#zim probably doesn't do his homework though.

[amyisherenowitsokay]

Hi! I was re-reading the soulmate’s AU you did and I wondered how the story would have changed if our little fella saw underneath the wrist band sooner than he did. Like years prior or something? Like would he go bananas and go in denial or go bananas and try and tell her or he’d wait until he thought she would be ready to know? Because in the fic you made him more mature due of him kinda ‘growing up’ with everyone else so then I just wondered how his obnoxious little snot self would take it before he gained that maturity yk?

OOOOooooh I'm super into this question. Tysm for sending it in!

(Btw, this question references the ZAGR Soulmates AU from this fic, if anyone would like to check it out) Long answer under the cut, as I'm incapable of answering in short sentences.

If Zim had found out that he was Gaz's soulmate when they were kids, like let's say in the sort of maturity he was at during the cartoon, it would've been pretty disastrous lmao. Let's also assume he didn't find out during a moment when he could be interrupted, like in the fic.

Assuming that he understood what a human soulmate was in it's entirety when he found out, initially, he would've been very surprised. Shocked. He probably would've ran. Really solidified that it was what he thought it was before acting.

And then, IMMEDIATELY thereafter, he would've been incredibly smug. Gaz and Dib probably would've found out at the same time when he tried to use it to antagonize Dib. This would initially just be something that he could throw in his enemy's face. Some "Your planet is mine, Dib, and even your very sister is branded with my name!" kind of shit.

Gaz would fully have a crisis. Neither Membrane would initially believe him. Zim would probably do a lot of grandiose shit, like bringing Gaz huge bouquets of flowers solely to say something like "for my MATE" really loudly and smugly in front of Dib. It probably wouldn't initially even register that she was more than a tool to weaponize against Earth's self-proclaimed savior. Initially, the Membranes would realize that this bit of his was going on way too long. Dib would then make it his mission to learn to read Irken rather than just recognize the language waaaaay sooner than he would in the original AU to confirm that actually, yeah, Gaz's soulmate is Zim. Queue crisis for the humans.

Zim would eventually grow bored of the big showy displays. It's still really funny to him, but Dib also has other buttons to push, and he's got to keep all his insults fresh so he's not to be so predictable. Once he moves on though, it occurs to him that the end of the joke doesn't actually negate the fact that Gaz is still his soulmate. And just as stated in the AU, he has certain obligations towards her. He won't be dishonored by not fulfilling his end of the bond. An Irken caught neglecting their mate would be a laughingstock.

Gaz would start to notice the things he does to account for his obligations.

Minimoose starts hanging around her during large, explosion-worthy fights. She doesn't know why, and is pretty neutral about it, until a panicking citizen nearly runs into her. Minimoose's shield activates suddenly, protecting her, and leaving her really surprised. This happens whenever any debris, person, or other form of harm enters her vicinity. A couple times, Zim's robo-parents check her out of school and take her to his base. She doesn't see Zim, but she finds out later he was trying to blow up the campus again. She catches Minimoose or Gir hanging around her house when she's home alone. Sometimes, if she's in a rare good mood, she let's them hang out in her room while she does homework. Occasionally, she even talks to them.

She rarely, if ever, actually interacts with Zim. She gets the (correct) feeling pretty quickly that Zim's not really 'interested,' per se. That he's just doing his duty. The few times she does see him, like when he has to personally squirrel her to safety somewhere, they don't really acknowledge the elephant in the room. He just sort of watches her, and she mostly ignores him. It works for them. Nothing really changes, and that's just fine for both of them. Gaz might even prefer it. She'd probably end up assuming Zim was her soulmate because he was designed to just leave her alone.

Zim considers her a scary pet he has to keep an eye on. He sometimes eavesdrops on her conversations with his minions just because he can, and because he's curious. He doesn't really register it as bad or a progression of his interest in her. Just making sure his scary pet is fine. If he learns what snacks she prefers so that he can keep them in his base on the days he needs to kidnap her to keep her from bitching, well, whatever.

Eventually, Zim would inevitably kidnap her on a bad day. He'd interrupt something important, and she'd snap at him to just postpone whatever Big Evil Scheme(tm) he had that day. They'd argue about it, but eventually, Zim starts checking schemes against her schedule. He already (sort of) schedules schemes for convenient times for Dib, so that he enemy is not distracted by stupid things like homework or doctors appointments. It's not a big deal to check in with Gaz, too.

I think they'd be content with this small cordiality until Tak showed up. It'd just be too big of a catalyst not to matter. Whereas in the original AU, Zim is real sneaky out of necessity, in this situation where EVERYONE is aware of what's going on, Zim is WAAAYYY more territorial. It's one thing to screen and preemptively Gaz's social media from receiving messages from humans that could be interpreted as solicitous, but it's an entirely other for an Irken to actually show up and start spewing threats at her.

Suddenly Zim is alllll over her. Walks her to and from class. Camps outside on her roof, whether she knows it or not. Shoves an emergency beacon in her hands one afternoon with strict instructions to carry it around her at all times. When she tries to hand it back, unlike in the AU with that sweet, covert little bracelet as a 'casual gift,' she wakes up with a bracelet that literally cannot be removed attached to her wrist. Bitching about it gets her nowhere. Zim starts neglecting his fights with Dib to follow Gaz around and make sure Tak doesn't get the jump on her. It really grates on Gaz. Her worst fear was feeling like she was someone's property, and that's exactly how Zim is treating her. Like branded cattle.

Zim tries to contend with his responsibilities versus what he wants from Gaz. He's incredibly frustrated with her refusal to cooperate, and her lack of understanding. She's worse than obstinate, she's ungrateful. She should be honored that he's bothering to protect her! Why isn't she honored?!

I think that even after Tak and Dib worked out everything between them, Gaz and Zim would really not be on good terms. It was a great benefit for them to be mature-ish and working from a largely clean slate when they formalize their relationship. Having a ton of baggage and misunderstandings between them, especially with both of them being so headstrong and stubborn, would be a huge hurdle for them to overcome.

Legitimately and hilariously, I think Professor Membrane would have to be the intervening factor. Zim hanging around all the time would eventually mean they crossed paths not just as 'Dib's little foreign friend,' but as his daughter's mate. We saw in the Tak episode that Zim isn't about bitching to their father about his kids. I think Membrane would listen, and then stage an intervention with both of them. With Gaz, he'd sit her down an talk about their mother, and all the sappy love stuff that made it worth it for him to make compromises in his life to enjoy the time they had together. To Zim, he'd lecture him about the nature of his daughter, and how much she values her independence. How the loss of her mother made afraid of loss, and theorizing how their upbringing (aka his absence/neglect, without really taking accountability for it) may have affected her ability to trust the permanence of a soulmate.

I think that would finally be what made them sit down and work it out. It'd have to be a negotiation process. Zim can't always be out guarding Gaz. She needs her privacy. But as a compromise, she'd agree to scheduled check-ins. She'd agree to alert him to any potentially dangerous situations and let him come with. For example, it's my headcanon that Gaz would do a Membrane Labs internship in her college years. Zim would be there for any experiments that might go kaboom with a visitor's pass and a sharp eye. Instead of following Gaz around, they'd actually go on planned outings together. Date-adjacent hangouts until one or the other was comfortable with actual dates. It would've been a much slower, much less trusting and messy courtship, but they'd probably get to a good place when Gaz was in college.

Thinking of this question, I now like to think that, in this AU, on top of soulmate partners being fated, when they find out is also decided by some sort of cosmic destiny. Finding your partner at the right time is just as important as finding them in the first place.

Thank you again for sending me a hypothetical! I love theorizing about my own fics. This was a fun exercise.