Chapter Text
Chapter One: It Begins
Summary: Dib wouldn’t say that he’s much of a musical theatre kid, but, when his enemy begins to sink more time and effort into the theatre department than anticipated, that changes.
Notes: Partially written because I am filthy little theatre kid myself and partly because I felt like writing more trans Dib content. Good for the soul.
Dib had never considered himself much of a theatre kid. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate theatre, he just wasn't as passionate about it as he was other things. He could enjoy a good play or musical every now and then- Dib was a sucker for the musical version of Jekyll and Hyde - but it wasn't a big part of his life and it never had been. In fact, he barely remembered that his school even had a theatre department. Of course, he knew that they were there, but he had tried his hardest to avoid the entire department after the incredibly awkward situation where he declined to join the choir after he had passed the audition. Aside from the donations that his father dropped for the underfunded program every once in a while, he didn’t really interact with them or know what was going on. He tried his hardest to keep it that way.
Until he noticed Zim’s newfound hobby .
Initially, Dib had been surprised when he found out that Zim was interested in their theatre department, but, now that he thought about it more carefully, it made a lot of sense. If you were successful in theatre, you earned yourself a great deal of attention and he knew for a fact that Zim loved being the in the spotlight. He was almost always the loudest person in the room and demanded respect (even if he often miserably failed in that department). Theatre fed directly into many of the things that Zim desired the most in life and was of easy access to the alien. Not only that, but the theatre and music kids formed a tightly-knit group and almost always had one another’s backs, even when they were at “war” with one another (the drama department was described perfectly by its name, sometimes). If he infiltrated them, Zim would practically have an army on his side- and it would be a pretty decent army at that.
Really, Dib should have seen Zim’s excitement with theatre from a mile away.
Regardless, it had come as a bit of a shock to see Zim sign up to audition for the fall play- Arsenic and Old Lace (one of Dib’s favourite plays)- and it was even more of a shock to see Zim landing a role considering the fact that there were about twelve characters and, well, Zim had never acted before.
Dib had mixed feelings about Zim joining their theatre community. On one hand, it gave Dib more time to himself with Zim preoccupied with rehearsals and learning his lines. On the other hand, it brought Dib so much anxiety to not know what was happening with his enemy. He could have spent the entire time brainwashing and torturing the others in the department and Dib wouldn’t have been any the wiser until after Zim began to unveil his evil plan to Dib.
As it turned out, getting a role in the school play had had absolutely nothing to do with any evil plot of Zim’s (at least not one that Dib was privy to). He just ended up sinking a lot of his time and energy into it and, unsurprisingly, absolutely adored basking in the attention that he was showered with when he was able to take his final bows.
Usually, Dib didn’t go to the school plays and musicals. He did every once in a while, but keeping his distance from the entire community included avoiding the school plays and musicals like the plague. This time, though, Dib bought himself a ticket and attended.
He hated to admit that Zim was actually surprisingly good in his role- though he was playing the unhinged main antagonist of the story, Johnathan Brewster, so it wasn’t too shocking to see that he wasn’t horrible at it. Zim was strangely passionate up on stage and Dib couldn’t tell whether it was because he was enjoying acting itself or the fact that he was playing such a good villain. Either way, it had Dib entranced in a way that he hadn’t been in a while and, despite knowing exactly how the play ended, he found himself on the edge of his seat the entire performance.
That night, Zim hadn’t done anything diabolical. At least as far as Dib saw, he was just another theatre kid with a passion for his craft and a lust for the spotlight. That didn’t mean that that was the only thing going on there, though. Even from his brief time in the program, he knew that the theatre and music department was one of the most pack-like groups in the entire school and it was absolutely certain that it would get Zim some allies and, in turn, Dib some enemies.
Zim wasn’t stupid and Dib knew that the alien had to realize that, too, eventually. It was likely that it was only a matter of time before Zim used his newfound “friends” to aid him in his fight for world domination (or just in his fight to destroy Dib’s like in particular, which seemed just as important to Zim, as the years went on).
But there was no way Dib was going to let that happen. He wasn’t going to let Zim plot and scheme without him knowing and he wasn’t going to let him use the poor theatre kids against their own species for his villainous plans.
There also may have been the added pain of seeing Zim up there with all of the nice, passionate, interesting people from the theatre department. Those would have been his people instead of Zim’s if Dib weren’t such a fucking coward. He could have had friends and allies right now if he hadn’t let his own insecurities get in the way back then. Even all the years later, Dib was still kicking himself over that. He may no longer be as passionate about music as he was back then but he had auditioned and he had done well back then. His life could be completely different and far better right now if he hadn’t dropped out as he did. Dib was fully aware that that was completely on himself and had nothing to do with Zim, but he wasn’t going to stop him from brooding and being bitter.
It took a bit of deliberating for Dib to decide upon what he was going to do. What really sold it for him was the conspiratorial grin that Zim had as the crowd cheered during their final bows. Even if the smile could have been completely innocent, Dib didn’t trust Zim for a second and he knew that the alien had a leg up by just being part of them.
That’s why, when Dib saw Zim sign up to audition for the musical that spring, he decided that he would do something instead of just sitting there, again.
He wasn’t going to audition for a part- no, he was still far too insecure about his voice despite it being far less feminine than it had been back then and he had very little belief in his acting abilities. He wasn’t going to pass up the chance to be part of this, though, not when Zim was part of it and almost definitely using it to his advantage.
Besides, even if Zim wasn’t smart enough to see that he could use the camaraderie of the theatre program against Dib (which was a definite possibility), that would just give Dib the chance to do the same to him (and, hey, if allyship meant friendship, then he wasn’t opposed)!
Dib had made up his mind on what he was going to do.
He signed up for tech crew.