Heartwarming / The Smeet Series

The Smeet

• Mainly the growing relationship between Tallest Red and Ilk. While Red is initially a reluctant caretaker and found the newborn smeet annoying, soon he grows attached to her and grows to love her. No matter how many hours she keeps him awake or how much trouble she inadvertedly causes him, Red always moves past it and continues to look after his daughter. This newfound affection strenghtens as Ilk grows up.
  • He sings a lullaby to Ilk while the Massive is passing through a magnetic storm that was frightening her. Too bad that Purple ruined the moment by recording it.
  • Red's love for his daughter is so strong that he's is willing to risk starting a war with the Sobrekt, who are notorious throughout the universe for their warfare culture, to get the main ingredient for a cure that will save Ilk's life.
• Purple turns out to be fond of smeets, and he's the one who pampers Ilk more. If the Tallest were portrayed as a couple in this fic, he'd most likely be the mom.
• Red is portrayed as having had history with Tallest Miyuki. Even though it's been a long time, he evidently still loves her and shares histories of her with Ilk, even showing her their secret spot on the planet Vacatio.
• Ilk's shenanigans as a smeet:
  • Her clinginess to Red and her habit of following him around throughout the Massive.
  • She tries to comfort Red when he's feeling sick, something that no smeet has shown as far as Red knows.
  • Her first word being Zim was cute, but it doesn't compare when she later manages to say the word 'dada' in front of Red.
  • Her baby disguise during her visit to Earth.
• Ilk considering Bob and Skoodge as friends can be put in this category, since the two shorters don't have many aboard the Massive because of their short height. Even Zim, the most undesirable Irken ever born, can be counted on the list.
• While Red's attempt at spending quality time with Ilk doesn't go as planned, they have a nice father-daughter bonding while trapped on the ship as he relates her of his days at the Academy with Purple.
• Zim is uncharacteristically nice to Ilk and actually cares about her wellbeing and feelings, unlike his relationship with most people around him. He tries to make her as comfortable as possible during her visit to Earth and even cries alongside GIR and Minimoose when she leaves. It's not clear if he's nice to her because of her blood relation to one of the Tallest or because he is genuinely fond of her.
• The heart-to-heart conversation between Red and Ilk when she inquires as to how she came to be is quite touching. Despite not having a maternal figure in her life, Ilk is happy with just Red and Purple and everyone else on the Massive as her family.
• After the incident with the indokuro on the Massive, Red stays with Ilk in her room and even goes as far as to sleep alongside her.

Lost

• The romance between Lena and Red, as there are key moments that show a more tender side of Red that only Ilk (and to an extent, Purple) has known.
  • Red gives Lena his blanket overnight so that she doesn't get cold, and she's grateful about it.
  • Before jumping off the Hothian ship, Red holds Lena's hand tightly, assuring her that he will protect her.
  • Red patiently teaches Lena how to wield a weapon and the proper stance for a fight. While doing the latter, he gently corrects her posture with his hands.
  • While being delirious, Red mistakes Lena for Miyuki due to her strong resemblance to his deceased love; he calls her "Miyuki" and strokes her cheek before losing consciousness.
  • Lena spends all night taking care of Red's wound, and ends up falling asleep next to him. As gratitude, Red pulls her closer so that they may share the blanket.
  • Red sharing his Miyuki rolls with Lena is touching if you take into account the fact that he's very possessive with those snacks because Miyuki herself made them for him.
  • Red, a Tallest, was willing to donate blood to a lower-status Irken, Lena. That gesture speaks for itself.
  • As he realizes that he's fallen in love with Lena, Red leans closer to her and gives her a 'lekku-touching' (the Irken equivalent of a kiss) just as she awakens.
• Fury's mimickry of drawing unto the snow with a stick is a callback to the forbidden friendship scene in How to Train your Dragon, complete with Fury snarling at Ilk when she steps unto his drawing and then the indokuro pressing his nose against her palm, which means that he considers her a friend.
• In a surprising OOC moment, Zim comforts Ilk by pulling her into an embrace after she's slapped by her father. If you take the fact that even he didn't like what Red did into account, this proves that Zim likes Ilk for herself.
• The talk between Red and Ilk that leads to her reconciliation, concluding with a hug between the two.

Indokani

• Purple and Cheesecake's relationship. Purple sees the indokuro as his own child (in a way) to the point that he refuses to find any faults in him. Cheesecake acts like an overgrown puppy towards Purple.
  • Like any pet owner, Purple allows Cheesecake to sleep in the bed with him, despite the latter's eventual large size.
  • The usually selfish Purple decides he wants, for once, to think of what's best for the Indokuro and lets him stay on Sobr with Fury's pack.
    • Cheesecake's goodbye gesture is a hug: he stands on his hind legs and pulls Purple close with his front legs.
  • After the Irken Armada departs, Cheesecake finds the pillow he used to sleep in as a hatchling in the empty spot where the base once stood, which Purple left behind for the indokuro to remember him.
• Despite his arguments with Purple, Red is shown to truly care for his friend when he learns he's been attacked. Even when the Shuryo informs him that if he helps Purple he'll be automatically be disqualified from the Indokani Exams, Red doesn't back down and outright states that he will save his friend even if it costs them the Massive.
  Red: I don't CARE! I don't give a damn about the stupid exams! My best friend is somewhere in the wilderness, lost and probably injured! He might be DYING for all I know! I'm not going to stay idly by while that happens! I didn't come to ask for your permission, I came to inform you that I'm going to your moon to look for Purple and nothing you do will stop me!
  • Considering that he had the guts to yell this at the Shuryo after entering his personal chambers while he was undressed, this proves that he'd go to the end of the universe and back for Purple.
  • After the two, Red struggles to finish a sentence properly, to Purple's amusement. Though this annoys him, Red nevertheless hugs his friend.
• Zim's relationship with Gaz; it's implied that they started dating at some point in the past, and he brought her to the wedding as his companion. Zim openly touches her and refers to her as 'his Gaz-demon', even offering her flowers native from Sobr and taking her favorite pizza along for her.
  • Despite Gaz not showing any affection to Zim, when she scares the Zimkro into regurgitating him she pulls Zim back by the lekku for 'worrying her', showing that she does reciprocate Zim's feelings even if she doesn't openly show it.
• The normally stoic and grumpy Captain shows a softer side with his mate, Okotto. Putting aside the fact that he's homosexual, their relationship is loving and healthy.
• Zim wanting to make breakfast for his leaders even though he unknowingly cooked the egg Purple had to return unscathed.
  • Later on, Zim tries to take responsibility for this action. Considering that he usually refuses to accept when he's done something wrong or putting the blame on others, this is quite a nice gesture on his part.
• Fury acts as a sort of mentor to Cheesecake, introducing him to the Indokuros' way of life, showing way more patience than the rest of his pack members. He even shares food with the younger Indokuro when he fails to catch something to eat.
  • Fury's pack eventually accepts Cheesecake as one of their own, which means he gets to sleep together with them, shares food, and the pack allows him to stay with them even when Fury isn't around. They even protect him from Maugrim, the largest and most aggressive indokuro in the reserve.
    • The pack even goes to bid Cheesecake goodbye, but it's clear they don't want him to go.
• Purple and Akkono end befriending each other during the last phase of the Indokani Exams, despite their initial rivalry. Purple even invites her to accompany him to Ilk's wedding, and it's implied he has feelings for her.
• Red is happy that Lena is pregnant to the point he doesn't even mind that he was, once again, the last to find out.
• Tenn's Kurokran is aware that she's an Irken, but he doesn't seem to care. He even hides her in his mouth when her holo disguises momentarily malfunctions before she can be discovered by Konoga. This gesture earns Tenn's gratitude and she names the hybrid Drenko.
• Some of the Indokuro lore in Sobrekt culture:
  • Sharing food with their Indokani. Since they are naturally territorial and only share food with members of their packs, this gesture means that the Indokuro thinks of its Indokani as one of its own.
  • The relationship between Indokuro and Indokani itself. They're not 'pet' and 'owner', they're partners. This bond is so strong that both can be apart from each other for prolonged periods of time, but their loyalty and friendship will never wane. In fact, this loyalty is so strong that Indokuros will only work with one Indokani in their life.
    • It's even mentioned that Indokuros will usually die of grief if their Indokani dies.

Pre-Parental Panic

• Red's panicked behavior when he thinks Lena is going into labor at the beginning is kinda of cute, as it shows that he's a caring father-to-be who cares about his wife and smeet. The way he talks to the unborn smeet is cute too.
• In the last part of the fic, Lena has Red join her inside her pillow nest and lets him see the egg she just laid, their baby. Even cuter, the shell is semi-transparent and one can see the smeet's shape squirming inside.