It wasn't until his own birthday rolled around, did he realise what One felt. He couldn't blame him, it was rather embarrassing to be given lots of things on one day of the year, but it was a nice feeling nonetheless. Part of him wanted to tell the others not to make a big fuss, but that would be futile and slightly hypocritical of him. The last thing he wanted for his birthday was an 'I told you so' from One.

So he kept quiet about the whole situation. After a while, he began to notice Nine and Five's absence. Of course they were planning something. Why wouldn't they be? He decided to keep away from the workshop for the time being.

It was proving to be tremendously difficult. What else was he supposed to do during the day? Sure, he'd spent a whole lot more time with One, watching him play the piano, (One would never admit he liked it as much as he did) but he still felt unproductive. He had to be doing something.

The hall was practically empty, save for the twins scurrying between piles of books. Six wasn't hunched over in his corner like normal, which was odd. Where on earth was he?

He stopped by the corner, just to take a look at what Six had been working on. It was evident that the young artist had been working on something that required a lot of concentration. He'd fallen asleep here three nights in a row already and he was beginning to worry Two.

Then again, he'd do the exact same at his own workbench, much to the annoyance of One.

He missed the workshop. Thinking about it, maybe Nine and Five wouldn't be there; after all, Two spent so much time in the workshop, it wouldn't exactly be a secret if they were working on something in there.

He couldn't take it. He was bored and he had to do something.

With that thought fresh in his mind, he stumbled over to the bucket lift, similar to the one in the cathedral.

Their new sanctuary, now in the library, wasn't too much different from the cathedral. The main hall was on the bottom floor, filled with piles and piles of books, as well as the twins library system. He had to admit, it was an impressive structure.

They had rebuilt a watchtower on the roof and on the storey below, was where the new workshop was situated. It was proving difficult to get from the bottom floor, to the top via bucket lift, especially in the case of Two's lack physical strength. It was a good thing his room wasn't situated far from the workshop. Technically, his room was his workshop, but One would beg to differ.

It'd taken ten minutes for him to get all the way up, which was a record for him. He'd installed a kind of lock on the bucket lift, so anybody could lock the bucket lift in place (basically, it was so he could take a break when he got tired, but he'd never admit such a thing).

When he arrived at the workshop, he was surprised to find two things. The first, was the stacks of wood and stone littered around the door. What on earth were they doing in there to require this much material? The second, was the presence of Eight. He was standing by the door, doing what he did best, by the looks of it.

Two casually approached the guard in a friendly manner. "Eight! What are you doing here?" He asked. Eight pulled a face, but he didn't say anything. "Let me guess, you're guarding the door." Two smiled, and Eight nodded. "They said not to let anybody in." Two could tell in this case, 'anybody' meant him especially.

"What's with all the clutter? If I didn't know any better, I'd think they were ripping my workshop apart." He chuckled. Eight's slightly guilty expression was a definite cause for concern. The two stayed silent for several minutes.

"They'd better not be." Two warned, looking up at the giant of a guard with a rather intense expression. Eight stared right back at him, but kept his mouth closed. This was...worrying, to say the least. Eight closed his optics; he wasn't going to say a word. He was just going to guard the door. That's all.

He opened his optics and almost flinched. Two didn't exactly look pleased by all of this. He didn't know how to react to being stared down by the smaller man, especially in a way that was uncharacteristically intimidating of him. It was a short while until Two opened his mouth again.

"Please tell me they aren't taking my workshop apart."

If there was one thing Two knew about Eight, apart from his formidable strength, was his inability to lie. It was rather curious for a guy like him, but for some strange reason, it was impossible for him to lie, at least not convincingly anyway. If you asked him a question, there was a 90% chance he'd tell the truth. (The remaining 10% was total and utter silence.)

Eight shifted uncomfortably in his spot, but remained strong. "They're not...really doing anything bad. I promise." He added. Two sighed. It seemed as if that was the best he was going to get. Not to mention, Eight was somewhat trustworthy so his word was good enough.

Two reluctantly backed away and headed in the direction of the bucket lift. He couldn't help but worry at this point; thoughts were racing through his head a thousand miles a minute. Now he rarely threatened physical violence but death was to come if anybody made a mess of his workshop. He got into the bucket lift and gently lowered it to the floor. He might as well visit One again.


One snorted when Two told him about the workshop and Eight. "Maybe now you'd feel compelled to sleep in your actual bedroom." He jabbed, and Two huffed. "I know you hold some sort of odd resentment towards my workshop..." One opened his mouth to protest, but Two didn't let him, "...but I really don't appreciate people messing it up without saying a word." One hadn't seen him this irked for a while and it was amusing to watch.

"It means that much to you?"

"Of course it does."

"Well why don't you talk to-"

One was cut off by a clatter coming from the corner of the room. They looked up to see Six, hopping around like a lunatic wearing a mildly displeased expression. It seemed as if he'd knocked an inkwell over and had drenched his feet in the mess. He frantically clawed at some stray papers on the floor in an attempt to rescue them from the black liquid. After shuffling through a few pages, he'd apparently found the paper he was looking for.

One cleared his throat to get Six's attention; the striped stitchpunk looked up with surprise. One looked at him expectantly, waiting for a response. Six looked between One and the ink soaked floor, and then at his feet and the pile of soggy paper.

"That...wasn't me."

Two almost laughed out loud, but stifled it behind his hand. One sighed deeply. "Of course it wasn't. Can't you be more careful? After all, you're the one who's going to be cleaning that up." He gestured to the ink puddle on the floor. Six looked back down at the puddle; his shoulders sagged and he didn't look all too happy.

"What were you looking for?" Two asked, curiously. Six's hand tightened around the piece of paper he was holding as he subtly put it behind his back.

"Just...a drawing." He said, airily. Six generally had an odd speech pattern, but any idiot could see he was hiding something. Two raised an eyebrow as a smile stretched across his face. "Just a drawing?"

Six seemed to gulp nervously, before nodding. "Yep. Just a drawing. Uh...Five wanted it." He said, inching away from the expanding ink puddle, before breaking out into a mad dash toward the bucket lift. The two older stitchpunks merely watched him with mutual confusion.

"That wasn't suspicious in the slightest. What on earth has he got to hide?" One sat back, crossing his arms. Two shrugged. "Maybe it's a special drawing?" One scoffed. "Maybe it's something blatantly inappropriate." He commented. Two choked slightly.

"Come now, this is Six we're talking about. He wouldn't draw something inappropriate."

"Six wouldn't know what inappropriate was if it hit him in the face."

The two remained silent for several moments before chuckling. "I suppose you have a point there. He reminds me of Five in that aspect." Two commented. One pulled a face. "Well...Five's innocent in the way that he wouldn't bring up an inappropriate topic, and he'd steer clear of anything of the sort, or at least, I assume he does. Six is innocent in the way that he doesn't have a clue what's considered inappropriate." Two listened intently, before nodding. "I suppose so. It's quite endearing in a way, isn't it?"


Two found himself waking up earlier than normal, having not been burning the midnight oil the night before. Now that he didn't spend the entire night and early morning working, his sleeping patterns had a chance to readjust themselves, but he found himself with nothing to do, just like before.

It was nice to spend a night with One; they certainly had some catching up to do after the defeat of the machine, not to mention, One seemed a little happier in recent days as well. Unfortunately, One preferred a lie in, which left Two with nothing to do at 6:00AM.

This morning, however, he was surprised to see One fully awake at 7:00AM, which may have been a record for the leader. "What are you doing up so early?" Two asked, cheerily. "Come with me." He simply said.

Two was no doubt confused, but followed him anyway. The two boarded the bucket lift and began to crank the handle in a joint effort. "It's unlike you to be up so early." Two commented, and One sighed. "Does that really matter? I got up early for you, if you hadn't noticed." He huffed, obviously not in the best of moods.

Two shot him a questioning look, and opened his mouth to ask, but was interrupted when the bucket lift arrived noisily at it's destination. One swung the small hatch opened, holding his arm out indicating that Two could go first.

"I still don't get why you got up early for me." Two mumbled, as One hopped out from the lift. It was nice, considering getting up early was a big deal for One. When he didn't receive a response, he turned to look at One, who was staring blankly at him.

"You don't know? I got up to wake you up." He said, as if he was prompting Two. Two merely shrugged in confusion and One looked genuinely surprised. "I still don't get why you're bringing me up here? Unless...you had something planned?" He said, slyly.

One's surprised expression was replaced by an incredibly fierce blush. "D-Don't be an idiot." He growled, clearly flustered. Two laughed, "You got my hopes up for a moment." He joked. One looked thoughtful for a moment, before taking the inventor by the arm and leading him down the corridor. "If you really wanted," He mumbled, "...I'm sure I can arrange something later."

Now it was Two's turn to blush profusely. He fiddled with the ties on his vest awkwardly, but he still had a smile on his face. "I wouldn't mind that at all. But it still doesn't explain why you're dragging me up here." He said. One stopped.

"Do you really not remember what today is?" He asked, almost annoyed at this point. Two had to admit, although he was capable of waking up early, his brain didn't really start working until noon, so he was a little bit dopey at the moment.

"I must admit, I'm a little tired this morning." Two murmured, slightly embarrassed. One sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You moron, it's your birthday today."

It almost looked like Two was having a mental malfunction. Had he really forgotten so easily? "Honestly, you were the one who thought of this, and now you forget?" One muttered, but Two smiled gently. "I guess I was having so much fun spending time with you, I forgot."

"..."

"..."

"S-Stop saying stupid things!"


One had forcibly dragged Two towards the direction of the workshop, in a hurry to get this over with. Two had a feeling that One's previous offer had now been retracted, but it was worth it to see the look on his face. Once they arrived at the workshop, One allowed Two to open the door. His worries of his workshop being utterly destroyed at the hands of his two apprentices had disappeared completely now and he found himself becoming slightly anxious.

He pushed open the door and his mouth fell open slightly.

Nine and Five were stood in the centre of the room, with Six sat between them and Eight sat on the bench. They all looked up upon Two's arrival, before grinning.

"Happy Birthday, Two!"

Two hadn't a clue what to say. The entire workshop's appearance had changed dramatically. Apparently they had been tearing the place apart, but only so they could redesign the entire place.

The workbench had been cleaned of all stains and had been polished, there was now a cupboard-like alcove on the right wall, which held all kinds of trinkets. There were rows of pegs beside that, holding things like coils of wire and ribbons. The entire place was a lot cleaner and generally more organised with some more storage features and expansions, which explained the piles of material in the corridor.

"Oh my, this place is...it's marvellous! You did all this?" He took Five's hand in his own, bearing a wide grin. Five looked incredibly embarrassed but if his mentor was happy, then he was happy. "With the help of these guys too. Six drew most of the plans for the place..." Six waved shyly and Two noted that his left leg was still covered in dried ink.

"This is wonderful. Thank you all so much!" He said, beaming. One merely huffed, turning away with his arms crossed. "Wonderful. Now he'll never sleep in his own bed again." He complained. The others laughed and Two rolled his optics. Five was the only one to look somewhat concerned by this.

"Don't mind him," Two gave him a nudge, "He's just jealous because he wants me to sleep with him." Five slapped a hand over his mouth and One looked absolutely appalled. Six burst out into a rather uncontrollable burst of laughter and almost keeled over.

"W-Why would you go and say something like that!" One practically shrieked in horror. Two grinned widely. "Well it's true..." He retorted, cheekily. "It's not true! You're just being an obnoxious little-"

"Oh dear, and I was going to sleep with you tonight."

"You what?!"

"Do you think we should get out of here?" Nine deadpanned. Five nodded, wringing his hands nervously. Eight picked up a still-giggling Six and herded everyone out. "Come on, everyone out. Let 'em have their lovers' quarrel."

"We aren't lovers!"


I am in no way sorry for this blatant, shameless and completely irredeemable 1x2 fluff. You're all motherfucking welcome.