"Win me something."
Stein looked up and sighed. "Why?"
"Because you agreed to bring me here, which makes it a date, and as my date you are obligated to try." The teenager stared at Stein and he sighed again.
"I can't get out of it then, I assume."
Marie's face broke into a smile and she linked her arm through his, dragging him away from Spirit and Kami. They stopped in front of a small booth like all the others in the street fair. This one featured a game in which all you had to do was knock over the milk bottles to win a prize.
Marie pointed excitedly at a large stuffed duck. It was bright yellow and had an even brighter orange bill. To be honest, it hurt Stein's eyes. "That one, Franken!"
The boy sighed and paid for the three shots. He took the first one and aimed carefully, throwing solidly. The ball connected with the center bottle on the bottom of the pyramid. Marie cheered as the top three bottles quivered and fell.
Stein watched curiously as the bottom bottles didn't even move.
"Two more shots, kid." The carny said casually, not quite hiding the smirk on his face.
"You can do it, Franken!"
"Yeah, win your sweetheart that duck she wants." The man prompted.
Marie smiled at him sweetly and Stein sighed, throwing the ball with all his might. It hit the same area again. The impact from the ball made the bottles, and the table they were sitting on, shake. Yet for some reason they didn't tip over.
"It's rigged." Stein said to the man.
The carny laughed. "You just don't know how to tip them over, kid. It's been done."
Stein laughed, Marie looking confusedly between the two of them. He glanced over at Marie. "Hey, Marie. Why don't you go find Stein and Kami while I make my last shot; I think I'm getting nervous with you hovering." It was a lie, and the only person that didn't realize it was Marie.
She smiled and darted off.
Stein leaned close to the carny and grabbed him by his scruffy collar. "You are running a rigged game. Unless you want everyone in the entire fair to know it, you'll hand me that bright yellow duck. Then I'll be leaving. Refuse, and you'll be the one leaving with the duck. Or should I say, inside the duck." Stein's face was twisted into a sadistic grin, and the carny saw the glint of metal as a scalpel seemed to materialize out of thin air.
The man took in a deep breath, glancing over Stein's shoulder. No one else seemed to be witnessing his distress, but the man was too afraid to scream or cry out for help. Shaking he pulled away from the teen and pulled down the bright yellow duck. He stepped on a button that Stein hadn't initially seen and the row of milk bottles collapsed.
"We have a winner!" The carny announced loudly, ringing a bell on the side of the stand before handing Stein the duck. "Now get the hell away from me you freak."
Stein's chuckle froze the man's blood. "You should watch what you call people. You never know when you might be what you're accusing others of being." He whispered as he pulled away and turned to find Marie standing right behind him.
Her eye was wide and for a second he thought that she might have overheard what he said to the carny, but when she spoke it was nothing more than a high pitched screech he had learned to associate with female excitement. He handed her the duck, and she buried her face into it, screeching her happiness. Spirit clapped him on the shoulder.
"I tried that three times today for Kami and couldn't win the bear they had for her." Spirit said lamentingly as Kami nodded.
Stein glanced over at the carny that was standing out of arm's length and gave the man a cold smile. "I think you should try one last time, Spirit."
Marie wasn't the only one to go home with a stuffed animal that day. The carny was the only one who went home afraid of a silver haired teenager though.
A/N: I had this idea come when I walked past one of the crane games at Wal-Mart and asked my husband to win me something. Unlike Stein, he said no :(
I don't own Soul Eater- I hope that you enjoyed it!