Mable: This is a request fic! It was actually a 1xanyone story with a cape based plot, so I decided on this couple since I haven't done it much. ^-^ I actually wrote this twice, which took it so long, but I hope it's worth the wait! I don't own 9, Enjoy!

One Cape Rules All

Even though made of fabric, the Stitchpunks still had an equivalent to a laundry day. It usually was located every two weeks and involved the Stitchpunks gathering together their washable items to wash in the Library's pool. Bed linens, some light clothing, rags used to wash ink and oil; anything that was fabric was thoroughly cleaned. One had his own specific ritual that involved this day and that was to slip off at some point and bathe. Usually this left one of the other Stitchpunks to put away his laundry once it dried enough.

Nine and Five were the ones currently working with his things and the former had just gotten distracted on something. "I didn't think I was ever going to see this off of his back," he remarked as he lifted the cape in front of him. It looked close to how the old one looked, though longer in the back, not tattered at all, and with a different shaped crest on the front. This one looked more like a four-point star and had a smaller red jewel in the center. Regardless, it was majestic. Majestic enough that Five's face turned in horror when Nine suddenly started to put it on.

"Nine, what are you doing? If One catches you he'll not be happy… Which is an extreme understatement," Five pointed out and Nine gave him a cheeky look. "He won't have any clue. You know how he is once he gets into the water; he's gone to the world. Besides, we won't get another chance." Five choked a bit, "We? Oh no. I prefer to live, thank you." Yet he watched as Nine flashed a smile and placed the cape on. The zippered male took an overly dramatic pose. One hand went on his hip and the other to his chest in a victorious pose.

"I earned the right as leader. That's less than I would expect from you," Nine scoffed in a way that sounded very much like One. It was obvious that he was trying to mimic the leader. Five continued to fold some rags and tried not to get too interested. "As you know, as leader I am appointed as the only one who does anything, even if I don't do anything, because I make my followers do things. You may be folding clothes, but it is I who proclaimed such, so I deserve a warm bath… Speaking of which, Eight, draw me a tub!" He called in a commanding voice.

Five let a chuckle slip through his lips and then tried to smother it. Unfortunately, Nine noticed and was ready to take on this new weakness as well as he could. "By the way, Five, I would like you to arrange all of the laundry by number, then by color, and fold mine specifically into even triangles. I cannot specify this enough; the triangles must be even on each side." Five snickered a little more as Nine approached, making more rapid hand gestures as he spoke. "Nine, please, you're going to get us both in trouble. One's going to be- If he hears you-."

"How dare you question me! It is important for my voice to carry; my word is law, so everyone should hear it!" Nine continued to gush in explanation, all with a big smirk on his face. Finally, Five allowed himself to chuckle slightly more audibly. Nine turned with the swish of the cape and continued to pace. "Now let's see… Ah hah! Yes, my next decree is that I shall have a picture of myself hanging in the Library. Large enough that it can be seen from all reaches of the Library, and in bright reds so that it will catch the optic. Six, get on that right away!"

Nine now laughed a little with Five, before turning towards him and removing the cape. "Now I must go take a two to three hour bath. Until then, I pass my leader duties onto the Stitchpunk I trust most." Then Nine offered the cape to Five who cautiously took it. He got an amused, but sort of embarrassed look on his face. "What are you talking about? One doesn't trust me that much." Nine insisted, "Of course he does! You've been helping him with things all the time recently. Besides, after all those years with him I'm sure you know him better than I do."

The one eyed male stared at the cape for a few moments. Then he spoke, "How dare you…" Nine's brows raised in brief confusion. "…Wasting all of your time with idle talking when you should be doing my laundry! Distracting yourself; I don't think you can comprehend how dire it is that the cape is properly handled! This is real velvet, if I must remind you!" Five mock scolded, fully giving in to the game, and tossing the cape over his shoulders. He secured it carefully and stared Nine down. "And shouldn't you be folding something?" Nine broke down into laughter.

Five didn't think he was any funnier than Nine was, but assumed that it was funnier when watching. He got a slight bit of a smirk on his lips, "Now I think it's about time to go over the rules to set you straight. First of all, I am leader and will be treated like such. Nobody shall question my leadership or go against it. My decisions are law, my rules are also law, and my things must be kept in pristine condition when being handled." Nine was still snickering as Five continued onwards with almost a cocky tone. Five was getting a little too much enjoyment out of this.

"Rule number two; all additions to the Sanctuary must be ran by me firstly. No changes will be made without my consent. Rule three; nobody shall leave the Sanctuary without my consent. Rule four; my bath preparation shall be prepared with warm water filled midway, filled with soap bubbles that should be soft, not smell too strongly, and be absolutely perfect. Any less than perfect and I will throw a big tantrum." Five smirked, Nine chuckled, and the one eyed male continued, "Number five-."

"There will be no mocking me behind my back."

Five felt a wave of coldness and flinched. Nine suddenly straightened in alarm, he had been hunched slight, and started staring past the male. The Healer could see the sudden look of dread on Nine's face. Then again, he had already heard the voice. Naturally anything Five mockingly said was nowhere near as commanding and firm as it sounded when coming form One. As the last sentence just had. That tone of bubbling anger only barely being held back warned Five of what was to come. Without a second thought he stripped off the cape and then held it out.

"Thank you," One spat as he nearly yanked the cape from the younger male's hand. Five was too frozen to even look over or defend himself. It was as though One's appearance had drained the life out of him. Nine on the other hand attempted to speak, "One, I was doing it first and I goaded him into doing it. If anything it's my fault." The Leader narrowed his optics at Nine and simply stated, "Don't you have folding you need to finish?" Nine tensed and looked down at the remaining things. He began to fold them in an attempt to pacify One.

"As for you, Five, I need to speak with you alone," One glanced to Five out of the corner of his optic. Thankfully he was in Five's blind spot so the male didn't have to actually see him. He stiffly nodded, mentally going through everything he had said to the leader. Every comment he remembered was digging a grave for him. Nine looked concerned towards Five, but as One strode off towards his quarters Five murmured, "He, uh, don't worry about it. He's probably going to, you know, yell a little." Nine looked guilty, "Five…"

"He'll yell less at me than you," Five pointed out and tried to put on a brave face as he followed the leader away. Yet inside Five could only panic about what One was going to say. It didn't take long for them to get into One's bedroom. As expected, it was bigger than most of the others with a large bed covered in red bedding, some dollhouse furniture pushed inside, and a candle glowing in the corner that One had seemingly left on while he had bathed elsewhere. One waited until Five entered before turning on him; the anger was obvious in his eyes.

"Sit down," he commanded and Five moved to sit on the bed. One then immediately let his restraint drop. "I could have expected this from Nine, from Seven, from anyone other than you! You cannot imagine how embarrassed I am that you of all Stitchpunks said such- such things about me! I certainly am not that uptight!" One defended himself firmly and Five gave an awkward smile that may have been more of a cringe than anything else. One's fists clenched as he stepped forward and stared him down, optics narrowing further. Five lost his nerve and looked down.

"And I swear, if I- if you didn't look so damn adorable wearing my cape-!" One continued and cut off abruptly. Five's optic widened and he looked upwards. That tone didn't just hold anger, it held something else, but it was something just as familiar as any anger. "One-!" Suddenly Five was cut off as One pounced upon him, suddenly pressing their lips together. This wasn't too unusual; One had gotten wound up in the past and released the pent up energy through romantic gestures. Five could remember numerous occasions of fights with Seven leading to passionate kisses.

Though Five had never gotten One upset at him before and had it lead to this. There was a confused noise muffled by the pressure on his mouth, but Five then gave into the kiss and began to kiss back. The Leader completely overtook him and Five was fine with it; especially since it had seemed to silence any of One's upset. The Healer clung onto his shoulders and brushed over the cape that he had been previously. In that second One suddenly pulled back, "You're not off the hook. I am not letting you slip by after all of that nonsense."

Five gave an awkward smile that changed to show his confusion when One removed his cape. "Put this back on," One murmured, though then began to put it on Five himself. "Here we are. Perfect," he purred as he draped the fabric on the smaller male's shoulders. Five quietly spoke with a joke, "Does this mean I get to actually make the rules?" One gave him a flat look and quickly replied, "I think you made enough rules earlier." An embarrassed blush spread along with an apologetic look, and One rewarded it with a soft kiss on the forehead.

Unfortunately, right as he did so was right when Nine suddenly stepped into the doorway. "One?" One flinched back and stilled in a way very similar to how Five did. He stared at the one eyed male who stared back in alarm, then released a soft, delayed gasp. Nine had clearly saw something. "…Never mind," and with that, Nine was gone again. Five didn't think it was possible to be startled by the same thing twice in one day. "That… Nine… Oh…" he choked out in surprise and then looked to the leader who was gawking as well at the door.

"…How much did he hear?" One inquired and Five shrugged, "I… I don't know. I don't think he was there long." The Leader groaned in mortification and dropped his head into his hand. Five stood and went to head to the door, "I can stop him and explain-." He was stopped when One's free hand caught his arm and tugged him back. "Don't. I'm not finished with you yet," regardless of the previous event, the older male's voice was still carrying the same tone as before. Five blinked in confusion and then partially gasped as he was suddenly pulled into One's lap, partially falling into it.

"One, are… Are you sure? I can, I mean, I can go tell Nine it was a mistake still." The last thing he wanted was to somehow put their relationship in jeopardy, and Five frantically attempted to make it right. Yet One tucked him in close and nuzzled into his cheek. "Let him know. As far as he's concerned I have taken the heart of the leader, quite an amazing feat." He got a playful smirk before adding in, "And considering earlier, he should be fortunate if I simply call it even and let it drop." Five chuckled at the comment and felt relief fill him, "So…You're not mad?"

"I suppose not…" One exhaled as though he didn't like simply admitting it. "Now where were we…" Five was more than glad when One's lips took his own once more and they were lost together. All the while Five continued to wear the cape. All of his worries were gone and he let One take control.

Though the next day.

"…I-It wasn't how it looked…" Five excused as he rewashed the cape, feeling like it was only fair to clean it again considering what had happened the day before. Nine had the large, goofy grin on his face, but said nothing. "Really, we were just… Talking about possible rules in the future…" Nine quipped a brow, "Was one of those rules about punishing Stitchpunks by kissing them?" Five sputtered in mortification, "N-No! Just- You know- Sharing clothes…" Maybe he should've just tried to explain it to Nine before. At this rate he was going to die of embarrassment before Nine forgot.

"Well, I guess we're not going to be mocking One anytime soon. At least not with the cape. Even with whatever happened to you two, he got really angry at me last night. If he catches it again then he'll probably fly off the handle." He didn't notice Five slowly stopping his cleaning on the cape, staring forward blankly. "Looks like if I want a cape I'm going to have to get one myself… Actually, you know, that wouldn't be such a bad idea." Nine looked to Five and noticed him now wringing the cape out. "Umm, what are you doing?"

"Oh, you know…" Five started as he tried to get as much water out of it as he could. Then he flung it over his shoulders again, "Actually… I was thinking of a few more rules..." Nine didn't even notice the light smirk.

FIN

Mable: I hope that everyone enjoyed! Actually seems like I'm on a roll tonight, two posts in only about an hour. ^-^ Hopefully this pace keeps going!