shaped into crowns. He complained as ZIM swiftly grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him outside. "You can have your 'rounds' later, GIR. Right now I have a very important Irken mission to be accomplishing! Stay out here for now and keep guard or something." GIR landed on the porch with a thud.

Quickly shutting the door, ZIM turned around swiftly. "He'll be fine." There was a loud banging on the other side of the door. For a moment, Dib and ZIM stared at each other, not sure on what to say now. A long, dragged out pause ensued and nothing but the sound of the door being slapped on was heard.

"So, uh," ZIM rocked back and forth on his feet, "Now what?"

Dib shrugged. "You came over here. Didn't you have something in mind?"

"I didn't have time to look up what humans did during sleepovers! I figured you would know what to do. This is more your kind of thing."

Dib groaned, irritated for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Things really aren't going smoothly today, he thought miserably. He sat there for a minute, before realizing that he'd have to find something for the two of them to do. "We could watch my TV, I guess." He concluded that watching TV was the safest thing they could do, and it would kill time.

"Hmm," ZIM rubbed his chin, pondering his options with this offer. "That seems like a beneficial solution to our problem." Both of them walked over to the couch and sat down on opposite sides, trying to be seated as far away as possible from each other.

Dib turned on his old television and left on the news channel. He didn't want to put on Mysterious Mysteries or any other shows that would benefit ZIM to observe, so he resulted in turning on the most depressing and mundane channel: FOX News. The news could bore anyone, and maybe if ZIM got bored enough he would just leave.

Once again, Dib thought wrong.

Hours passed as the two sat silently on the sofa, not speaking a word to each other as the station ran on. They didn't look up from the screen in fear of meeting eye contact with the other. Dib didn't even notice his dad walk into the room, stare disappointedly at FOX News playing, before walking upstairs to go to relax.

The only visible notice of time passing was the sun going down, the sky almost a pitch black by now. Eventually, the host of the news channel signed off, and ZIM and Dib were left alone together in silence once again.

"Well, that was horrible." ZIM rubbed his sore eyes, having hardly taken his eyes off the screen in case of missing anything. Suddenly, something about the room caught his attention. Things were quiet. Too quiet.

Then it hit him. "GIR!" That's why it was so quiet; GIR had been quiet for several hours. No random outbursts, no screaming, and no whining from him for over half the night. Ever since ZIM had left him outside, there was nothing but silence.

Dib cocked his head. "Uh, what?" ZIM got up and went to Dib's front door, opening it and stepping outside without responding. "Hello?" Dib followed, confused.

"GIR! Come here immediately!" ZIM shouted on the porch into the night, scanning the Membrane's yard for the robot. Scowling once there was no response, ZIM stamped his foot and called again. Still, nothing.

He was about to turn around and walk inside, when Dib pointed into the yard, right beside where ZIM was standing. There was a small figure laying on its side in a tall patch of grass, devoid of any sort of movement. "Is that him there?" Dib asked.

ZIM looked to where he pointed and gasped, rushing to the crumpled frame that resembled GIR's. Taking a closer look, it was very much so the little robot. Or what was left of him.

Small bits of metal and wiring lay strewn around the lifeless husk that resembled the torso of ZIM's robot companion. His limbs were shredded and small scratches decorating the mechanical corpse. Several patches of GIR's dog costume, The usual blue that sparked to life in GIR's eye sockets was gone, leaving an ominous blank expression on his normally cheery face.

ZIM sighed, standing over the body. "GIR, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" While it was a sad sight, he was used to GIR getting into trouble. This wasn't the first time GIR had been destroyed, and surely wouldn't be the last.

All ZIM would have to do is open the headpiece of the robot, take out the intact memory chip, and then replace the damage parts of the body before reinserting the chip and booting GIR back up. Then, the little troublemaker would be back to the broken way he was before, as if nothing happened.

Only, ZIM couldn't find the memory chip this time. He dug open the head cavity, searching rapidly for the chip he was used to uncovering, but was unable to find it among the clusters of damaged wires and broken pieces of metal.

After a minute, he finally found it. Carefully avoiding the sharp fragments inside, ZIM removed the memory chip and hissed when he got a good look at it. It was snapped down the middle, its hardware completely trashed. This was something that hadn't happened before; something ZIM wasn't sure he could fix.

Breathing a little heavier than normal, ZIM took out a device from his Pak and tried to mend the gash on the chip. It melded the material together successfully, which was a good sign. But when ZIM tried to put the chip into GIR's system, it proved to be a faulty sigh of relief. While the chip seemed to be better, GIR still wouldn't turn back on.

ZIM tried taking the chip out, examining it, and putting it back, but still nothing. Groaning, ZIM nervously tapped his fingers on the robot's body, unsure on what to do.

"Everything okay, ZIM?" Dib asked awkwardly, still standing on the porch.

"NO!" ZIM shouted, his voice cracking slightly. He had been used to being confident, since he'd always known the answer to his problems. But the idea of being alone, trapped in the enemy's house with the worst person on the planet, left ZIM feeling quite uneasy.

Not to mention the idea of something around the Membrane's house that was strong enough to rip GIR to shreds was still in the forefront of his mind. Whatever happened with GIR, it didn't seemed to be caused by Dib or his father, nor did this strange force seem in any way friendly. ZIM needed to get out of here, and finish the mission another time.

Clearing his throat to reassure himself, ZIM lifted up the pieces of GIR's body that he could find and carried them back on the porch.

"Woah, is that GIR?" Dib sounded more interested in examining the foreign technology than upset at what happened. He reached out to touch the mess, before ZIM pulled the robot away aggressively. "Yes. It is. Something around here must have damaged him. I don't know what." His voice shook as he looked into the yard intensely, searching for something he couldn't see.

He turned to face Dib with a snarl, "All thanks to the poor defense system of your stupid base! How do you expect to be safe from an actual threat when you can't even keep things out of your territory, much less protect the people in it?" He spat, looking down at GIR. Dib's eyes followed the alien's and locked into the body of GIR.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dib pointed to broken robot, ignoring ZIM's insult.

"GIR's always fine! He's just got some hardware damaged. I can fix him quickly," his voice faltered and his brow furrowed, before he quickly added, "Not that that's any concern of yours!"

Dib was about to interject, when his father appeared behind him with a cup of milk in his hand. "Ah, hello Dib and Dib's little friend! What are you doing out on the porch so late at night? It's not good to be out in this cold weather."

"Professor!" ZIM saluted, his other hand holding GIR tightly to his chest. "I have to go home." His tone was solemn and stoic, quite uncharacteristic to his usual demeanor. "My dog, uh," he swallowed quickly, "died."

The Professor cocked his head, looking down at the robotic mess in ZIM's arms. "It died?" A wave of dread came over the man at the thought of ZIM's family pressing charges against him for having their dog dying on his premises.

ZIM diverted his gaze from the Professor's. "Yeah. It did." He held up GIR's body to prove his point that he wasn't lying. "So, I need to go home and repair it-" Membrane gave him a curious glance, "uh, I mean, GRIEVE over his HORRIBLE death!" ZIM nodded in hopes of proving confidence that he genuinely lacked. "I'm very upset right now over the death of my beloved Earth dog, so I'll just head home now and be sad there."

While his story was obviously false, Dib noted that ZIM genuinely did sound mildly upset. Or, as upset as somebody like ZIM could be, Dib supposed.

Membrane rubbed the back of his head, not sure on how to respond. However, he did know that it was late, and he didn't want ZIM to walk the streets alone. The last thing he needed was another lawsuit for letting ZIM out of his own. "I don't think that would be wise. It's far too late for children to be out, and I'd rather you stay here for the night. I can drive you to your house tomorrow. Unless, you call your parents, and they say it's okay for you to be out on your own."

"But I can't call them! I don't need assistance to walk to my base." ZIM snorted, recalling his years of military training. He didn't need to be babied. "Can't I just go?"

"Not until you call your parents! I don't want them worried." The Professor insisted.

ZIM groaned loudly, weighing his options. His robotic parents were far too faulty to be used for calling, plus he had no idea how to use human phones away. It seemed his only option was to stay here for now, and possibly break out of the place once the Professor was asleep. He nodded to himself, deeming that to be his best solution.

"Oh, and just to be safe," Professor Membrane added, "I've turned on our security system. Just don't try and leave the yard, and everything should work as it should. I want to make sure you boys have a nice time tonight!"

"Security system?" ZIM questioned, his heart dropping as he watched a large forcefield appearing over his head and circling the Membrane house. His recent jab at the Membrane's security system mocked him as he watched his only chance of escape be sealed right before his eyes.

"Have fun, you two! And make sure to not stay up too late." The Professor walked back inside, leaving them on the porch together.