Mable: Hello! This is a request for a friend whose birthday is coming in May. I hope that you enjoy it! I don't own 9, Enjoy!

Unforgettable Moments

They were supposed to be acting like adults now that the Machine was no more. Now that they weren't threatened and back together as a family they weren't supposed to play childish games, yet they were. One noticed it right away how quickly Nine vanished from a room when he entered it and how he averted his optics when the Leader spoke. He thought that they were past this and was adamant that now, more than ever, they needed to talk. He arranged it smartly; suggesting Five and Two to work on a project, sending Eight away, requesting Six to draw a picture for him, and soon the area was cleared.

It was a makeshift meeting area that wasn't even partially as grand as the throne room had once been. Slightly disappointing, but a good enough area for an ambush, and eventually Nine took the bait and passed through. One noticed him from his seat, a few books stacked to make an indention to sit in. Almost like a throne, but not really. Not really comfortable when it came down to it either. "Nine." He called to the younger and there came a flinch from him, "Might we have a word?" One had already noticed a fatal flaw in Nine's avoiding tactics long before.

Nine would avoid but Nine didn't ignore. As such, when summoned he slowly came over, "Sure…" He began in an almost hesitant matter and sat down on one of the books beside the Leader. A few moments of quietness lingered between the two before One asked, "Nine… Why have you been avoiding me?" He was direct and Nine flinched yet again, "I thought, after the war, we had gotten past this. That's what you said when we came back, you wanted us to not fall into the same rut of feuding." Quietly Nine added in a soft, "But we're not feuding."

One heard him and retorted, "Perhaps not at the moment, but you are avoiding me… And I noticed that you didn't deny it." Suddenly Nine attempted to stand and paused before sitting back down, finally looking to One, "Well… A lot of things happened that day, One." He insisted, "It was more than just a truce, I thought you remembered that." The Leader nodded, "Yes, it was." He agreed, "It was a bonding of two separate generations… We need to continue with that. I think we are doing well enough; we haven't been arguing, we've been spending a friendly amount of time together."

He expected for Nine to quietly agree as he had been doing, but instead Nine's optics shot back over and he looked surprised, "What? No, One, I'm talking about what happened to us." The Leader exhaled slightly impatiently, "I am as well. It is not often-." Now Nine fully interrupted, "You don't remember?!" A few seconds passed and the older paused before furrowing his brows, "I beg your pardon?" A look of relief passed Nine's face, a small smile of amusement and the feeling of weight being lifted off his shoulders. "All this time…" He began again, "I thought that you were purposely not talking about it, but you just don't remember. I can live with that."

Now One was starting to feel a foreboding feeling in his chest. If he thought back there was a mysterious area of time that he simply just failed to remember properly. It was like a black dot in a plane of vision; obvious that something was there but unable to see past. "What- Live with it, what are you talking about?" He became uncomfortable with the idea of not remembering something that had happened, "I can't remember a thing from that day- from after our talk. After I was put under magnet to fix my hand everything becomes a blur." Nine noticed the growing panic in One's body language.

His hands were grasping and ungrasping at nothing, he looked quite nervous facially and his left optic twitched, and Nine couldn't help but be slightly amused before explaining. "Two told me that the magnet can cause temporary amnesia before… But you were pretty lucid, so I didn't think-." One looked to him desperately, resting his hands on the other male's shoulders, "Nine, I need you to be honest with me, please, what happened?" He struggled to remember past the blur, "What did I do?! I know something happened!"

A gut feeling told him that there was something important that he was supposed to remember but simply couldn't. Now Nine rested his hands on the Leader's in almost a comforting way, a sharp contrast from the avoidance from earlier. "I… That night, after we had that talk, was your hand surgery. After Five was finished with you he worked on Six's ankle and Two stitched on his new patch, so you were alone. I didn't think you would want to be alone after that so I went to see you." One's bedding had been secluded from the others' and still was, except for one other bed. "And Eight? Where was he?"

Nine cracked a smile, "He was with Six and surprisingly was being pretty nice to him. He helped him find ink and stuff." This was at least somewhat of a relief. One found that he had begun to become overly worried when Stitchpunks were alone now, mostly because of the Seamstress but also because of the machine alone, and Nine decided to continue and not stall. "Anyway… So I went to see you and you were awake… We talked a little while, we said some things…" He felt a bit nervous as he tried to explain what had happened, his voice box almost giving out as he added in, "We did some things."

Already One's mind went to one thing and one thing alone. His face betrayed his surprise and Nine got a bit of crooked smile on it, "You remember now?" Parts were starting to leak through the boundary of mental proportions, but One had to be certain, and he firmly asked. "Nine… Are you trying to say that we… That I… Soul bonded with you?" The curt nod was all he needed and suddenly the horror returned. This finally filled in the pieces and finally explained why Nine was avoiding him all this time. "Dear Creator…" He pulled back and looked to the floor, resting his head in his hands.

He suddenly felt like he had betrayed the younger male's trust, especially after they had enacted a sort of truce between them. They fought so long, they had finally saw a sort of ending to that, and then One promptly soul bonded with Nine the first time he was intoxicated. "Creator, I can't believe this…" He began and Nine added in, "One, it's not that bad! It was actually pretty enjoyable at the time." He jokingly smiled but One's horror seemed to only intensify, "You're only a child, how could we possibly… How could I allow myself-?!"

He was somewhat distraught and Nine insisted, "You told me that… That you cared for me deeply and I said I cared for you, and after talking about us- Wait, One, I'm not a child." He abruptly interrupted, "I'm an adult too, I just have a lighter voice and newer fabric. That's all." Suddenly One stood and waited for a few seconds before speaking, "I… Excuse me, Nine, I need a few moments to think." He could see the concern on Nine's face and insisted, "We'll continue this in a short while, I just… I need a moment." With that he started to dart off and suddenly he was the one avoiding Nine.

It was just like the younger Savior feared. He had avoided One because he thought One regretted it and now One's reaction was obvious regret. Just the way he referred to him as a child was almost soul wrenching and suddenly Nine couldn't just wait around any longer. Instead he stood and started off as well, heading back to the pool in the center of the Library. It was a quiet and quaint area, perfect when a Stitchpunk wanted to ease their mind, and yet it failed to work any of its charm on Nine who slowly sat down on the edge and stared at the water.

He could see his reflection faintly and stared at it, wondering if it would have just been worth it not to remind One. Suddenly a hand rested on his shoulder and he jolted before looking upwards. There stood his best friend, Five, peering down with his single optic in a reassuring way. "Are you okay?" He asked with concern and Nine had his own look of fear. "You heard?" He offered and Five nodded, "I… I'm sorry." The one eyed male apologized and Nine stood as well beside him. "It's okay… I thought you were with Two doing something."

The buttoned male almost sheepishly guided them to a couple of stacks of books nearby, sitting on a single one in the front that seemed to have fallen off of the stack. "I was… I came back to grab what tools we have, which aren't even really tools anyway, and I… I thought you both saw me, I was standing right there, but I guess I was hidden by the books." Nine shrugged a little; he wasn't sure if he had been hidden or if he himself just hadn't paid enough attention. Either way Five murmured out, "So… What happened exactly? Unless you don't want to talk about it…"

The Healer's curiosity wasn't like Nine's, it was easily sated and if he knew that his best friend didn't want to talk about it he wouldn't, but oddly enough Nine did want to talk about it. He paced a little bit before speaking, "So, umm, you heard that- Basically One and I soul bonded, he forgot, and now he thinks that I am a child and is regretting everything." An awkward silence passed before Five tried to comfort him. "It's a lot to take in…. For One, I mean!" He added in and patted the book beside him, Nine raising a hand in dismissal, "I think I should stand. If I sit down my legs will twitch, I can already tell."

He was obviously worked up and in a way Nine couldn't really understand why. It wasn't as though he expected One to accept this. There was little chance that One was just going to look it over and move onwards in their relationship, taking it to try something more. With a small groan he vented back to Five once again, "I knew all the things he said that night weren't true. I mean, I thought they were, I thought he meant them, but I knew something was just too sudden." Now Five asked softly, "I never expected it. I always thought that you and Seven were… You know."

Nine rubbed the back of his neck before looking back to his friend, "Yeah, I thought so too. It just didn't work out between us. We were looking for different things out of life." Five chimed back in, "Well if you did become a couple, you and One, you know I'd support you, right?" He reassured his younger friend with a small smile, "I'd always support you. Both of you." Nine smiled back to him, feeling a touch better, "Thanks Five. I could use hearing that…" He trailed off as he noticed the sound of footsteps and looked past One who was heading back over. His face was unreadable but was unnaturally serious.

The younger tensed and soon the older wandered into the vicinity. "Nine… I would like to continue our talk from earlier." He insisted and Nine blinked before responding. "Okay… Should we go somewhere private?" The Leader came closer and insisted, "This is private enough. It's important that we talk. I have… Come to some conclusions." It occurred to Nine that One hadn't noticed Five because of the angles of the stacks of books. "You… Have?" The zippered male offered and watched as the belted one took his hand in his own, holding them in a surprisingly supportive way. A surprisingly tender way.

"… I still cannot remember what happened." One reassured quietly before adding in, "However… I've been thinking about this, about our age difference, and about…" He stopped with a huff, frustrated that he wasn't able to finish what he was trying to say. "It's okay." Nine started, "I know, I understand. I'm too young and what happened was because of the magnet." He tried to speak suddenly, tried to blurt it out and get it over with, but One suddenly stopped him, "Nine, I will be honest with you… It was not simply from the magnet. I am very attracted to you." Nine felt his pulse suddenly race.

"And if I had any control I wouldn't have done anything that night because of the complications it could cause, but what's done is done… And I suppose there's no point in pretending like I wouldn't have wanted to mate with you." He was being remarkably honest and murmured, "I don't know what I told you that night, but no doubt the magnet loosened my tongue, and much more apparently." Nine looked a little amused and embarrassed while Five slowly started to stand, trying to inch out. Either way Nine looked to One with a small smile before softly murmuring, "You told me you loved me."

"I figured as much." One replied with a soft sigh and Nine's brow furrowed in slight sadness, "So… You didn't mean it?" One corrected him quickly, "Of course I meant it, Nine, I mated with you did I not? I… I just cannot believe this. We haven't know each other long enough, we didn't have any period of courting, and already I have allowed everything to fall apart! How could I?!" He was frustrated at himself and the younger started to finally get it before murmuring, "It was after… You and I, we started after you told me you loved me… So I told you that I loved you too."

Now One's mind went remarking clear and he looked straight to Nine, perking greatly as he suddenly realized what the younger was saying. "And did you mean it?" He tried and Nine almost shyly responded, "I think I did…" His voice was quiet and ignored that Five was there. The older male stared at the younger briefly before his hands squeezed on the ones in his grasp. The burlap male found that as brave as he was his optics wandered off somewhere else in an almost shy fashion. He only looked forward when One started to lean in.

Memories of the night spilled back as One's lips stole his. Nine didn't know if One had the same reaction, if he was starting to remember what he did Nine didn't recognize it. Instead he was lost in the tender kiss. It wasn't too long but it held a wonderful passion, a quick and pleasant reminder of what they had tasted before, and suddenly Nine knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted more of this and of One. Magnet or not the One from that night still existed and this proved it surely. Or so he hoped as One suddenly ripped himself back, staring at Nine.

It was so sudden and yet so familiar, so delicious and yet so wrong, and he looked into the younger's optics. "One?" Nine asked in confusion and suddenly One blurted out, "If you are so certain and I am so certain, and we have already gone beyond what is considered morally correct... Then we should just give in and be married." Nine blinked and Five suddenly gasped out a, "What?!" One's slanted optics widened and he turned back abruptly, "What- It- What are you doing here?!" Five suddenly tensed and stumbled over his words in an attempt to explain before Nine changed the focus.

"Wait, what's that? How do we be married?" He noticed Five's surprised reaction and thus wanted to know. The Leader turned away from the Healer and looked towards the Savior. "It's is a ceremony that used to bond humans. It would make us bound mates." It took Nine back a bit and he paused for a short while before One spoke, "It is sudden." That was all he said and after a short while Nine murmured, "Maybe we should…" He cracked a smile, "Hey, we only live once, right? Or sometimes, at least." One gave a skeptical look and narrowed his optics in suspicion.

"I don't think you realize what kind of a step this will be, Nine. This is absolutely nothing to jump into." Nine cracked an actual playful smirk, "Oh, and soul bonding is?" His smirk changed to a sincere smile and he insisted, "Let's take a hint from our truce we made back when the war ended. Let's try something new, together, we already are in love." One was actually a bit surprised by Nine insistence and while he knew he should have disagreed he found himself smiling. "Very well then. We shall be married… We may even do the ceremony now." He then looked around in scrutiny, "If only we had a functional throne room."

"No, this will work." Nine insists with a warm smile, "Five, why don't you stay and watch?" The one eyed male was trying to slip away when he was stopped. One turned to him as well, "We will need your assistance. This is too sudden to gather the others, but we should have a proper witness." Five blinked a bit before coming back, "Okay, I just thought that you'd want to be alone…" He smiled and stood alongside them both before One explained, "It's a simple ceremony, Nine. You and I exchange tethers, fabrics that mean something to us." He then reached back to his cape.

It was definitely not the one from the Cathedral but a relatively good replica that One somehow put together, though a button closed it now. He reached back and actually tore a small strand off before turning back to Nine. "Then we recite our vows… I will begin first." He slowly took ahold of Nine's zipper pull and tugged it downwards, "I promise to stay ever loyal to you and to protect you from the dangers of the world." He brought the fabric inside, Nine felt his cheeks glow green at the situation, and tied it on a piece of metal. "I promise to keep you always in a warm and comfortable home."

He stopped and Nine blinked before realizing he hadn't any fabric on him. One didn't seem too concerned until Nine turned to Five, "Can I borrow your scissors?" One scoffed a bit, slightly amused, "Not your burlap, Nine." But the younger was determined, "Not my burlap." He then slid the scissors upwards and clipped a stitch from his shoulder. It hurt and got an immediate look of horror from Five and One. "I promise to keep you close and to show you that the world isn't that bad. I promise to give you hope, because you gave me hope."

"Nine…" One started as Nine clipped another stitched and pulled a small piece of red thread free. "Relax, Five can replace it, right?" He looked to his best friend who smiled and quickly nodded in agreement. One was a little surprised at this behavior but Nine had a reason that he chose what he did. It was red, One's favorite color, and unlike the other stitches it was mostly numb. Either way he soon reached and fumbled with One's belts. "I also promise…" He began, struggling a bit before he finally got them open and tied the string in the older male's depths. "To remember every detail."

"And I," One began, quiet enough that Five couldn't hear well, "that if I never remember that night then we will make memories of a new one." He could only look amused as he noticed how bashful Nine looked with his small smile. It was too much for him; he couldn't remember how long he had this pining for the younger, even back when they were feuding, and even though then he was ashamed he could feel no shame staring at the younger now, smiling softly and being doused in the pale blue light of the Library itself. He silenced all words and leaned forward, taking Nine's lips again.

Perhaps not a proper marriage but Nine and One were both content. That was when Five clapped in celebration, "Congratulations! Should I… Go tell the others?" He suggested and One pulled back before nodding, "Yes, that would be more than appropriate. Run along and do that." The Healer rushed off and now the two were alone before Nine remarked, "But we're not going to be here, are we?" He gave a knowing smirk and One raised a brow before scoffing, "And I thought that I took advantage of you. Most likely you simply used me while I was magnet high."

Nine gave a crooked smile of amusement, "You've finally caught on!" He joked and the two started off together, ready to create new memories and to remember old ones once more. Nine would make sure of it.

FIN

Mable: I've got a few more requests that need doing, along with pending stories, but I'll be on them right away! I hope that everyone enjoyed!