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Sublime Awakenings	By : Kailean Category: Comics > Squee! Views: 1478 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Squee!, JTHM, or Invader Zim, nor any of the characters from these works. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Sublime Awakenings: Chapter 12

Dib looked up from the register at Roc'n Rob's Media and Accessories as a red light over the entry archway flashed, signaling twin bells to toll in an eerie fashion. He watched as the new customer made straight for the checkout with a menacing disposition: brand name sandals, short, tight skirt, pink halter top, shiny candy-toned jewelry, too much glittery make-up, narrowed hazel eyes and purple hair. Purple hair. No. It was impossible. He felt like his brain had melted and seeped out his ears onto the floor. And it was about to be stomped on.

The girl finally came to a stop right in front of his register. She glared at him. Then she spoke in a low and dangerous voice. “Dib. You ditched me. I had to sit with Hanzhi and Meph at lunch. I had to take the bus here...with Keef. It wasn't pleasant. There was too much noise. I could barely hear my Game Slave.”

Dib was still staring in disbelief. It sounded like Gaz, but it just couldn't be. Gaz dressed like this was as unbelievable as Zim's skin condition. “G-Gaz?”

Her eyes narrowed even more. It was amazing she could even see. “Yes, Dib. This is me. This is me really angry. Now, you know you must pay.”

That just made him more confused. Why was she this mad about him skipping skool? It wasn't like it was the first time. Did she somehow blame him for her strange appearance? “Can I pay in cash or homework?” He asked hopefully.

“Homework. For a week. And you have to wait in line to get the next Game Slave for me when it comes out.”

Dib let out a sigh of frustration and relief. While his sister's command was annoying, he was lucky to have escaped a thorough ass-kicking. In her teenage years Gaz had started to lean more toward non-physical payback, but every now and then she would revert to old tactics. “Fine.”

“Gaz?!”

Both siblings turned their attention to Squee, who had just returned from stocking the selves with new videos. When she turned around to face him, and he was sure that it was her, he continued in a shocked voice. “Why are you dressed like that?”

Gaz smirked at their confusion. Now was time for the real payback. “I've decided to become popular.”

“What?! Why? I thought you hated that crowd.” Squee was beyond disturbed. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder.

The girl shrugged. “I do, but I've discovered that being popular usually involves hating other popular people, so it's okay. Well, I'm gonna go play video games for a while.” With that she walked to the back of the store, where various games were played free of charge, leaving the boys feelings as though they had slipped into the twilight zone.

“That was...kind of scary.” As Squee made his way behind the check-out counter there was another tolling of bells. Two more customers had entered: a green haired boy and an old lady with gray hair and a large nose. The boy headed straight for the games in the back, which was sure to annoy the mistress of doom. The old women gave them a disapproving look before disappearing into the video section.

“What was scary?” An auburn-haired girl of seventeen approached from the employee's area behind the check-out desk. Quartz earrings and a pentacle necklace accented her dark, store-required, apparel. When she reached them she slipped an arm around Dib's neck, and rested her head upon his shoulder to glance at Squee with inquiring blue eyes.

“Gaz. She's dressed all preppy, and she says she wants to be popular.”

“No way! Is she here?”

Dib's hand rose up to pat the girl's shoulder, slightly uncomfortably. Even though he and Vayowen were pretty close friends-- they had even tried dating for a month over the summer-- he wasn't really used to close physical contact. “Yeah, she's playing the demo games, but I wouldn't mess with her right now.”

“Humm. Maybe later then. So Dib, I heard from Zita that you’re dating that green kid. Congratulations.” She gave him a knowing smile. Through he insisted that his obsession with Zim was strictly professional, that obsession had been one of the main factors in their break up.

Great. Just great. Now she would never believe him. Thanks a lot Zim! There went one of the only people he had ever had any romantic interest in at all, straight out the window. She was going to think that he had lied to her. She was going to think he was gay. Gay with an alien! Was it really considered gay if it was with an alien? Zim was male, but was he male in the human sense? NO! He was not thinking about the alien's genitals! Stop it! Okay, that's better. “Actually, I'm just pretending to go out with Zim because Chunk won't stop trying to sexually harass him. I know he's my enemy and all, but no one deserves to be afflicted with Chunk.”

Her smile was replaced by a sympathetic frown. “Maybe if you play your cards right, you two could get together for real.”

“I don't WANT to date the ALIEN! I want to EXPOSE the alien.” Okay, so that wasn't completely true. He did have mixed feelings about exposing Zim, but he was going to have to go to kollege in a few years. He couldn't just leave the Invader to doom the Earth, and he doubted that Zim would be willing to move to where ever he went to kollege so that he could keep him in check...though maybe if he played it right he could convince him that it was what he wanted. Maybe he could even make him think it was his own idea.

“But--”

“No! No buts. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Okkay.” She was clearly disappointed in his continued denial. “What classes are you taking this year?”

“Honors English, Home Economics, Advanced Calculus, Drivers Ed, U.S. History, Physics and Photography.”

“Very interesting,” the smile crept back onto her face, “and how many of these classes do you have with Zim?”

Dib said nothing. He was clearly cornered. For a fleeting moment he thought he was home free when a disgruntled Gaz, who had apparently just had a run in with Iggins, stomped up to the desk, and hoisted herself up to take a seat on it. Vayowen was clearly distracted by her appearance, but unfortunately Gaz had taken an interest in the conversation.

“Weren't you ranting at me the other day about how good he is at math and physics, how you were afraid history would give him inspiration for his 'evil plans' and how he was having trouble understanding the concept of art in photography?” Yes, as much as she tried to tune it out, she seemed to passively absorb much of his ranting. The upside to this was that sometimes she could use it against him. “And Chunk told me that he, you and Zim have Home Ec together.”

At this point, Squee, who had been trying to comprehend all of the implications, interjected. “Man Dib, do you and Zim have ALL the same classes?!”

“Of course, I have to watch him constantly to make sure he doesn't do anything overly evil!” Dib exclaimed somewhat defensively. Squee was supposed to be on his side! He was supposed to understand.

“Oh. How did you get into all of his classes?” Vayowen pried her eyes away from Gaz, and her freakishly preppy dress, to tease the paranormalist.

Gaz smiled mischievously. “They probably plan their schedules together. Isn't that sweet?”

Dib blushed. Squee's smile imitated Gaz's. “Do you?” He asked somewhat incredulously.

Dib took a deep breath and mentally composed himself. “I don't know what you’re talking about.” he argued sullenly.

It reminded Gaz of a rather un-fond memory, which invoked a shadow of the taste of pig. This angered her, but also told her all she needed to know. He was definitely lying.

“Excuse me, young man, but I need to check this video out NOW, if you could break yourself away from your little friends to do your job for a few minutes!” The irritated nagging of the old woman with the big nose burrowed into their ears like an angry vampire mole at day break. She looked disapprovingly from one teen to the next, giving them all death glares except Gaz, who was, for once, dressed like a semi-normal teenage girl. Her eyes lingered longest on Vayowen's pentacle, before she turned her attention back to Gaz. “Take my advice girrly, and stay away from this lot of hoodlums. They'll draw you into their dark ways if yeh let them.”

Gaz was too amused to even scowl at the old lady. This was new. Someone thought she was the nice and innocent one. Maybe she could use this look to her advantage even more than she had previously suspected. Her lips formed a smile that was anything but kind, though the lady had already looked expectantly back to Dib, who did manage a scowl.

“Look lady, if you're going to disrespect us like that, I'm not helping you with anything.”

“Why, I never!”

“Well, now you have! And you know what else--”

“Dib! Calm down. I got this.” Squee stepped in between Dib and the register before he could protest. He wore a spiteful smile, though it looked much more natural (and less scary) than Gaz's. The old lady, like most people, seemed to mistake it for a pleasant one as he turned to “help” her. “May I help you?”

“At lest someone working here has manners! Yes, I need to check this out.” She handed him the case of 'The Overpasses of Madison Parish'.

He quickly scanned the case, but went to work on the register afterwards. It displayed a serial number, which he erased and replaced with another. When he pressed enter the selected DVD (for some reason people still referred to them as videos, even though video cassettes had long been a thing of the past) shot out of a slot in the checkout counter, which doubled as a storage and transport unit for DVDs. He then slipped 'Quiet Mountain' innocently into the waiting case, and exchanged it for the woman's money. The woman, Ms. Proboscis according to her account, snatched the bag and strode from the store, determined to never return.

“Why were you so nice to her? She sucked, and we're not obligated to be nice to customers here anyway. In fact, it's kind of discouraged.” Vay inquired. She pointed a thumb behind them at several wall posters, one in particular: “Our creed is simple: If we can bring one little smile to one little face today, then somebody's slipped up somewhere."

He just smiled wider and shrugged. “I thought she needed to learn a lesson. Arguing and being rude would just reinforce stereotyping. Don't worry though; she'll get what's coming to her.”

“And what's that, Squeegee?”

When Squee turned around his face contorted in shock. A very skinny man with blue hair and shirt prompting the questioning of sleep stood before the counter holding several DVD cases. The scary neighbor-man seemed to pop out of nowhere.

“That's what his victims think, before he drags them down into his basement to torture them to death!” a voiced seemed to whisper.

“Uh, n-nothing Nny. How are you?”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old.” He looked at the small crowd gathered around Squee suspiciously. The awed look the purpled-haired one was giving him was almost scary...almost...dare he think it...fangirlish. When he looked back to Squee he smiled maniacally before pointedly looking down at his blood speckled shirt. He didn't notice that all four kids followed his gaze. “Today's really been a pretty average day for me. If you want, I can stop by tonight before you go to bed, and tell you all about it!”

“No! I mean, I have skool tomorrow, and I really need to get all my homework done before bed. Here!” He tore off a piece of the long receipt that printed itself out for store use, but was never really used. “Let me give you my number. Call me sometime, and we'll hang out.”

“Okey dokey.” He took the paper carefully, to avoid physical contact, and stuffed it in the pocket of his black pants before slurping loudly on a suck monkey.

Squee was equally as careful when taking the cases from Johnny to check them out. Even after all this time, Nny still set him on edge. If this were not the case, he would be insane. Really insane. From what Nny had told him, which was a lot, even those he was fond of were never really safe from the homicidal maniac. So no matter how thankful he was for the part Johnny had played in preventing his lobotomy, he could not afford to let his guard down around the man who claimed to think of him as a younger brother.

Suddenly, Roc'n Rob's was assaulted by the high pitched voices of merciless, taunting teenagers from the mall walkway outside the store.

“What's wrong with you?! Are you crazy or something?!”

“No, she's just WACKY! And DIFFERENT!”

“What a fagot-butt!”

“Heh heh. Fagot-butt.”

Nny swiped his bag of videos as prudently as possible, with a nod to Squee, before making haste in the direction of the voices. A few seconds later his voiced traveled back to them one last time. “Come back here! I'm gonna kill you until you die!”

Gaz stifled an amused laugh. She still looked in awe. It was still creepy. “Was that Johnny C.?”

“Yeah.” Squee responded worriedly.

“You know where he lives, right? Can I have his address?”

“Are you crazy?! I told you guys, he kills people! A lot! Why do you want his address?” He desperately hoped she wasn't turning into a Happy Noodle Boy fan-girl AND a prep.

She forced the unnatural smile from lunch to return to her face, and the almost-cheer to fill her voice. Somewhere inside her soul felt like crying ectoplasmic tears. “For Chunk, silly.”

“For CHUNK!? What do mean for Chunk?” Dib demanded.

“We're going out, and he likes Happy Noodle Boy. So I thought I would pay a visit to Johnny, and get him to sign some copies of the comic.”

“Going out?! What does THAT mean?!” Dib felt like he was trapped in another nightmare world. There was no way this could be real. Gaz had never shown ANY romantic interest in ANYONE. And now she was “going out” with CHUNK!

Her voice instantly lost its faked cheerfulness. “You know what it means, Dib. I'm going out with Chunk the way you're going out with Zim. Just...without all the stupid fighting over the Earth bit.”

He was tempted to yell about how he wasn't really going out with Zim, but she was trying to get him sidetracked, and he knew it. “Listen Gaz, Chunk is bad news! He's the reason Zim and I are 'going out'. He's just after one thing, and he doesn't care how pushy he has to be to get it! You can't go out with someone like that!”

Gaz rolled her eyes. After all this time, and all those beatings, he still didn't get that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. This was, however, useful information about Chunk. “I can, and I will Dib. I can handle Chunk and you. If you really want to fight about it, we both know I'll win.”

“We'll see.” He knew she was right, but the protective big brother in him resisted it. He didn't even want to think about Chunk hitting on her, much less being aggressive. Maybe he should try to get Zim to launch him into space sooner. Gaz seemed to know something along the lines of what he was thinking.

“Don't touch him, Dib. I'm warning you. He's mine.” And he was. He was hers to date, hers to humiliate and hers to finally destroy. Dib was not going to take that away from her. Not after this horrible make-over. He must really be an asshole if the “protector of Earth” wanted him dead. All the better.

Dib chose not to comment. He would weigh his options later. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something very familiar. He turned to face his “boyfriend” head-on as he marched up to the counter and deposited a video, probably 'Intestines of War', in the return slot. As their eyes made contact, Dib's muscles tensed and his eyes formed narrow slits focused on Zim. He posed dramatically with his hands fisted. He opened his mouth to speak, but Squee did it for him.

"ZIIIM." It was said moderately loud, but still low enough to sound serious and lightly challenging: Dib's usual confirmation of Zim's presence. Dib just looked at him.

"Sorry, was that your line?" Squee asked, amused.

Dib's reply was much more serious. "Yes. Yes, it was."

Zim looked confused, but continued as normal. "Hah! I have beaten your PIT-IF-FUL huuman establishment yet again! I AM ZIM and I will ALWAYS beat you, Dib!"

Dib posed dramatically once again. "For the good of all mankind, I am ...going on a break."

As he signed out, Gaz looked back and forth between Dib and Zim. It was too easy. She simply couldn't pass it up. "You and your MAN-kind." She said with obvious implication.

Dib gave her a dirty look before rolling his eyes, and chasing after his alien. His enemy! Enemy!

Squee let out a sigh. “He's not coming back, is he?”

Vayowen smirked. “Probably not. Don't worry, I'll give you two a ride after we close.”

Gaz growled at being ditched yet again. Stupid Dib! Stupid Zim! At least she wouldn't have to hear any more crap about Chunk for the night. She turned to her attention back to Squee. “So, can I have Johnny's address?”

“No.” Maybe the simple approach would be best?

“No?! Why the Hell not?”

Okkay. Maybe not. How about the honest approach? “I don't want you to die. I like you.”

The girl's eyes widened until they were actually visible behind her lids. She raised a purple eyebrow. “You...like me?”

Shit! What had he gotten himself into now?! “Uh, yeah. In a, uh, friendly sort of way. As long as it doesn't mean I need to lose life or limb. If you really want it, I could probably get you some signed Happy Noodle Boy comics.”

Gaz instantly relaxed. She could make this work. She smiled a rare, real smile that was only half creepy. “Sure. That would be great. You're a nice guy, Squee. I'll remember that.”

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Notes:

-The DVDs: “The Overpasses of Madison Parish” “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Quiet Mountain” “Silent Hill”. This supposed to be the future, so most of the movies from today wouldn't be that popular, but I want the reader to understand the kind of stuff I'm talking about without explaining it in the story soo...this is a compromise. Also, from the first chapter, “Trendy Subject” is like Hot Topic.
-The quote on the poster that Val points to is a slightly modified version of one by David Frost.
- “I'll kill you until you die” is a quote, but I couldn't find the source. I tried to make Nny in character, but I don't think I did a good job. At this point, I had not read most of the JTHM comics (just Squee and obviously everything to do with IZ) so I didn't really feel comfy writing Nny.
-Vayowen's name is pronounced Vay-o-win.
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Sublime Awakenings