Mable: I don't remember who asked for a 5x6 fic, it was a while back, so I'm sorry. However, it IS a request fic for another 5x6 fic, and I hope this is to your liking. I don't own 9, Enjoy!

5x6

Rumors are just Rumors

He had first caught wind of the situation from a talk between Nine and Two. Five was at the workbench making copies of the maps for safe keeping in case they lost one when his best friend confronted his mentor. "Two… Have you noticed that Six has been…" He went quiet before whispering, "Acting a little… Quiet?" Two wasn't too concerned at first, "Six does like to keep to himself. He spends most of his time drawing, especially since the nightmares have eased."

Indeed, after the Incident, after coming back with the rain, Six didn't have many nightmares. It seemed like it would be the opposite, but Six had recently been doing much better. Nine, though, was still concerned, "I know, but…" He leaned closer and spoke, "I went into his room and asked if he wanted to come help us with the books Three and Four are moving. He didn't sound right. He sounded like he was upset about something."

Now Two started to grow concerned, "What kind of upset?" Nine clarified, "He sounded like he was sad. The Healer perked from his work as he heard Two inhale calmly, "I wasn't aware. I noticed he has begun staying in his room a lot more recently, but I didn't think it was anything serious." They both sounded concerned and Two finally came to a conclusion, "Perhaps I will speak to him later." Nine nodded in agreement; clearly wanting this.

Five was quite concerned, but calmly shrugged it off. Six just probably wanted to spend some time alone.

This wasn't the end, though. Two days later, the issue reared its ugly head once again. This time, he heard Nine talking to Seven. "You noticed it too?" Nine asked and Five peered into the room. He wasn't one to listen in on conversations, but he couldn't help it. Seven must have nodded before she continued, "I thought he was just tired… But he's been so distant." Nine agreed, "Yeah. Especially after yesterday."

Five blinked, not knowing what happened the day before. The Warrior could be heard sitting on her bed, "What happened yesterday?" Soft footsteps, Nine was pacing, and he began to explain, "He was drawing in the throne room like he usually does and suddenly sighed. Then he stood up and left the room, he didn't even take his things, and you know what Eight does when Six leaves his things out in the open."

This didn't sound like Six at all and the Healer felt a ball of dread beginning to well inside his front. "I'm worried, Nine. Even in his deepest state of nightmares it never came to this. He would still be social when he wasn't too tired, still be happy and ready to talk a bit, but this isn't the same." Five listened carefully as Seven muttered the last bit. "It is almost like he is depressed." Five knew the word depressed; he knew how to be depressed, because he remembered his own battle with depression.

It only lasted a week or so, but after he lost his optic it had taken time to regain what he was. He felt empty; like he was missing something, and at first spent most of his days simply lying on the thin bed Two had made him upon arriving at the Sanctuary. Then Two had invited him to help him work and slowly began to enjoy working with his new mentor. It also taught him how to function even without his left optic.

This wasn't something that would fix Six. Six wasn't learning how to function after losing an eye; he was depressed about something else, and it was beginning to concern the Healer more and more. He stopped listening to Seven and Nine at that point. Unsure still, but more worried.

The final instance was when he heard yet another bought of talking. This time, it was One, Two, and Seven. Nine was listening and, from the way they allowed Five to listen, he assumed that he was another part of the conversation, just remaining rather that speaking up. One was doubtful, "Are you positive that Six isn't merely being reclusive?" He asked the others and Two looked quite depressed before shaking his head, "No. He's… He's certainly being more so. He is also spending much of his time in his room sleeping."

"That could merely mean nightmares." One pointed out and Two shrugged, "It could, yes, but it is also a clear sign of depression. The lack of interest in normal activity; he's not been drawing as he usually does. He is sudden sleeping constantly as well. This is the only answer. After everything, he has become a bit depressed. Now we must figure out how to help him." Seven had a suggestion, "Perhaps we should try to spend more time with him."

"If he is avoiding us then he most likely wants to be alone." One countered and Seven huffed. To calm them, Two spoke up, "You are both right. Because he is depressed he may feel like he wants to be alone, but he may be unknowingly using his actions to cry for help. We should at least attempt to show our interest and our willingness to help him." Nobody, not even Five, noticed Eight slip out of the room.

However, Five was now very sure that Six was depressed, and his worry was growing stronger as he contemplated the Artist. He cared very deeply for Six and occasionally felt like the only one willing to be social with him, so it felt like he let the striped one down. With this he knew that Seven was partially right. They had to prove they were there for Six. Five had to prove he was there for Six. Before he lost him forever.

Six looked away from his walls of drawings to the doorway where Eight abruptly entered. The look of alarm on his face was enough to signal that the Guard was the last person he expected to see. Surprisingly, though, Eight wasn't smirking or looking annoyed when he entered. In fact, he looked a bit concerned, and Six didn't take this as a sign of relief in any way.

"We've been doing this for a while." Eight suddenly spoke, "It never bothered you before." Six blinked in confusion and turned completely towards the larger. With the other's tone, Six wasn't too frightened, and actually decided to quietly ask, "What has?" The Guard looked towards the wall, "You know; me coming in here, you being weird." He meant the bullying and when he bullied the Artist. Six looked down before looking back up, "I don't understand."

"We all know about what's going on, Six. The sleeping, the not drawing, the weird noises; everyone knows you're depressed, and I know that this is the only thing that would cause it." The Striped one was completely confused and Eight noticed the look, "What's that look?" Six shook his head in confusion, "I'm… I'm not depressed…" Eight looked unimpressed with the answer, "Look, Six, we've all seen you acting weird. We know you're depressed."

"But I'm not." Six insisted and pointed to a nearby inkwell. It was halfway out of ink and he looked at it sadly, "I'm not depressed. I'm running out." The Guard was now the confused one, "They're sure that you're depressed, Six, and they're not exactly stupid." However, Eight did look around the room, and did notice that the few other inkwells were clearly empty. He started to put the pieces together a lot quicker than the others.

"So… You stopped drawing because you're out of ink?" Six nodded. "And you've been upset because you're out of ink?" Six nodded again. "And you've been sleeping just because you can?" A last nod and Eight had his answers. He felt definitely awkward now and slowly made his way back out of the room, "You're fine… Yeah." Then was just gone. Six didn't keep pressing about it though. Instead, he went over what Eight said, and was horrified.

Everyone thought he was depressed when he wasn't and he didn't know whether to feel shocked or hurt that the others believed this without asking him. He looked at the floor and simply hoped that Eight was mistaken.

Five knew that he had to speak with Six. They were too close for him to just let this slip by. He drug himself to the Artist's room and entered cautiously, "Six?" He watched as the other sketched on a piece of blank paper. From the way his hands scribbled, sharply and quickly, he knew that the other was upset about something. Then Six looked back with a rather distressed look that signaled something being wrong.

"Are you alright, Six?" Five became more open as he became more concerned and he crossed closer to him. The other blurted out, "I know what they've been saying out there. About me." Five winced at this. With an exhale he kneeled beside the striped male who was now rubbing his ink covered hands upon his knees. "I'm sorry, Six, we weren't trying to hide anything from you. We're just worried. We care about you."

"They don't know." Six murmured and grabbed onto his key, "They just… They think they know, but they don't." Five nodded as well, "Yeah. Sometimes that's the case." He crossed his legs and wrapped an arm around the other's thin shoulders, pulling him closely in a gesture to show how much he cared. "But we are worried, so we're trying to figure out how to help… Maybe we're just not listening close enough."

Six abruptly pulled away and stood up, obviously frustrated at the others, "They didn't even ask me." He murmured and he assumed that this was another sign of the depression. Five remembered that he had become frustrated easily during his depression and was more than willing to put up with this. He calmly spoke up, "It'll be okay, Six." That's when the Artist spoke up, "They don't listen… I'll show them." He abruptly swore.

Five blinked a bit, "You'll… What?" Six looked back, determined, "They'll be sorry that they didn't listen to me once they find out." The Artist had no idea what his words sounded like. To him, he was determined, telling Five that he'd correct the others and they would know not to assume anything like this again. Instead, Five thought that the Artist was going to do something drastic, and stood abruptly, "Six, wait, no."

"There's no other choice, Five. They have to know." Six insisted before adding in, "It ends today." He went to turn away, only to suddenly feel something hit him full force. He soon realized it was Five, holding him tightly in an embrace, trying to comfort him, "Six, it'll get better. This won't fix it. Hurting yourself won't fix it." Mismatched optics blinked in confusion as the one eyed Stitchpunk pulled back.

Then, suddenly, Five leaned forward and pressed his lips to Six's. It was very chaste, but Six felt his face grow warm incredibly fast as Five pulled back. "I… I really care about you, Six… We'll figure something else out. It'll be alright." Six simply stared with his mouth slightly agape, "Okay…" He decided not to tell Five that he wasn't suicidal yet. He'd wait until a bit later and was sure the others wouldn't be too overly concerned.

After all, rumors were just rumors.

Mable: Quick, sudden, and to the point… Like Six's 'suicidal thoughts'. Really, I didn't mean for it to be so short, but I didn't have much more to add after that. I take requests of any couplings. I don't own 9, Enjoy!