Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dib Membrane sat on his rooftop; even though Dib had been doing this when Zim came along, that didn't stop his curiosity for the worlds outside of his own. Now that he had proof of alien existence (even if it wasn't proof to everyone else), he wondered if there were even more of them out there. Were they in different galexies, or all in the same?

But then, the big-headed boy heard a distant rumble. Jesus, could the guy not stargaze without something happening to him? He looked through his telescope, catching one ball of light that was falling through the atmosphere. Aliens! UFOs! Excited, he stood to get up and go to the crash site, but it turned out it didn't have to go far. It crashed right into his house! He lets out a sound, expecting a harsh explosion that would burn him to many bits, but actually it only created a few-foot-deep hole in the ground.

He clambers down off of the roof, walking through the backyard and curiously, albeit tentatively, approaching the object. It was definitely a craft of sorts, but he didn't know how to describe it really (so just use your imagination, kiddos!). He leaned forward and hesitated to poke it, but before he could, he jumped back when it suddenly opened up and came falling out was some...thing. It was covered in a candy red sticky substance that he had to assume was blood, he(was it a he? He was going to go with that.) had little nubby candy corn looking horns, grey skin, black hair, and a cancer symbol on his shirt. Cancer?
He contemplated what he should do for a moment, what his reaction(s) should be. Though Dib could be an asshole sometimes, he wasn't THAT big of an asshole. So he grabbed the other by the hands (thank God he was unconscious, he had claws!) and moving to drag him inside. At this time everyone would be asleep, so he wouldn't have to worry about dragging weird things indoors, wincing as the creature's blood stained the tile. He'd have to clean that later.

Dib barely manages to get the thing up the stairs and into his room, looking around and thinking of what he should do. He wanted to tell someone, show the world, but this guy had such a young look on his face. If it wasn't hostile, perhaps he...God, what a softie the boy'd become. He went to the bathroom and into the medicine cabinet, fetching the First Aid kit and a towel, running back to his room and fiddling with the ibeuprofen and gauz and all that. Would this guy's system be able to tolerate painkillers? Because he knew that Zim was definitely "allergic" to a lot of things.
The paranormal investigator cleans up the blood with the towel he had (it was a white towel so he could easily bleach it) and wrapped up all of his wounds, looking around his room and thinking. "I should probably tie it up in case it's hostile..." He murmured to himself, thoughtful. But then he had another thought. "But what if that's what sets it off?" He winced and slapped his forehead. "Darnit, I'm talking to myself again!" He decides on tying the creature down. Hopefully it would be able to speak English like Zim (even if the language was just simply translated through his PAK, as he'd learned).

It was another hour, maybe two hours, and the sun was beginning to rise. Luckily it was a Saturday, and it was actually April 13th today. The day somehow felt special, and he had no idea why. But he started when he heard some shuffling, head snapping up and looking across the room at his bed, which he so generously gave up while sitting in his office chair. The creature's eyes opened, revealing them to be yellow with black pupils, and some gray irises (did he see maybe a bit of red in there, too? Perhaps not). The first thing the guy seemed to do was begin struggling, letting out feral, frustrated sounds. "Whoa, hey, chill out!" Dib says, standing up and getting into the thing's field of vision.

"And why the fuck would I do that? I have no fucking idea who you are and I'm tied down! Of course I'm going to flip my shit!" Well, apparently this guy liked to swear a lot, and apparently spoke English. Even though he'd anticipated it, he hadn't exactly expected it. "I tied you down in case you were dangerous. How was I supposed to know?" Dib asked, throwing his arms up. The guy's tone was a bit frustrating. "Besides, I patched up your wounds! Doesn't that imply that I'm a passive character?"

It seemed to be then the guy noticed his patched up injuries, and his gaze only briefly flicked to it before returning to Dib's in a slightly less hostile, but still certainly very wary tone. A couple minutes of awkward silence, amber eyes staring into grey ones with intensity, and the troll male was the one to disrupt the silence. "Karkat." He commented, and Dib cocked a brow, making a dumb sound. "Huh?" The other rolled his eyes, and huffed. "Must I repeat myself, fuckass? I'm Karkat." He repeated, and Dib opened his lips in a sort of 'o'. "Well, I'm Dib. An honor to meet you, Karkat!" Dib instinctively held out his hand, but quickly put it down when he remembered that hey, the guy was tied up.

"An honor? Why would anyone be--" He stopped himself short, as if he was about to let something unintenional slip. But then his eyes widened. "Fuck, you've seen my blood color...Gogdammit, I hope there aren't any other Alternian's here..." The male jerks when he suddenly feels hands on his wrist. "Hey! What the fuck are you doing?" He demanded, voice a bit higher than he would have liked.

"Untying you." Dib replied, a bit nervous but nonchalant as he undid the knots (they were really tight, he'd probably be faster just cutting them or something). The guy didn't seem hostile aside from the constant use of swear words.
It seemed then that the troll's eyes widened, when he'd gotten his left wrist untied. "Shit! Where are the others?" He had exclaimed suddenly, startling Dib a bit as it had been silent and he was really focused. "Uh, I dunno. Only one pod crashed and I didn't see any other's in the atmosphere." Another relatively brief pause.

"Well shit."

Chapter Text

“So troll’s aren’t something to be accepted in your society?” Karkat asks as he sighs, painting his horns and covering it in hair, hopefully to cover them. It was a shitty attempt at hiding them, but until they got the proper materials for a disguise, this would have to do. “No, pretty much every scientist will try to get a hold of you, though I’m sure society in general wouldn’t notice an alien if it slapped them in the face.” Dib rolls his eyes—even a professor like his father didn’t believe him in the paranormal stuff.

“Well…thanks for the disguise, I guess.” Karkat grumbled, not really used to thanking people. Though he wasn’t terribly keen on the idea of being dissected. He hoped to Gog that this wasn’t a doomed timeline or something.
“So, care to explain what school is?” Karkat asked. John had mentioned it to him before, but didn’t really elaborate on it that well (basically, not at all). “Well, it’s where people go to school to learn…but the children there are all…ditzy.” For a lack of better terms, since Dib wasn’t really used to swearing (as in he’s never done it before, unlike Karkat whom seemed to be doing it on a regular basis).
“But that aside and back to the former topic for a second.” Karkat begun, “if you’re so interested in alien life, why are you helping me get disguised?” Dib had told Karkat not to worry about the skin tone, and handed him some eye contacts, which he put in. It made his eyes a deep brown, almost burgandy color, which Karkat could work with, though they were slightly itchy at first.
“Because…you’re not arrogant like Zim, I don’t really have any friends, so…” Dib and Karkat could relate in their own ways, both being the outcasts in society. But at least Karkat wasn’t a dumb asshole about it. “Oh.” Karkat replied simply, sighing as he trimmed his nails. They weren’t terribly long, but they were sharp. He wouldn’t want to accidentally cut someone, and hopefully it would pass off to everyone as nail polish or something.
“I suppose that makes sense, at least you’re not caught between black and white—being either a nooksucker or just a ditzy dork. You’re intelligent.” Karkat still kept the snark in his tone to try and not seem too friendly. He wanted friends, but he wans’t used to it really, and would have to get used to the idea.
“Well, you seem to be ready.” Dib said, nodding to himself. “Let’s get going now, yeah?” Dib felt like grinning like an idiot; finally he had a friend…at least, he thought he might have made one. Karkat follows behind him as they start for the door, Gaz tagging along with them as she plays her game, fingers clicking rapidly on the buttons as she did so.
They weren’t even halfway to school when a little green boy was spotted crossing the street.
The green boy seemed to notice them too, and pointed an accusing finger at Karkat over-dramatically. “You! I’ve not seen your race before! What are you?” Zim exclaims, narrowing his eyes suspicously. “Of course you haven’t, fuckass! I’m from another dimension! But if it’ll make you and your annoying, shit-eating squeaky voice shut up, I’m an Alternian Troll.” Karkat then shoulders past the other, hands gripped into fists at his side. Dib follows Karkat, grinning at his telling, and Gaz actually stops (though not looking up from her game) smirking at Zim and saying “heh, you got told” before resuming walking.
It wasn’t long before the bell rang, signaling the starting of class. The two males walked in, Dib sitting down and Karkat standing in the front of the room, looking around almost nervously. Ms. Bitters slithers In, her grim reaper-like dress disappearing behind the table as she barks out a “take a seat, now!” And everyone does so. In a slightly less pissy tone, yet still bitter (no pun intended), she gestures over to Karkat. “Everyone, we have another new student. Please welcome Karkat Vantas.” A couple moments of blinking, and the cliché clearing of a throat, before one female with purple hair decides to speak up. “His skin is all weirdly colored! Kinda like that green boy! Er…what was his name again?” Some chatter among the children, and then Ms. Bitters hushes them with a hiss. A random seat dumps an equally random child out of their seat, them disappearing to the under ground classroom as Karkat almost nervously (though he doesn’t show it) takes the seat, shifting uncomfortably.
It turns out the seat was right…oh Gog dammit, why did the universe hate him so fucking much? Why did he have to be /right/ behind Zim and not maybe, I don’t know…by Dib instead? He seethed, resisting letting out a growl as assignments were passed out. Shit, he didn’t know any of this! He’d have to get tutoring from Dib and just hope that this assignment wasn’t due by the end of class, Ms. Bitters didn’t really look like a very “oh I’ll let it slide, it’s fine” kind of person.
Soon enough, the class was over, the kids leaving quite noisily, some going through the door to head for the commons, others just jumping through windows. Did the kids not know manners? Apparently not. Karkat rolled his eyes, striding out of the room and heading for the cafeteria. The whole place was filthy, but Karkat didn’t really feel up to sitting at a table, so he instead walks to a (relatively, okay not really at all, but better than most) clean corner and sitting down, pulling out a lunch that Dib had made sure he packed (saying something about the school lunch being alive).
He eats the sandwich, and hey, he finds that the thing wasn’t bad, certainly better than the shit that the alchemiter coughed out back on the meteor. Somewhere along there, Dib joins him, slumped against the wall as he rants on about Zim, Karkat kind of blanking out like he did back with Kankri in the dream bubbles. At least Dib didn’t ask him any questions, Karkat hated when that happened because then…yeah, it was kinda sorta rude. And under some circumstances, Karkat cared about that shit.
And a few hours later yet, the day is over, and Karkat is about ready to punch Zim in the face. “You stupid fucking idiot! You’re so dense, ugh I hate you! And not even in a black way!” He resists socking the green boy in the face, storming down the street back to Dib’s hive.