A/N: I decided to turn this into a series of short one-shots! They'll probably all be unrelated to each other unless stated otherwise; feel free to leave prompts and suggestions if you wish!

Smoke Alarm

Weapon and Meister partners Spirit Albarn and Franken Stein did not have a single smoke alarm in their shared dorm. If asked why, the pair would answer in exactly the same way:

"Spirit didn't think it was necessary."

"Stein didn't think it was necessary."

And that was true; neither of them did believe it was necessary for them to have a smoke alarm in their apartment.

Until, that is, Stein decided to learn how to cook.

"Come on, Senpai." Stein leaned on the back of the sofa, his face next to Spirit's neck as he read over the crimson Weapon's shoulder. "We can't have take-out every night." Spirit ignored him, instead flipping the menu over to the noodle section. Stein sighed; nothing he said concerning their dietary habits ever got through to the older boy.

"Senpai."

Another flip of the menu. Stein was convinced Spirit wasn't even reading it anymore.

"Senpai!"

"What?" Spirit snapped irritably. He was just about to make his choice, dammit!

"I said we can't have take-out every night." Spirit sighed. So it was this argument again.

"And why can't we?" He asked politely, putting the menu aside and turning to face his Meister.

"Because one, it isn't healthy, and two, it costs Spirit." Spirit rolled his eyes, but Stein didn't see; he had picked up the menu and was now thoroughly inspecting it with a frown. "Besides, have you seen how many calories are in each dish? How much fat they contain? I'm supposed to make you into a Death Scythe, one of Shinigami's weapons; you won't be a very good one if you continue eating this way. You need to be ready for action at all times; you need to be fit and healthy." With that, he scrunched up the menu and tossed it in the bin.

"Well then, Mr. Healthy Eating Guru, what do you suppose we do?" A grin spread itself across Stein's face, and Spirit found himself recoiling into the arm of the sofa in an attempt to get as far away from the madman as possible.

"That's easy, Senpai, we learn to cook." At this Spirit snorted, bursting out into laughter.

"Seriously? What, are we going to attend a class or something?" Stein rolled his eyes, undeterred.

"Of course not. We'll buy a cook book. It can't be that hard to learn."

So buy a cook book was exactly what they did the next day, along with the necessary ingredients. For the very first time, their fridge was stocked with food of all forms and they even had a fruit bowl filled with fresh picked fruit.

Stein crouched down, inspecting the oven. He'd turned it on, put the Lasagna inside and was now counting down the minutes until it was ready. He hadn't made the Lasagna himself; it was one of those prepackaged foods. Spirit didn't quite trust him enough yet to not poison the food, so had insisted on buying the packaged foods until Stein was 'a complete professional in the kitchen', as he put it.

At last, the timer dinged and Stein put on the oven gloves, taking the baking tray out and dishing up two portions; one for himself and one for Spirit.

And so began the pair's new healthy lifestyle.

They ate the meal in silence and it was actually pretty tasty, considering it was the first time Stein had properly cooked. (Baked beans or soup just didn't count as cooking to him, not matter how much Spirit campaigned.) He washed the dishes afterwards, threw away the rubbish and closed the oven door.

What he didn't do however, was remember to turn the oven off.

Spirit grunted in his sleep, slowly opening his groggy eyes. He located the alarm clock and groaned; 3 A.M. He sniffed and could smell heavy smoke, before rolling over and closing his eyes again.

Wait. Smoke?

Was Stein practicing his culinary skills?

Flipping off his quilt, he made his way to the kitchen. "Stein it's three A.M what on earth are yo- oh. Oh. Dammit!" Coming out of the oven and steadily climbing its way to the counter were bright orange flames intent on wreaking destructing through the kitchen. In haste, Spirit immediately grabbed the tea towel and began swatting at the fire, forgetting that he should probably have rung the fire department or at the very least checked the cupboard for a fire extinguisher.

"Stein!" He yelled, continuing to banish the flames. "STEIN!" At last he heard Stein's bedroom door open and shut.

"Is that smoke? Senpai what are you doing?" His eyes widened as he turned the corner to see Spirit tackling the flames. "Senpai!" Stein's first action was to check the cupboard and find the damn fire extinguisher before spraying it over both Spirit and the fire.

Even more enraged now by the fact he was drenched in water, Spirit turned his wrath onto Stein. "You idiot! You left the oven on! You are never cooking in this kitchen again, you got that? And tomorrow you're going out and buying a smoke alarm!" With that said, he stomped out the kitchen, shoving the tea towel into Stein's now empty grasp.

Despite the fact that he and his Weapon had almost just perished in a kitchen fire that he caused, Stein couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape his lips.

He just found it so funny somehow.

But the same day that it began, the pair's healthy lifestyle ended.