"Well? Do you like it?" Marie's voice pulled Stein from his work and he sighed as he sat back in his chair, turning to look at her.

He blinked, reached up, and twisted the screw in his head. "Very… nice." Stein carefully kept his tone neutral and his face smooth.

"What is very nice?" Marie asked and he forced himself to focus on her, trying to pick out everything that she may be wanting him to notice that was different.

His eyes took a moment to roam up her body, and Marie fidgeted uncomfortably but waited for his answer.

"Your outfit is very nice. As is the haircut." Marie smiled before she furrowed her brow and glared at him. He looked back at her.

"Is that it?" He could hear the hidden edge in her voice and he sighed.

"I believe so."

She huffed and stomped out of the room, her now red hair swirling behind her as Stein smirked.


Marie sat fuming in her room, fussing with her hair when the door opened. Stein sat on his chair in the doorway, and he held something in a bag out to her. She just turned her back to him, facing the wall, her hand twirling her hair as she waited for him to leave.

He never came into her room.

She gave a slight sigh of relief when she heard the chair roll away from the door, and pulled her knees up to her chest, collapsing sideways on the bed. She closed her eyes, lying on her left side, facing the wall. The sudden pressure on the bed caused her to shriek as she rolled over towards the center of the bed.

Stein was leaning against the bed, whatever he had been holding out to her sitting on the edge as he pressed his palms against the mattress. She scrambled backwards, shooting him a death look.

"What do you think you're doing in my room?!"

"Technically, it is mine, considering that the lab itself is mine." Stein said smugly.

"You know what I mean!" Marie said, putting the bed between herself and Stein.

"I have something for you."

She regarded him warily as he held the bagged item out to her again. A hesitant hand reached out to take it, and her face contorted as she looked into it.

"What in Death's name-?" She asked as she pulled the capped specimen glass out of the bag, examining the blue substance inside it.

Stein smirked as she twirled the contents of the specimen glass around, watching as the substance didn't adhere to the sides. "What… what in Death's name is this?"

The smirk stretched across Stein's face, twisting the stitches slightly. "I just thought that if you wanted to dye your hair some ridiculous color, I would help you so you didn't have to waste the money next time, Marie."

He almost didn't duck in time, the specimen glass aimed directly at his head. With a smirk he retreated to the door, his faithful chair a few feet from it. "By the way, you look better as a blonde."

One compliment defused the woman's anger and she blushed as Stein made his escape down the hallways of his home.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed. I don't own Soul Eater.