"I think I'll make pumpkin soup for tonight."
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
The two were in the patched up lab; one on the rickety computer chair and the other on the purple couch. They're discussing something mundane which is actually a far cry of what their lives really were. And they'd rather prefer it that way. The place smelled less of antiseptic and more floral as Stein adjusted his plant per room limit from three to five. An adjustment clearly favorable to Marie. It was agreed upon mutual benefits since she would also have to accept him smoking to a five sticks a day too. It was nice to worry about small things.
It took them a while but they've found their way back. They're back home. After all they've been through, the madness finally resided and it's amazing as to how they've already easily fallen back to their old ways. It's not perfect but in this world, not even Death can achieve perfection.
"Hmm… Oh, that's right!" She snapped her fingers and grinned. "You only eat soup with meat. Don't you worry, I'll think of something."
"No, that's not what I meant." Call it an experiment. Call him curious. "What are you still doing here? It's been weeks, almost a month, since the Kishin has been defeated." He was studying her very carefully and took note of the change in her wavelength. Quite the reaction. "Don't you have other duties to attend to?"
She fidgeted. He was the last person she needed to hear that from. So mustering all the innocence and cuteness she had, she tried to put on an irresistible face. "Am I really that hard to live with?"
Points for the effort, it was almost convincing. Almost. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't very effective on him. "That has nothing to do with this. The fact is you're the Death scythe of Oceania and it is currently defenseless without you." With crossed arms, he kept a steady gaze on her as she squirmed and her wavelength shifted again. How interesting.
A huff and a retort. "It's been doing just fine without me." She even pouted. Can't she just take a break and enjoy it? She's hardly a workaholic and really, nothing major has been happening in that city so she couldn't understand as to why he kept on insisting on her to leave for it.
"Be rational, Marie. Think about the mothers and children there." He appealed to her nurturing side and just as expected, it brought about a fairly anticipated result.
She had this distant look, the same one found on daydreamers. "Kids, huh? Say, Stein. If you had a kid what would you name him or her?" It was just a question. One curious question.
"Einherjar. No reason other than it's the first word off the top of my head." He said it so methodically that you would think he was talking about soul perception and whatnot but not children. It surprised her and even more surprising is the lack of it in him. His face was neutral to the whole topic.
"Einherjar… so it's a boy." She bit her bottom lip in thought and after a few seconds, she nodded to herself and had a wide grin plastered on her face. "I'm sure you'd look just like our little Ein Stein." She giggled at the rhyme.
"Our?" He raised his eyebrows. Well that was unexpected.
"Ah…" Three… two… one… and the gear in her head finally moved into place. "Ehh?! I said it out loud!" Her hands went to cover her mouth but it was already too late. It was already out. That tiny yet highly implying slip of the tongue. Her cheeks flared the more she thought about it. And right now, she's overthinking.
He continued seemingly unfazed. "Wouldn't it rather be the other way around?" He turned his screw out of habit and then commented further. "He'd probably look like me though elementary genetics would suggest otherwise."
"Please! Just forget about what I said!" She flushed harder as she desperately tried to hide her face in shame.
"So you weren't serious about it? You wound me." He smirked cynically.
It intimidated her in an odd way. Odd in the sense that she felt like she was a high school girl having her first crush. The idea was dizzying enough so she started talking. "I was! I mean, I wasn't…" She can't say yes but she can't say no either. Damn him for asking her such an awkward question. She sighed and stuttered in nervousness. "L-let's talk about something else, please."
If only she weren't too busy trying to hide her already obvious blush by having her eye trained on the suddenly interesting wall to her right, then she would've seen the miracle of the day. For the briefest of moments, he was genuinely smiling. And a soft chuckle to go with it too. When was the last time he laughed heartily and not cackled madly? Too long. He rested his chin on his hands as he observed her contently.
The itch was long gone. He realized only a bit later when everything cooled down after the chaos that he misinterpreted it all along. It wasn't an itch for curiosity nor was it an itch to dissect. It wasn't an itch in the first place. It was a nagging feeling, something only she could incite from him. It was something he thought he wasn't capable of. He didn't want to open her up; he wanted to understand her. He didn't want to look at her insides; he wanted to look inside her soul, her heart. He didn't want to take her apart; he wanted to be a part of her. This feeling had a word… and it escapes him at the moment.
However, he actually considered very seriously her proposition to change topic.
"Marie, would you like to retire with me?" He said it so simply so offhandedly so like him that it completely caught her off guard. She had to look at him to check if she wasn't just daydreaming again. But he was there, staring right through her, expecting an answer from her. Honestly, she didn't know how to answer to that. She gulped and stared right back. Neither backing down.
"Is that a proposal, Stein?"
~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~
Nothing can be fixed by hammering screws.
They all end up destroyed. But amidst all this are the hammer and the screw, both unbreakable. They can't fix anything but maybe it's because there was nothing broken in the first place.
More than that, the two shared the same current of electricity.
And when their souls resonate, sparks fly.
~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~
Shinra-ex-SOLDIER
Hiya, hello people!
Einherjar is Norse in origin (just like mjolnir) meaning lone fighters or those who have died in battle. And we all know who EinStein is, right?
Ein can also be interpreted in German but totally unrelated to the parents though. Ein = a or an, so Ein Stein = A Stein. He could also go with Einn which is old Norse for alone.
That's it. The four instalments are now at a close. I don't own Soul Eater or its characters. I ship SteinxMarie.
Thank you to everyone who read this. Ciao!