The dressing gown-clad Marie Mjolnir sat down at Stein's desk, staring bleakly at the carton of cigarettes that sat there.
Marie had smoked once in her life. It didn't go down too well.
"Hello?" Fifteen-year-old Marie Mjolnir called into the darkened laboratory in Shibusen. She squinted slightly, a tiny orange glow in the corner of the room. After a second, she heard a breathy noise, before gaining a response.
"Yes?" the deep voice called. Marie walked tentatively towards the glow. She knelt down and saw him; leaning against the laboratory wall, slouching with his eyes closed.
"Stein, what are you doing?" Marie asked, sitting next to the silver-haired boy.
"What does it look like?" he asked. Marie sighed.
"Drop it, Stein. It's me." Marie said. Stein sighed, blowing smoke out the corner of his mouth.
"You shouldn't do that inside." Marie said. Stein sighed, taking the cigarette and motioning it towards Marie.
"Try it." he said. Marie furrowed her brow.
"Stein…" she said, quietly. Stein turned to her, his green eyes weary.
"Come on. I won't tell anyone." he said, a small smirk appearing on his face. Marie took a small, lovestruck breath in.
His voice… he was a late bloomer, for sure. His voice had broken after nearly all the other boys in the entire class, but boy, was it worth the wait. He'd grown a lot over the past six months, not to mention the replacement of cute little boy looks with sexy young man looks.
Marie had just tumbled over the cusp of young adulthood as well, meaning that her hormones were all over the place. And when a hot, mysterious best friend offers you a cigarette, you take it and pretend that you know what you're doing.
"O-Okay." she said, taking the cigarette from Stein and looking at it, dubiously. She opened her mouth slightly and placed the cigarette between her lips.
This set off a chain reaction.
As Marie put the cigarette between her lips, she realised that it had been in Stein's mouth before her; the mouth of the man that she had a massive crush on. This caused her to panic, taking a sharp, deep, quick breath in, inhaling the smoke. She then proceeded to choke on it, hunching forward, causing a rather pleasing final reaction.
"Are you alright?" Stein asked, taking the cigarette from Marie with one hand and rubbing her arched back with the other. She took a deep breath of oxygen in and nodded.
"I'm just…not a smoker." Marie said, quietly. Stein smirked slightly, placing the cigarette back between his own lips.
"You've got that right." Stein said. Marie sighed.
"Why are you smoking, Stein?" Marie asked. Stein shrugged.
"I don't know." he said. But Marie knew. He wanted something that would make people notice him. Everybody shrugged him off, hell; even his own weapon shrugged him off most of the time.
"I don't want to see them kill you." Marie said. Stein sighed.
"Marie…" Stein said.
"No. Stein, if you're doing this to get noticed, then-" Marie was cut off by Stein's laughter.
"Yeah, right." Stein said.
"Well, you're hardly doing it for your health." Marie said. Stein sighed and closed his eyes.
"I don't know. It seems that I've missed the bandwagon, anyway." Stein said.
"What do you mean?" Marie asked.
"If I was doing this for attention. Smoking's not the 'cool' thing anymore. If Spirit's any authority, then the cool thing to do is to have sex with the closest thing that moves." Stein said. Marie felt a blush appear on her cheeks, growing thankful that the room was dark.
"Y-Yeah?" Marie asked.
"Mmhm. But I'm not doing it for that." Stein said.
"You're not?" Marie asked, a slight disappointment to her tone. Stein shook his head.
"You sound disappointed at that." Stein remarked.
"I'm not!" Marie exclaimed.
"You want me." Stein said. Marie gasped.
"No, I don't!" Marie exclaimed, slapping Stein in the arm, earning a chuckle.
"Oh, Marie. You're too easy." Stein said.
"I think you'll find that's a bad choice of words considering the situation, Stein." Marie said, crossing her arms.
"Really? No." he said. Marie glared at him.
"I'd kill you if I weren't all you had." Marie said. Stein rolled his eyes.
"You aren't all I've got." Stein said. Marie crossed her arms.
"Yeah?" Marie asked.
"I've got Spirit." Stein said.
"Who'd blow you off if a girl even giggled at him." Marie said.
"There's Sid." Stein said.
"Who's too infatuated with Mira to care about your petty little problems." Marie added. Stein sighed.
"So what if you're all I've got." Stein said.
"What?" Marie asked.
"If you're all I've got…"
"Then I'm doing pretty well." Marie said, quietly. She took a deep breath in and sat back.
"I thought I was the crazy one." a voice called from behind her. Marie jumped slightly and turned around to the sheet-clad scientist behind her.
"Stein! You scared me!" Marie exclaimed. Stein smirked slightly.
"You were talking to yourself; best conversation you get around this place, eh?" Stein asked. Marie shook her head and stood up.
"You're quite good conversation, Stein." Marie said. Stein smirked.
"Not much conversation going on last night though, was there?" Stein asked. Marie narrowed her eyes and stripped Stein of the sheet.
"Put some pants on." Marie snapped. Stein sighed, walking back into the bedroom.
"Women. First, telling me to put on pants in my own house, next you'll be telling me to be respectable when we go out." Stein said, loud enough for Marie to hear from the next room.
"Yeah, and if you get me pregnant, then you're obligated to follow my instructions for the rest of our lives." Marie called out, walking over to make coffee. Stein rolled his eyes and smirked, walking back out of the bedroom with the clothing Marie mandated. Walking behind her, he rested his chin on her shoulder and his hands on her hips.
"Yes?" Marie asked. Stein shut his eyes and smiled.
"Nothing." Stein replied. She could tell he was up to something. She glanced down, and Stein thread his hand past Marie's arm and waist, grinning sadistically. Betwixt his fingers, he held a cigarette.
"Cigarette?" he asked, causing Marie to scowl.
"You're an ass." Marie huffed. Stein couldn't help but chuckle, kissing Marie on the cheek. He walked away, shoving his hands in his pockets and the cigarette between his lips.
"And I'm still doing pretty well, whether or not you're all I've got." Stein said. Marie's eyes widened. He remembered?
"I'm not all you've got." Marie sighed. Stein smirked and turned to face the blonde Deathscythe.
"Well," Stein pulled the cigarette from his mouth, "you're the best thing I've got." Stein said. Marie blinked up at Stein and blushed.
"Pssht." Marie brushed to comment off. Stein smirked and walked back over to Marie, wrapping his arms completely around her waist.
"It's true," Stein whispered, "It's been true since the day I met you."