Marie sat across from Stein, smiling at him. The night had been perfect. He had even behaved. She was especially proud of the fact that he hadn't threatened to dissect the poor waiter when the man had been so flustered he had spilled some water on Marie's shirt and then tried to help her clean it off, his hands entirely too close to Marie's… assets.
Their dinner sat mostly eaten in front of them and Stein was talking about some experiment he was currently working on. The details were far above Marie's head, but she didn't care. She'd listen like she always did and support him in whatever he was doing. The scientist's face was animated more than usual, and she found that he was talking about something to do with wavelengths and a better way for weapon and meister pairs to resonate.
A way that he wanted to try that night, with her. She felt the blush spread across her cheeks and just nodded when it was appropriate to.
'Will tonight be the night we finally do something besides the occasional hug or kiss on the forehead or cheek?' She wondered silently as he continued talking.
Marie lay in her bed, disappointment rushing through her. She had known when she started dating Stein that he wasn't an overly emotional person, that he wasn't a physical person. She had just never realized how true those statements were.
A year. They had been dating for just over a year and he had never so much as made a move on her. They still slept in separate beds. It was just like it had been when they weren't dating. And Marie, as much as she loved Stein, needed something physical. There was only so much that she could do for herself.
She needed something more physical than training with her meister. That had been his surprise. A pill that he thought would help their resonance and three hours of grueling sparring and resonating attempts. It had left her so exhausted that he had been forced to carry her to her room before retreating to his lab again.
The experiment had been a success. Even she had been able to tell that their attacks were more powerful than without whatever he had given the two of them. She had been able to better anticipate his moves as well. She had even, dimly, felt what he was feeling.
It was a shocking glimpse into Stein's mind that she hadn't been ready for. He had been excited, nearly trembling inside the cage that he kept around his emotions. Anticipation had laced nearly every movement he had made; all of it was overridden by curiosity. She had even been able to momentarily feel the madness that he fought daily to keep at bay.
And through it all she burned with the embarrassment that he was probably reading her even more easily than she could read him. The death scythe had tried to keep a lid on everything, pushing her emotions down and focusing only on the training dummy, the sparring match, anything except what had been plaguing her nearly constantly. She was afraid she had failed.
When the next morning came she rolled carefully out of bed, feeling the strain in her muscles, a weakness that she hadn't experienced in a long while. She collapsed after taking only three steps from her bed.
Knocking rang through the lab. It pulled Stein from his notes and he cranked the screw in his head backwards, fatigue raging through his body. Bracing his foot against his desk the scientist pushed back with all his strength, hurtling through the hall of the lab and to the front door where he skidded to a stop before impacting with the double doors.
He slid the door open and looked up at the man framed in the door. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company, Spirit?" Stein slowly drawled out.
Spirit stood in the doorway looking down at Stein. "I came over to make sure that you and Marie were alright. We missed the two of you at Shibusen yesterday."
"What are you talking about, Spirit? Marie and I were both there yesterday." Stein scooted away from the door, letting Spirit enter.
Spirit stepped into the lab, the door swinging shut behind him and stared at Stein. "Stein, neither of you showed up yesterday. I knew that your date was the night before so I covered for you two, but when I didn't hear anything I thought I'd come and check."
"That's not a funny joke, Senpai," the scientist said as he scooted through the hall and back to his computer, suddenly aware of the slightly metallic taste in the back of his throat and a slowly growing headache in addition to the fatigue he felt.
"It's no joke, Stein. Where's Marie?" Spirit looked around and stopped at the base of the stairs. "Hey, Marie!" The man shouted up the stairs and looked at Stein when there was no response.
"It's still early, Spirit. She's probably asleep." Stein reasoned as he stood from the chair and moved past the other man to head up the stairs.
"After I spent nearly five minutes pounding on the door and just yelled up the stairs at her? If you hadn't answered when you did I was going to find a way in."
Stein just glared at the other man, reaching out with his Soul Perception to try to find Marie. The effort caused his stomach to roll and he stopped halfway up the stairs, his head swimming. He felt Spirit's hand touch his shoulder.
"Hey, Stein, you ok?"
Stein shrugged Spirit's hand off his shoulder and finished climbing the stairs. He paused for a moment outside Marie's room and knocked. There was no answer from within. Stein cracked the door open to peer in, and his eyes went wide.
He flung the door open, darting into the room and hitting his knees beside the death scythe. Spirit was at her other side an instant later, Stein carefully rolling the woman onto her back. Marie's eye fluttered beneath her eyelid, but she wasn't conscious. Long fingers rested against Marie's throat, taking the woman's pulse even as Stein laid his head against her chest and listened to her breathing.
"Is she alright?" Stein looked up and saw nothing but worry painted across Spirit's face.
"Her breathing and pulse are fine. If I didn't know better I'd say that she was exhausted, it appears as if all of her muscles are entirely relaxed. It's almost as if she's in a deep sleep." Stein's voice was distant and analytical; the effect made Spirit shudder slightly. "I need to move her to the lab." Mechanically the man slipped his arms underneath Marie's slight frame and he stood.
The movement caused his head to swim again and he stood still, shaking his head to try to clear it. He felt Marie's weight lift and realized that he had closed his eyes; Spirit had taken the unconscious woman from him and was eyeing Stein warily.
"I need to run some tests." Stein's vision was swimming as much as his head now and he reached a shaking hand up to twist the screw. It produced some relief, but brought with it an onslaught of emotions and he hurriedly clicked it again to suppress them. Fatigue weighed down his steps as he left Marie's room, Spirit following behind him.
He stumbled slightly at the bottom of the stairs and shook his head, leaning forward slightly. He was out of sight of Spirit for a moment and took the time to analyze himself.
'Fatigue. Loss of coordination. Headache. Nausea. Classic symptoms of … a hangover? Neither of us drank last night!' A hand reached up to twist the screw as Spirit made it down the stairs. 'The experiment. The drug must be in our systems still. That would explain the side effects. It doesn't explain why my Soul Perception didn't work though…' The scientist stepped unsteadily into the research lab and gestured at a table. 'Perhaps it has a period in which it raises the ability to resonate, but after a certain time has passed it blocks whatever it is that allows us to. If that is true, I could use this for quite a few other research venues as well…'
Lost in his thoughts, Stein missed the glare that Spirit shot him as he laid Marie on the table. He didn't miss the hand that grabbed his lab coat and tugged him to face the other man. "What did you do, Stein? You're stumbling like a drunkard, Marie has been unconscious for Death only knows how long, and it's fairly obvious that you did something!"
"An experiment, Senpai. Nothing that should have been harmful. Just a little pill, we were both fine after."
"You lost an entire day, Stein!" Spirit shook the man.
The scientist just shrugged in the other man's grasp. "Sacrifices must be made for the advancement of knowledge."
A quiet moan caused Spirit to release Stein and both men turned to look at the stirring woman.
A/N: Some… information that may be helpful. This is, among other things, an experiment of my own. Thinking outside the box, as it were. The characters may, at some point, seem OOC. I'm hoping to avoid it, but unfortunately, it may happen. It will all resolve, and everything will be explained.
The plot to the story (which we haven't really hit yet) is inspired by the song Him by Rupert Holmes.
I don't own Soul Eater.
