Disclaimer : I do not own Soul Eater or have any aversion to dairy-free ice cream. I've never tried it, and therefore have no opinion.
"Hi, my name is Marie Mjolnir! What's yours?"
The silver-haired boy turned towards me, giving a slightly indignant noise at the interruption.
"Stein." he says back, looking away again, staring off into space in the courtyard of the DWMA.
Giving a wide smile, I continue, not the least bit deterred by his lackluster reaction. "I'm a weapon! I'm pretty much a giant hammer. What about you?"
Once again he turns towards me, his silver hair still preventing a clear view of his eyes, and by extension, his whole face. "Meister." he says simply, turning away as if the conversation were boring him and he couldn't care less.
I wasn't sure what it was, but I was drawn to him. His body language was giving every indication that he wanted me to leave as soon as possible, but something was telling me to stay. Something made me continue to stand and try to coax him into some form of conversation.
"Really? That's cool! What's your weapon?" I asked, taking a step closer. He noticed, and seemed to grow slightly more uncomfortable.
"Scythe." Stein replies, for the third time refraining to the use of only one word per response.
"So you're a scythe meister? That's awesome. Totally old-school and everything!" The boy doesn't give any indication that he's heard me, but he hasn't given any indication that he wasn't listening either, so I continued. "You should see all the different types of weapons there are now, it's crazy! And they're still finding more! Can you imagine what it would be like to be the person who has to keep track of all of those? I'm pretty sure they're all in a book somewhere. Or if they're not, they're probably going to be at some point. Especially if they keep finding more types at this rate!"
My companion had yet to contribute to the subject at hand. Not wanting to leave yet, I tried another one.
"So, Stein? Is that your first or last name?"
Looking closely, I noticed him stiffen slightly. "Last." he tosses, his arms rigidly straight at his sides.
"So what's your first name?" I ask, looking at his face although he isn't facing me. His face was rather impassive, as if the fact that I was here and trying to talk to him was completely irrelevant.
"Franken."
I held my hand out in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Franken! We're going to be new best friends!"
This time he turned back and gave me a look, as if trying to reassess me.
"You're not going to go away, are you?" he half-asks, half-states.
"Nope!" I happily proclaim, my constant smile getting wider.
He sighs. "You have absolutely no clue what you're getting into."
"Nope!" I cheerfully agree, smiling even more.
This time he smirks, his fringe moving just enough so I could see his eyes. They were rather hypnotizing. I couldn't discern what color they were, but when they met mine, I couldn't move.
"Well in that case, this might get very interesting."
My only response was to smile bigger and wider than I ever had in my entire life.
"Stein, what are you doing in here? School ended an hour ago."
I walked into the early empty dark classroom. Stein was standing next to a table in the middle of the room. Upon hearing my voice, he turned around. Our eyes met and once again I was swamped with the unidentifiable color of his eyes.
"Marie, what are you doing here?" he asked, putting the unknown object in his hand down on the table.
"I'm pretty sure I just asked you the same thing." I said, a slight smirk on my face.
"I'm just conducting an experiment." Stein said, gesturing towards the table. Walking closer, I was able to see what it was he was doing.
"Oh, Death, Stein! That's disgusting!" I shouted, looking away and putting a hand over my mouth.
"What?" he asked, looking back to the object placed on the table.
"What do you mean 'What'?! Stein, it's a dead animal! What is it even doing in here?"
Stein continued looking at the frog strapped down on the table. "I don't see what the problem is. Most teenagers dissect animals in class for a grade at some point. What's so wrong about doing it on my own now?"
I gave him a bewildered look, trying to figure out just what the heck was going on inside his head right then. "You…! I…! I just..! For the love of Shinigami..."
I walked up to Stein, purposefully ignoring that…. thing…. on the table, and put a hand on his shoulder as I looked into his eyes.
"Stein, I'm saying this because I'm your friend, and I care about you. That. Is. Creepy."
I took a step back, removing my hand from his shoulder. Shooting one wary glance to the green thing on the table, I look back at Stein once more.
"Why don't we go do something normal? Like go and get ice cream or something."
"But what if I'm not normal?" Stein asked, looking me in the eyes.
"Fine," I said, giving a wry twist of my lips, "Then we'll do something seemingly normal with a completely irrational twist that makes everyone question our sanity. Sound good?"
At my words, Stein grows a slight smirk. "Alright then. What did you have in mind?"
"Dairy-free ice cream. That irrational enough for you?"
Stein just shook his head, giving an exasperated sigh. "You sure are something special, Marie."
I just gave him a wide smile. "And that's why you love me."
I grabbed his wrist and started heading for the door.
"Wait, what do I do with the frog?" Stein asked, stopping and pulling on his wrist causing me to as well.
"I don't care, something. The sooner I'm away from it, the better, in my opinion." I said, wrinkling my nose.
"Hold on." Stein says, releasing himself from my grip. He walks to the table and proceeds to put the dead and slightly lacerated animal in a desk. "Enjoy, Spirit." he whispers, closing the lid on the desk before walking back to me.
"You're terrible." I said, waiting for him in the doorway.
He turns to me, giving me a slight smile.
"And that's why you love me." he said.