Dissection SOS

Chapter 9: Experimental Romance

Around lunchtime, Marie called everyone to shore. As per Stein's suggestion, she'd scoped out a café not too far from the beach. Somehow, she managed to herd the students back to the hotel to put on light summer clothes on over their swimsuits, and had everyone outside and ready before Stein could get impatient.

As they walked down the road to the café, Stein whispered to Marie, "Did you make the necessary arrangements?"

"I did," she replied, and grinned. She looked so happy to be in on the plan to help the hapless students realize their feelings for each other. Stein couldn't help but smile a little at her expression, and her infectious attitude was beginning to get to him.

Otherwise, he'd never have said, "Then it must be owned by some middle-aged women with ridiculous romantic notions," and got the expected elbow in the ribs.

"You're the one who proposed the plan in the first place," Marie said, looking at him slyly, "so don't try to pretend you don't like the romance of it too,"

Stein's smile faded. "No, Marie. I'm not doing this for the romance of it. Hell, I'm not even doing it to help them. There are things I have to find out, and this is one of the only ways I can get the information I need," his voice came out tired and slightly sad. It wasn't like he didn't want to help them. Annoying though they were, he did want them to be happy, but what Marie had said reminded him of his purpose here.

Oddly, she didn't respond, and when Stein looked at her, she appeared to be deep in thought. She must be disappointed, now that she knows I don't have the qualities she likes to see in people, Stein thought. Stein's mouth tightened. Though the second part brought him relief, he also felt disturbed, almost angry with himself for disappointing her. Which, of course, was highly irrational.

Upon entering the café, Stein saw the place was perfect. He could put his plans into action here. His evil smile went unnoticed by the teens absorbed in trying to understand their surroundings.

The café was separated into sections with tables of two or three, each with its own little nook. These nooks ringed the wall in three sections, one against the wall, the nooks created in indentations in the wall, creating a square broken only by two doors, in front and back, and a hallway for restrooms.

Leaving room for a passageway for waiters and customers, there was a smaller square inside the outer square. It was far wider, and separated into nooks on the outer side, and nooks on the inside, facing the kitchen in the center of the restaurant.

The kitchen in the center was shaped like a traditional pagoda, formed of stained wood, and concealing the bulk of the cooking equipment and food while letting those in the inner nooks to observe the making of their meal. Stein admired the electrical job. He could see the opening where the cords entered the posts that held up the pagoda, and he assumed the plumbing was similarly engineered.

Stein noticed each nook was painted a different medium-toned color, with a bright but gentle light hanging from the ceiling above each table. Marie told the kids, "It's a seat-yourself restaurant, so go on,"

As the boys started to head off towards a three-person table Stein said, "No. This is a school trip after all, and this time should not just be used for relaxation, but to further develop your relationship with your partner. Understanding one another is a never-ending process. You'll thank me someday," for multiple reasons, Stein thought, almost chuckling.

Blackstar looked disappointed, but grabbed Tsubaki's hand and ran off towards a blue table close to the kitchen. "And spread out," Stein called after them. Soul shrugged and looked at Maka. With a quick series of glances they decided on a red table in the corner on one edge. Marie nudged him and pointed. He realized what she meant and grinned at her. Soul and Maka had chosen a seat that could only be seen from a few tables close by.

"Maybe they already have some plans of their own," Marie whispered happily.

"Hmm. Maybe," Stein hedged as he saw Patty drag Liz and Kid to a black table towards the center of the innermost set of nooks.

Turning his eyes to Marie, he smiled, slightly caught up in the excitement of the plans despite himself. "Nicely picked," he said, as he scanned for a good table. Stein walked towards a table, knowing she would follow. When she stayed beside him, he realized with a shock that he'd inadvertently put his hand on her waist and had been guiding her towards the table.

Panic flitted through Stein's chest before he squashed it. His body just didn't do things he didn't expect anymore. He'd done enough studying biology textbooks and cutting him open to know how the science worked. So why was his body suddenly acting without his permission?

As they sat down, his mind ran through the possibilities. No, his body couldn't be acting by itself, but it could be reacting. If something was affecting him on that subtle a level, it was probably something with the surrounding atmosphere. It must be chemicals his body released, in response to something.

Before he could figure out what, Marie interrupted, "Gold?" her voice was soft, curious and slightly hopeful. Her matching expression confirmed the good idea it was to pick this table. His grin spread as his pride was satisfied.

The emotion was so rare outside of his laboratory a few of his mental filters fell away. Or that's what he told himself moments later, "Yeah, gold, like your swimsuit and your eyes," he leaned across the table and put his hand gently on her cheek, gently drawing his finger along the edge of her eye patch as she froze. "Or, at least, the gold of the eye I can see,"

He couldn't help but enjoy the blush that spilled across her cheeks, under his hand, the lips parted in surprise, and the way her eyes seemed to grow impossibly large. Maybe he could do some experiments, to see what stimuli could cause such reactions. The thought of science brought his mind back from the haze it'd gotten lost in, and he coughed awkwardly, withdrawing his hand.

He looked down at his menu, feeling an unwilling blush start in his cheeks. He hated this uncomfortable feeling, this feeling that was almost… vulnerable. A soft laugh had his head snapping up and he saw Marie laughing at his expense. However much he wanted to, he couldn't be mad at her, because her smile was so big and she looked so happy. He felt contentment spread through him as they waited for their waitress.

Stein ordered a tuna sandwich and water. Fish is brain food, after all. Marie only ordered a small peach smoothie. When Stein frowned at her, she shrugged. "I'm not very hungry, Stein," she explained.

"Just don't faint later," was his gruff response.

Then the waitress tried to convince them to buy alcoholic beverages, "After all, what's a vacation without a little fun?" the waitress suggested and winked.

Fun? Thinking of the bird he'd dissected his first day here, he grinned and said, "Oh, there's plenty of fun to be had here. We don't need alcohol," and Marie grimaced and blushed.

Stein was confused until the waitress laughed and said, "Well then!" she winked at Marie and said, "Good job! If he's so enthusiastic, you must be doing something right!" now Stein's face joined Marie's in color. Again.

"Oh, no, that's not what he meant," Marie said quickly.

"Of course not, dearie," the waitress said, clearly not believing it a bit.

Stein considered correcting the misconception, but he thought of something much more fun. As Marie opened her mouth to protest again, Stein interrupted, "Don't worry, Marie. What happened was fun, and I cleaned everything up. Pity we have to go back tomorrow. Oh well, there is similar fun to be had at home, no?" and the waitress gasped. All throughout this little speech, Stein kept his face completely straight, allowing himself to laugh only on the inside.

He watched in delight as Marie spluttered. He could see she understood both sides of his words, and knew there was only one side the waitress would be able to see. Marie looked him in the eye and glared. The glare increased in intensity when she observed the amused glint in Stein's gray eyes.

"We're not going to order alcohol, thank you," Stein said in cold dismissal, not breaking eye contact with his weapon. As soon as the waitress had disappeared around the corner of the inner square of nooks, the expected fist came flying at his face. His hand shot up and caught her fist half an inch from his face. "Not bad," he smirked.

"Stein! Why did you do that? You knew how she would take that!" she hissed, her arm still extended, her fist on his palm.

"Did I now? How can you be so sure she didn't know what I meant?" Stein asked innocently.

"Anyone who doesn't know about your obsession with dissection would automatically take a highly suggestive message from that!" she said, clearly fighting to keep her voice down.

He replied, "Anyone who has highly suggestive things on their mind would, yes. Since you thought of my words that way so quickly, despite knowing my love of dissection, surely you must have had such things on the mind," he said, shifting his Soul wavelength to a hair's breadth away from hers, and sent a small wave into her fist.

She shuddered and gasped. "It's interesting," Stein began, his hand tightening around hers, "how Soul wavelengths work. If the frequency is just right, the pair resonates. If it's too far off, pain and injuries are inflicted. However, if just slightly off, it is possible to create a small shock that skews the chemical balance in the body. Since the opposite of pain is pleasure, that is what is received,"

Her eyes were wide and she snatched her hand out of his, scowling. "Judging by your reaction, I'd say I hit the wavelength right on the mark," Stein murmured and smirked.

Her jaw clenched and she spoke with the quiet tone of those too mad to yell. "If you keep up this behavior, Stein, I'll begin to believe what you said this morning wasn't about the kids at all," she sighed, and looked at him helplessly, "I know you feel you're entitled to experiment with everything and everyone in the world, but don't mess with me like this, Stein. I mean it. I have no idea what you think you're doing, but you need to stop it before you hurt me again!"

Anger coursed through Stein. Marie was strong, not fragile. He shouldn't have to treat her like glass. She wouldn't break. "Or what? If I don't stop?" his gray eyes met hers, trying to convey something he couldn't name.

"Then I'll leave. I'll speak to Lord Death and get him to move me somewhere I'll never have to see you again. Who knows? Maybe I'll even get a solo suicide mission. If you tear me apart like that, I will never be the same. And if you had ever cared one bit for me, you would be sad if that happened. But, I suppose I'm just like a dead cat. Only good for dissecting, in your eyes,"

Stein contained his growing anger and said tightly, "Marie, would you please stop being so facetious!"

"Exactly my point!" she interrupted. "You never take me seriously, and you never have. You only ever give a person just enough to keep you from losing them."

"Marie," Stein said, by now thoroughly tired of this, though he could see she spoke the truth, as she saw it.

"I'm going to go check on the kids. Maybe do something to help them. Since, even if I can't have it for myself, I want others to find happiness," the sadness in that last sentence cut through Stein's anger and pain pierced his chest. As she stood to leave, the waitress came back with their food. Marie grabbed her smoothie and walked off with a word of thanks.

Thankfully, the waitress didn't say a word as she gave Stein his food. Stein ate his tuna sandwich with quick angry bites. Downing his water in one gulp, he rose to go see what Marie was up to. If she wanted to walk away like that, he'd let her. She could sulk all she wanted. Still, he couldn't have her messing up his experiments, so he'd watch, from a distance. Deep down, he knew that wasn't the only reason he wanted to watch her.

Stein poked his head around the edge of a nook and saw Marie speaking to the chef, and gesturing towards Death the Kid. The chef frowned, but nodded. She continued walking and Stein followed, stopping by Kid's table. "Though your strategy yesterday was well executed, it depended too much on getting the right angles and force and on an inaccurate number of trees. If you can't plan for unexpected events, you'll probably be killed in the next few months, what with the Kishin's madness wavelength permeating the world," hoping his tactic would work, Stein walked off after Marie.

"Here, I think you'll like it," Marie said to Maka as Stein poked his head around the edge of a nook. She handed her the book Stein had suggested for this moment. "It's well known and may help you out during fights, or just be interesting to read," Marie finished, before waving and walking off.

Maka spoke excitedly to Soul, "The Art of War by Sun Tzu, I've wanted to read it for so long! It's been quoted in lots on my favorite books, so-" Soul yawned.

"Whatever," he cut her off. He saw her annoyed expression and explained, "Look, you're the bookworm, not me. I wouldn't be that uncool,"

"Well then," Maka snapped, opened the book, and started reading.

"Hey! Reading during a conversation is really rude!" Soul somplained.

"Not much of a conversation," she muttered.

"Fine, then just read your silly tomboy books,"

"You won't be complaining when this information saves your life," she didn't look up.

Soul gulped and whispered quietly to himself, "As long as it saves your life too," and Stein grinned.

His grin turned upside down when it became obvious Maka hadn't heard Soul's comment. Their food arrived, and she put her book away. As she ate her salad, Maka eyed Soul's sandwich. The scythe noticed, and offered, "Do you want a bite? It's good," but she blushed and shook her head.

Her eyes stayed firmly on her salad plate, so Stein knew she didn't see the affectionate look or the gentle smile Soul sent her. "You're so stubborn," Soul said, his voice not annoyed, but amused and caring. "Here," he held his sandwich up to her mouth.

Stein could see Maka's eyes widen as she tensed. "I… no, I-I don't want it. Really," she stammered, looking anywhere but him.

His soft chuckle pulled her gaze up. "I'm your partner Maka, I know you better than that," he said, causing her blush to deepen. She nodded, and took a bite of the sandwich.

"Mmm, 's rilly guh," she said around her mouthful. Soul's famous shark-toothed grin made its appearance as he laughed at his meister.

"Very cool, Maka" he teased.

"Oh, shut up," the blonde replied.

Stein smiled and walked around to check on Blackstar and Tsubaki. He took one look at the hyper meister and shook his head. There was little point in putting in the effort to plan anything here. For this particular project, these two would be poor research subjects. Stein saw no point in putting in the effort of trying to get the two together.

"That'll take some work, won't it?" a voice Stein would know anywhere said. So she wanted to act like the argument never happened? Fine by him.

"I don't intend to bother. He's hopeless, Marie." Stein said without turning around.

"You're one to talk," Marie said lightly, then continued before Stein could get angry again, "but I think you're underestimating their connection. I think Blackstar does care for Tsubaki, though his… outgoing personality tends to hide that,"

"Well, I won't pretend to understand love, but as for the rest, there are a few words far less kind than outgoing that I'd use to describe Blackstar, and if you are right, then 'hide' is more like 'eclipse'." Stein commented.

"Either way, Kid and Liz are coming along nicely. Whatever you said to them worked, and he was discussing his worries about the upcoming issues because of the Kishin," Marie reported.

"Hmm. What were you asking the chef something earlier? Anything relevant?" Stein asked.

She grinned, "Quite. I asked him to put just one jalapeño on every sandwich,"

Stein's mind flew, and he intuitively put the pieces together. His own grin grew. "Liz gave him her jalapeno to make his symmetrical, didn't she?"

"She noticed it before he did, and gave it to him right away!" Marie said gleefully.

"It's nice when plans work well, isn't it?" Stein asked, smiling at her.

"Yeah, it is," she replied, her voice sounding slightly distant, as though her mind was somewhere else. Her eyes flicked down his face and she smirked slightly, "Yes, successful plans are quite nice indeed," before turning around, going back to their original table.

Stein wondered what she meant. He could only guess she had made some plans of her own. He hoped they wouldn't interfere with his experiments too much.

After everyone had finished their lunch, they gathered around, and Marie suggested, "How about we go surfing?" she shot Stein a look. So this was her plan. Interesting.

"Why not. Any objections?" Stein asked. There were a few shurgs, so they trooped to a surf shop to rent surfboards. Tsubaki opted not to get one, claiming she didn't know how to surf, and wanted to suntan on the beach anyways. Upon hearing this, Liz and Patty decided to join her. Marie tried to join them, but they insisted she surf too. Stein raised his eyebrows at Marie, and she shrugged grinning. "Probably a good sign," she whispered to him.

On the beach, Blackstar loudly proclaimed his favorite part of surfing was feeling the power of the ocean whenever he fell off his board, because it was something else he would command when he surpassed god. "That makes no sense," Soul muttered as Blackstar sprinted into the waves and tried to stand up on his board.

"Yeah, but convenient, if he's going to fall off that much," Maka replied as Blackstar fell off his board and thrashed around in the water, trying unsuccessfully to regain his footing. The two chuckled, and Soul took a minute on the sand to demonstrate the proper way to stand up on the board to Maka.

"No, you'll want your foot a bit further up on the board," Soul commented and pushed at her foot with his. Stein noted Maka blushed at this, looking over her shoulder at her partner standing behind her.

Then her blush spread when Soul let his eyes roam, looking at her surfing form and said, "You're curving your back too much, straighten it a bit here," he put his hand on her lower back. Before she could give him a Maka-chop, he took his hand off, but Stein noticed both were blushing.

The pair walked into the sea, probably hoping the waves would wash away some of the awkward atmosphere between them. Stein saw Kid performing tricks far out in the cove, where the big waves were. Marie was warming up by riding the waves back to shore and paddling back out.

Stein paddled far out into the cove and experienced his favorite part of surfing: analyzing the wave patterns and how they affected his maneuvers. His mind calculated quickly what moves would be best for each wave he caught. He noticed Kid was doing well, but he didn't have the experience to know which times he shouldn't do some tricks, and often fell off his board.

"They're discussing boys. You can tell from the way they're pointing, giggling, and blushing," Marie said beside him, nodding towards Liz and Patty and Tsubaki on the beach. Somehow Stein wasn't surprised she'd already caught up to him.

"Then the plans are progressing?" He asked, stretching his arms out for balance the same time she did. Their arms brushed.

"Seems like it. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy the sight of their crush looking really cool by performing all kinds of surfing tricks? All the guys are showing off, too," she commented, a smile in her voice and on her face.

"Guys will be guys," Stein joked, grinning back, not missing that she thought he was showing off. It amused him. Then, at the same time, they shifted, using the wave, their boards and their muscles to go into identical jumping spins off the wave. Their thoughts were connected without resonating, and as they came down on the back of the wave, the huge wave immediately behind the first gave them both the same idea.

They turned their boards almost sideways as the wave began to crest over them. They shot along under the curve of water, in the tube created between the crest and the body of the wave. Marie was right in front of Stein, and he twisted to shoot up the side of the tube, going 360 degrees around to be in front of her. She laughed, and performed the same maneuver. They alternated until they emerged from the now substantially smaller wave at one edge of the cove, close to the beach.

"I hadn't remembered how fun this could be," Stein said, amazed at how happy he was, doing something besides dissecting something.

Marie grinned, "It's like that time when we were their age, and the best of our class went to Oceania to fight a monster on a trip like this one, remember? After the fight, we had a day to relax like this, and you taught me to surf," she said her eyes glossed over, reliving the memory.

Stein was surprised, "I'd totally forgotten," but the memory was slowly resurfacing. Spirit was spending the day with Kami, and the pair had requested Marie keep him from staying in his room the entire day. So she'd begged and wheedled for him to teach her how to surf. Finally, he'd given in, and taught her everything he knew.

"And at the end of the day, you told me 'Despite my hypotheses, that was actually kind of fun, thanks' then you slammed the door of your room in my face," she continued, laughing.

"Mm, well, I had things to do," Stein said, looking over at Soul and Maka. He was teaching her how to surf. She was doing well, perhaps because of the balance she got from her meister training and experience. Marie chuckled and paddled back out. He followed silently, mind still slightly caught up in the past, remembering the feelings he had tried to eliminate by slamming the door all those years ago.

After about another two hours of surfing the group trudged up to the surf shop to return their gear and returned to the hotel. Everyone took showers then met in the lobby. "We're giving you guys some free time now. You can go anywhere in the town as long as you have someone else with you. Our plane leaves early tomorrow, so be back here by ten. I recommend you go to sleep then, but we won't enforce lights out until midnight," Stein told the kids.

"Have fun!" Marie called as Blackstar, Kid, Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki set off to have dinner and shop together. Marie looked out the window and said, "The sunset is really pretty, isn't it?"

Stein saw Soul's eyes widen slightly and knew he'd taken Marie's hint. "Hey, Maka, do you want to go see the sunset? That cliff on the side of the beach would be a really good place to watch the sun set. That is- I mean- only if you… uh," Soul trailed off nervously.

Maka chuckled, "I'd love to, Soul, come on," she said, grabbed his wrist, and ran out of the hotel.

"Follow them?" Marie asked.

"Definitely," Stein confirmed.

They jogged after the couple, and followed at a distance as the scythe pair followed the trail through some cultured woods to the cliff by the beach. They saw Maka's hand timidly slide down Soul's wrist, until they were holding hands. His fingers intertwined with hers, and their blushes deepened.

When they got to the small clearing open to the edge of the cliff, they slowed to a halt. Soul glanced at the sunset, then glanced at his meister. Her eyes had gone wide at the beautiful array of colors spread before her. Her lips were parted in awe, and her eyes glistened with happiness. "It's so beautiful," she whispered.

Stein watched the transfixed boy say gently, "Not as beautiful as you, Maka" her awed gazed turned to the crimson-eyed boy beside her.

"Soul, don't tease me like that," she warned, but her voice gave away her hope.

Soul's voice roughened, "No teasing. I love your long blonde pigtails," he ran his free hand through one pigtail, "I love your emerald eyes," crimson locked on emerald, "I love your personality. I love the way you smile," his fingers trailed down her cheek and his thumb brushed across her lips, "I love the way you fight," he took a deep breath and unclasped their hands, only to put his arm around her waist, "And lately, I've been becoming more and more sure that, more than anything or anyone else, I love you," his eyes dropped to her lips and he tilted his head.

Their lips met, and Maka's arms rose to his neck. When they broke the kiss, Maka said breathlessly, "I love you too, Soul," and their loving gazes met and Soul hugged her tightly.

"I know, and I'm glad," he whispered into his girlfriend's ear.

"Let's watch the sunset from a tree," Maka suggested, pointing to a tree near where Stein and Marie hid.

"Anything," Soul murmured, pulling her over to the tree. Stein looked around quickly, and backed up towards the cliff. He saw a ledge ten feet or so down the cliff as he backed up close to the edge. Marie followed close behind.

He turned to look at Maka and Soul. They were climbing the tree, and quickly reached a thick branch. Soul sat with his back against the tree with Maka in front of him, her back leaning against his chest. His arms enclosed her, and she put her arms over his. Their legs stretched out along the branch, and Soul rested his chin lightly on her head.

"I'm happy for them," Marie whispered to Stein.

"Yeah, the plan's going well," he replied as he made some notes on the clipboard he'd remembered to bring. A quiet growl behind him made him smirk. "Maybe you should have gone to eat instead, though. You didn't have much for lunch, and it sounds like your stomach is protesting," Stein began when a groan made him glance back to her.

He saw Marie with one hand on her stomach, and the other at her head. She was stumbling back, "Marie!" he called, a wave of foreboding hitting him.

"I'm just a little dizzy. I'll be fine in just a second," she said. He saw the tree root as her foot hit it, sending her stumbling back even closer to the edge. He dropped his clipboard and turned to her, as time seemed to slow down. She regained her balance just in time, at the very edge of the cliff.

Before Stein could sigh in relief, her eyes met his then rolled up as she fainted. He ran the few paces towards her as her body collapsed. Gravity took her body and she fell over the edge of the cliff just as he reached out to her. His fingers passed an inch away from her jacket.

Horror shot through him, but was quickly replaced by an angry and desperate sort of determination. All he could think was I'll save her! I have to! His entire body was filled with the need to protect her. Without thinking about it, he flung himself off the cliff after her.

The cliff flew by on his left as he reached out his arms to the unconscious woman falling away from him. He reached desperately for her, and his hands found her arms. He tugged her to him as they fell.

Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her, and clutched her to him as he twisted in the air, so his body was on the bottom. He was the meister. He would protect his weapon. He would take any hit for her. A wave of her scent filled his nose, then their fall stopped abruptly, and a black wave of pain crashed over Stein.

Everything was black and white and red with pain. Everything hurt. Gritting his teeth, he took stock of his injuries and concluded nothing was broken, though he thought his entire body was one big bruise, with a couple of minor cuts.

A groan brought his mind to the woman on top of him, whom he still held. He moved his arm up to stroke her loose hair. His head tilted down and buried his face in her hair. "S-Stein?" she asked, her voice so vulnerable Stein's heart almost broke. His arms tightened around her.

"I don't care what you have to do, but never let that happen again! Never, Marie! Didn't I warn you at lunch? Marie-" Stein began, all his mental filters gone, his voice full of relief and anger.

All that disappeared when she interrupted, "You caught me?" and her voice was so small, so hopeful, so happy, that Stein forgot his rant.

After a pause, his voice came out deeper than usual, "Of course I did. I won't let you get hurt," after a second's thought, he said, "What you said at lunch… you meant I hurt you in the past, didn't you?" no reply came, so he continued, "I'm sorry if I hurt you in the past. I won't let that happen again. As strong as you are, you're still fragile. I'm only beginning to realize that, so bear with me, please,"

"Thank you, Stein, but you can't know you won't hurt me," Marie said, her voice indicating her past pain. She sat up and moved off of him.

He moaned as he sat up. They sat on the ledge he'd seen earlier. She was looking towards the sun set, bouncing colors off the sea. "I suppose I can't be sure, but Marie, when you fell off that cliff, the need to protect you took over everything else. No logic, no sense, no rationality, just the bone-deep need to keep you safe. At that moment, I knew I would do anything for you," he reached out a hand and set it on her shoulder.

"I don't know what this means, or if it will change anything, but I wanted you to know," he finished as he came to sit beside her.

"You can't help but make me hope, can you?" she murmured. With a sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder. Warmth and happiness filled him, and he put is arm around her. They watched the sun set together, on the cliff ledge.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, alerted, and read Dissection SOS!

*Just to clarify, Marie was dizzy and fainted from hunger and dehydration.

*The memory thing was indicating Stein had been falling for Marie when they were teens, but he successfully ignored/crushed those feelings, which ended up hurting her.

Sorry for taking so long to update, I had major writers block for this chapter. Romance scenes are really hard for me to write because I have no experience to draw from. How was it? Suggestions?

Next chapter they'll go back to Death City and Stein will continue his experiments, but there'll be one big change. Marie.

Please review!