I don't own Lorien Legacies!

He didn't know it was a competition. Not until Sammy gives him a superior look as Six talks with the human boy in the living room. He didn't realize they were competing until the other boy tries to get Six's attention whenever Nine and Six start to have an actual conversation that doesn't consist of yelling at each other. If it's a competition you want, Sammy, it's a competition you'll get.

It all starts when Sam first arrives at the penthouse, along with Five –whom Nine gets a weird feeling about –and Malcom. Sam spends most of his time with Four and Six –which makes sense since they are the only two he knows. Then Nine notices Sam pulling Six off to the side to talk with her. In general, Nine tries not to eavesdrop on people with his enhanced hearing. But right now, he wants to know what's going on.

"Six, how have you been?" he asks her.

Six shrugs. "Good. We've been doing a lot of training, so that's always fun." She says with a grin at the thought of training.

Sam nods. "As good as the training in Florida?" he asks. Florida? When was Six in Florida?

"Yeah, maybe even better since there are so many Garde to spar with. Granted, Marina doesn't know much and Ella's still fairly young, but it's fun to spar with John and Eight."

"And Nine?"

"Those are the best spars. Just don't let him know that. It'll go straight to his over-inflated ego." She says. "Although, I haven't dangled John over a pool yet, so it might not be as fun as Florida." She says and Sam laughs.

Sam must feel him watching them, because he looks over at Nine with a superior grin on his face. "So, what's the deal with Nine?" he asks.

"He's loud and annoying, most of the time." She says offhandedly. "But he grows on you. Eventually." She says.

"Hey Six?" he asks.

"Yeah?"

"About what happened before you left for Spain…" he begins.

"Oh, when I kissed John?" she asks. "We talked about it. I mean, we thought that Sarah had turned us into the Feds. It means nothing. We were just excited to finally meet up with another Garde or something like that." She says. "Besides, we're fighting a war. Especially now that we've found Five. We have to focus on killing Setrakus Ra, not on dating other Garde." She's right, of course, but something about it strikes Nine the wrong way. Wait, she kissed Johnny-boy? What?

"No, not about you kissing John. But I am glad that you guys sorted everything out between the two of you." Sam says. "It's about the other part."

Six cocks her head to the side. "Which other part?" she asks, seeming genuinely confused.

"Don't play dumb, Six. I know you better than that."

"You know me better than that?" she asks in a steely voice. "I wasn't 'playing dumb', just so you know. I was a little too busy then worrying about getting to Marina in Spain before she was killed. So, sorry." She walks away from Sam and shoulders passed Nine on her way to the Lecture Hall.

"Hey sweetheart, you want to train for a little before dinner?" he asks.

Six turns around to face him with a grin. "Yeah, sounds like fun." She replies. And Nine can't help it. He shoots a smug look at Sammy as he and Six walk towards the Lecture Hall together, shoulder to shoulder. It is Sam who started all of this, after all.

A few days into Sam's arrival at the penthouse, Nine and Six sit together on the roof. He's not exactly sure how it happened –okay, he saw Six go up to the roof and followed her up after a few minutes –but now he sits next to her and they talk about random things. "What's your favorite color, sweetheart?" he asks her.

"Blue, maybe red." She answers. Now it is her turn. "Why do you call me sweetheart?" she asks.

"The first time was because I thought you were cute. After that I called you sweetheart because it annoys you. And now, it's just kind of a habit. And the only nickname you have."

"I've had other nicknames." She argues.

It's his turn now, so he asks, "What were your other nicknames? That includes fake human names too."

"I went by Maren Elizabeth for a while." She answers with a scowl on her face.

Nine laughs. "That's girly, even for you, sweetheart." He says. "I thought you would use a more badass human name than that."

"Yeah, I hated it. Katarina chose that name. And made me wear these awful pink ribbons in my hair too." Nine laughs even harder.

"I don't believe that for a second. You? Badass Six wearing pink ribbons in her hair?" he asks between laughter. Six laughs too.

"Yeah, it was ridiculous. Looking back on it, I think Katarina was trying really hard for me not to end up how I am today." She says. And then she looks out over the view of Lake Michigan. "Sometimes I wonder if she's proud of me, or if she thinks I've messed up too much to be considered a proper Garde." Okay, things just got deep.

Nine wants to reassure her, and tell her that Katarina would be proud of her no matter what. That she's the most badass Garde –besides him, of course –and remind her how she can easily kick the others' butts. But before he can formulate the words, the elevator doors ding open.

"Hey Six. I was hoping I would find you up here." It's Sam. Of course it's Sam. It's always Sam, isn't it?

"Oh, um, hey Sam." Six greets, sounding a little awkward. She turns to look at him, but doesn't move from her spot next to Nine. Nine smirks at Sam as they both register this fact. "What do you need?" she asks.

"I wanted to talk with you, actually."

"Okay… what about?"

"I was hoping to talk with you alone." Sam glances at Nine and then back at Six. Nine shrugs and stands up.

"Okay, you two have fun with your little chat." He tells them. "See you at dinner." He says as he walks away from them and towards the elevator. As he waits an unusual amount of time for the elevator, Six approaches him. She kisses him on the cheek really quickly before walking back over to Sam. She looks over her shoulder and grins at him. And Nine doesn't have to look over at Sam to know that he's won the stupid competition.

He walks into the elevator when it finally arrives and leans against the wall. Then again, he thinks, there wasn't any real competition to start with, anyways. Six was always going to do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted, regardless of the little competition between him and Sam.

There you go! Another Nix oneshot. And this time with Sam in it. I hope you enjoyed reading this, please review and tell me your thoughts. Have an amazing day/night!
~Nerd