Mable: I just wanted to write something short and cute about One and Two. This is for xXBroken-Wings-ForeverXx who has supported my ever growing love for Five- Err… Stitchpunks! Five Stitchpunks! There we are, there we go. Anyway, I don't own 9. Enjoy!

Avoidance

One knew that avoiding seeing Two was not going to help this situation, but he refused to go visit the inventor. He wouldn't go see him even though he was now mostly repaired. Two's legs were secure, but he still couldn't stand or walk yet, it would take time. Five, Nine, Seven, they were all lingering by his bedside at every second. He wouldn't, no, couldn't go see the other weak male. Not that it really mattered anymore, he was sure that this didn't affect Two in any way. At one point Seven realized that One was avoiding Two and approached him while he was perched on his newer throne in their rebuilt sanctuary. She was obviously frustrated by the look on her face.

"Why are you avoiding Two?" The leader glared at her and responded slowly, "I am not avoiding Two. I simply don't see a need to go in there." Seven scoffed, "Honestly One, if you are still angry at me and the others for not following you, then fine. Don't take this out on Two, he keeps asking if you are coming to see him." That caused One to flinch a bit in a short second of guilt, "Tell him if I want to see him I will be there." Seven blinked before sighing, "One, he almost died. Unlike you, though, he woke up with worse than a hand injury." She spun around and promptly stormed out of the room in another burst of frustration. Being left alone was something that One wanted dearly.

However, he could see the look from Eight, a confused look. "Boss," The bodyguard slowly started, "Why are you avoiding Two?" His words were honest and filled One with anger, "I am not avoiding Two! Can you all not leave me alone?" Then he stood and stormed into his bedroom where he dropped onto his bed immediately. His arms crossed themselves and he knew he could only look like a pouting child; not that he certainly cared. Why did everyone really want him to see Two? He knew that the Inventor wanted to see him, but still refused to. After an hour of sitting there he stood and exited his room, only to stop in the passageway. He could very clearly hear talking.

In the layout of the replacement sanctuary, One's bedroom was placed right beside the Workshop where Two's bedroom was presently situated. This meant that it was obviously coming from that room. Steeping closer, One could hear Nine explaining the events that took place only a little time ago. Every few seconds he could also hear Two chime in with a question or comment. Towards the end Nine mentioned One's sacrifice and the leader heard Two's response, "He may be hard on you, Nine, but he cares about us." That caused the leader to softly exhale as he heard a soft chuckle in Two's voice, "Though he… He's rather stubborn… Did he say he was coming to see me?"

Now the exhale came from Seven who was present in the room, "He said, well, it was a bit hazy." Two seemed disheartened, "If he's busy I won't take up his time. I just wish he would visit me. I haven't seen him since… For a few days." Indeed One had been the one to recover Two's almost destroyed body. Since then, since Two looked up at him and smiled to him, One refused to see him. Turning away, One headed back to the throne room where he perched back onto his throne. Though it seemed as though time suddenly slowed incredibly to almost a standstill as thoughts corrupted his mind. He still remained completely adamant; he did not need to see Two.

The hours ticked by and eventually it became nighttime. Yet still One was trapped with these thoughts of Two which drove him insane. He decided to finally confront this head on, he had to, and he made sure to pretend nothing was to be done. He told Eight he was going to bed and entered his room to wait until he was sure the others were asleep. His plan was simply actually; sneak in, see Two, and then leave before the other awoke. When all the Stitchpunks were securely in their room was when the leader stood and headed out of the room. The walk was short and he purposely made it slow as he entered the workshop. His optics landed on the medical cot where a Stitchpunk was curled up inside.

Two has his legs up near his chest as he was curled up in a make shift ball while trying to keep warm. One made his way over until he stood over the other male, able to take in every detail. He nodded a bit as he saw to excellent job done repairing Two's legs as if he was giving it his approval. In fact, his hand reached down and brushed one of the legs, actually enjoying the feeling of the new fabric. Maybe it was because it was the Inventor's beautiful fabric which he was massaging in his grasp. He missed the feeling and could only remember back to the night before this entire incident, before Two left to go search for parts and One labeled him as 'scouting', that long night.

The memories of stroking all that fabric and caressing the all the parts he could get his hands on. Especially that awaited moment in which One managed to get his hands on Two's ties, opening him up and letting them finally be able to enjoy total bliss as they had many times before. Secret to all but each other, pleasuring and wonderful, and now he was avoiding him. With another look of guilt, One let his hand stroke Two's arm. This caused the sleeping one to shiver and start to awake. Immediately One spun on his heel so that he could escape this situation without having to face the unavoidable. "One?" Two's voice was groggy so he wouldn't remember this.

"One wait…" Two saw him and was now facing the retreating male in desperation. He reached out with his hand unable to do anything but stay suspended in mid-air. His optics turned from hope to sadness as he turned to begging, "One, please wait! Come back!" One was finding it taking forever just to leave this room and he finally made it to the curtain that he opened. Once back in his room he could simply go to sleep and be content realizing that he wasn't avoiding Two at all. No, he visited Two, he did his time, and he didn't-.

"Don't you love me anymore?"

Silence. One stopped in the passageway at that second and couldn't move for the words had struck him so deeply. He could hear Two's very uneven breathing change until there was what was close to a sob. There was no denying it; Two thought he was avoiding him because he no longer loved him. The leader turned back to him to quickly correct him, but only ended up staring at Two. This was why he couldn't face the other, why he avoided him, because suddenly memories of Two being gone, being attached to that beast, just being injured filled his mind and he couldn't take it. He had let Two left and there was no way he could make it up now. Forever he lived with the scars in his mind of guilt.

Almost staggering over, One found himself dropping down beside the bed on his knees. Out of reflex he took Two's hand and held it close, pressing his head to it lovingly. By now Two had managed to keep from beginning to sob and choke any more than he already had. His other hand moved over and clutched onto One's as he slid closer, "One I…" One now spoke up. "I cannot believe I let this happen to you. I let it get you, I let you get hurt, and I… I barely cared for anything but myself. I just wanted to save myself and I thought nothing about you… Because I am selfish. I don't deserve you, Two…. That's why I have been avoiding you. I have been avoiding you because I don't want to damage you any more than I already have."

One couldn't believe what he had said but knew that every word was completely true and decided to fall quiet. The warmth of Two's hand could keep him here, on the floor in a rather uncomfortable position, waiting for a response. There was a unique one as well, involving Two pressing his mouth to the top of his head repeatedly, "One… This wasn't your fault… This was just something that happened, and it's over now. It is completely done now and we can just move on with our lives." He squeezed One's hands as best as he could, "You don't have to avoid me. All I want is for us to go back to how we were before. Remember before this all happened? That night?"

"Of course I do." This was the first time One had smiled in so long, "What I did though was unforgivable. It was as though for an amount of time I didn't feel anything for you. Right after I realized you weren't coming back I blocked you out. That is not justifiable." Two retorted, "It's a coping mechanism, One. You were trying to stay strong. You pretended it didn't affect you, but it certainly affects you now." Two tried to pull One closer, "I love you, One. I don't care about you trying to stay alive for the others; there was nothing you could do." Then he smiled, "Though I am flattered you took the time to find me after we awoke. I'm sure your hand was feeling terrible. How is it now?"

"It is fine." One lied, even though it still stung after its repair, "How are you feeling?" Two somewhat chuckled, "A bit discouraged that I can't walk yet, but all around I feel quite good. Especially now that you're here." They moved to an embrace and held onto each other for a few minutes. One took the liberty of stroking Two's head and enjoying the soft sighs that came from it. A little time later One spoke up, "You need rest." Though Two wasn't ready to let go, "Don't leave me One… How about we head to your room?" A pause and then One nodded, not exactly wanting to be separated from the Inventor, "Fine, I'll carry you. It's not very far and you are not exactly heavy."

"No, I want to walk. I just need someone steady to lean on." Two suggested and One was a bit skeptical, but wasn't willing to argue. Slowly he stood and watched as Two maneuvered himself out of bed to where his feet were finally on the ground. A few unsuccessful tries of trying to stand occurred before One finally decided he'd have to help him up, practically holding him up as Two tried to get his legs to work. They trembled but held a little bit, and he obviously was trying his best, so he continued to grip onto One. The leader started to help him across the room and found himself having to practically carry Two anyway even though he seemed quite tired.

It was a very slow trip that lead through the passageway and into One's bedroom where Two practically collapsed onto the bed. Even through exhaustion he smiled quite wide at the thought that he was going to walk again, ignoring the fact that he needed that much help to make it that far. One climbed in on the other side and immediately moved against Two, slipping his arm around him, "I am thinking that maybe you should start staying in my room permanently. Why should we have separate rooms when we simply end up together anyway?" The mere comment caused the Inventor to smile wider than previously, "Does this mean that we can finally be open about 'us'."

"I won't hide it, but I refuse to give Seven the satisfaction of actually telling her." One pressed against Two's back tighter, "If they are smart enough they will catch on. I will no longer hide you though; I love you too much to think that if you died all I'd have to show was a secret." Two turned towards him with the same smile, "I will not be dying anytime soon, One." He leaned over and pushed their lips together, they both almost shivered from the pleasure of being together again. It was rather long for a simple kiss and One could feel a hand grip at his buckles. Even though Two was exhausted it was going to be one of those nights. One knew this rather well and wanted it.

"I love you." One murmured against Two's fabric as his hand began to fondle the other's front ties. The Inventor sighed from the pleasure of the situation, "I love you too." They continued like this, glad to be together. One promised to himself at that second that he would never do something as 'foolish' as avoiding Two ever again. Of course, they would be caught in the morning most likely, but it didn't matter though. All that mattered was Two; One would never let him go.

Mable: That's all! It's short, somewhat like my other fics, but they are the only ones I read. I know it's weird, but I stopped reading 9 fics. I love the series, but sometimes I come across fics that are WAY too sad for me. Heh, I'm a softy who likes a happy ending. ^-^ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!