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Amaya was exhausted. Stein switched days between himself and Kid. One day, Amaya would train with Kid. The next, Stein. Then Kid. Then Stein, and so on.
She never got a break.
Even though she knew that when she was tired, the madness could take over her easier, she didn't complain.
She just decided to suck it up. She took deep breaths, tried to keep her mind clear.
It worked a little bit.
She almost fell asleep in classes, she was so exhausted.
On top of homework, anxiety because of her healing Kishin father, and friend troubles, she could feel her fragile sanity slipping away.
But she could not let the Kishin win.
Not this time.
...
Amaya was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at her open book.
Her eyes were so gritty and tired she could barely see straight.
She tried mumbling the questions to herself, but she felt her head lolling to the side.
"In your own words write an explanation of why you think that... Weapons... Can... Move..."
Her eyes drifted shut.
"Are you doing your homework?" Stein asked, walking into the room.
Amaya jumped, startled, and looked at him with heavy eyes.
"Sorry..." Amaya replied, rubbing her eyes. "I'm just so tired..."
"Are you honestly that exhausted?" Stein inquired, eyebrows knit together.
"Mhm," Amaya said, her head falling back again.
"Go ahead and sleep. You can finish your homework tomorrow," Stein said.
"It's due tomorrow," Amaya groaned.
"No," Stein told her. "You're staying home tomorrow."
Amaya actually opened her eyes at that.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"We'll take a mental rest day tomorrow," Stein replied. "We'll both stay home. No training."
"Really?" Amaya asked, sitting up. Nothing had ever sounded more beautiful than the words he had just said.
Stein nodded.
"Go ahead and sleep," he said.
Amaya pushed her book onto the floor and her head hung over the arm of the couch, making her neck bend at an odd angle.
"That doesn't look very comfortable," Stein stated, confused.
Amaya just grunted.
Stein approached her and picked her up off the couch.
"Wha-?" Amaya exclaimed, surprised. She put an arm around his neck so she wouldn't fall.
Stein let her settle down again, and then he carried her bridal style into his own bedroom.
"You can sleep in here tonight," he said, and set her on his bed. "Night."
He turned the light out and walked back to the door to leave.
"Stein, wait," Amaya called, tiredly. "I have a question."
Stein turned to her in the doorway, nothing but his silhouette visible.
"Yes?"
"A couple weeks ago..." Amaya started, her voice thick with sleep, "when we soul resonated... You didn't change your soul wavelength...?"
"No," Stein replied. "I didn't have to."
"What... does that mean?" Amaya asked.
"It means our wavelengths already matched. Like I said with you and Kid, sometimes in rare occasions, the more you're around a person who has great influence on you, the more your wavelengths align."
"So..." Amaya asked, "at first they didn't... And now they do...?"
"Right."
"Oh..." Amaya yawned, her exhaustion taking over. "Alright. Thank you, Stein..."
She heard him chuckle before he closed the door behind him.
...
The next morning, Amaya woke up later than usual. She felt over a thousand times better than before.
The curtains were pulled over the window, but she could still see the sunlight entering the room.
Her face was against a pillow that smelled like Stein, and at first she was surprised.
Then she thought back, and could barely remember the events of last night: Stein carrying her in here and explaining how their wavelengths matched up.
Amaya wondered what time it was.
She just laid there for a second, listening. The house was so quiet.
And it felt nice to lay in an actual bed, with actual blankets and pillows.
Even though the pillow had been raggedly cut in half, and then sewn back together, and she could feel the thick stitches pressed against her cheek.
Amaya wondered if Stein had decided to go to school today. She couldn't hear anything in the house.
Stein had been trying to train her to sense souls, and she thought she could sense Stein's in the kitchen.
She stood up and made the bed.
Then she walked out into the living room.
The couch was empty, but the folded blankets had been moved to the other arm, which meant Stein had slept there last night.
Amaya walked into the kitchen from there, and saw Stein drinking a hot cup of tea.
"Good morning," Stein greeted her. "Well, good afternoon, really."
Amaya looked at the clock on the wall.
"It's two o'clock?!" Amaya gasped in surprise. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"
"Because you were tired," Stein replied.
Amaya plopped down in the chair next to him, turning so she was seated sideways to get a better view of him.
"Do you want to do anything today?" Stein inquired.
"No," Amaya replied. "Let's just do nothing all day."
Stein smiled into his cup.
"Alright." He sipped for a second. "Do you feel better?"
"Definitely!" Amaya replied, happily. "This was such a good idea."
It was quiet for a second.
"I have a question," Stein said suddenly. He stood up and walked across the room to put his cup in the sink. Hesitating, a troubled expression on his face, he leaned against the counter, facing her, elbows back to prop him up. "And I need you to consider my question seriously, and answer honestly."
"Alright, but I always take you seriously and answer honestly," Amaya said, confused.
He gave her a small smile.
"Since I have met you," Stein started, staring at the ground, "I have been thinking. It's why I've been asking you so many questions and doing so much paper work..."
"What?" Amaya asked.
"How would you feel if I were to take you in?" Stein inquired, watching her face cautiously.
"I... Thought you'd already taken me in," Amaya said, giving him an odd glance.
"Well, I mean legally, of course," Stein finished. "I would become your legal guardian."
At first, Amaya couldn't grasp what he was talking about.
Then, after his words sank in, her mouth fell open, and her eyes grew wide.
"You mean you- you want to adopt me?!" Amaya asked quietly, slightly breathless. She leaned forward in her seat, heart beating like the wings of a caged animal, gripping the edge of the table like she would fly away otherwise.
"Well... Yes," Stein answered.
He watched her, seeing her tense reaction, afraid to look her in the eye.
It was silent.
He wondered why he'd even bothered to ask her. He knew deep down that people were afraid of him. Maybe she wouldn't even want to stay with him. Maybe she planned on leaving him once her Kishin father had been killed.
Stein looked up at her after several minutes of silence, confused as to why she was so quiet.
Amaya was still gripping the table with her left hand, her right clutching the back of the chair she was sitting on.
She was staring at his face as if for the first time, and tears were running down her cheeks.
Stein was surprised, but he didn't know what to say.
"You really want to adopt me?" Amaya asked, softly, in disbelief. "It's not a joke?"
She studied him, her wide eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Who would make a joke like that?" Stein replied, confused, turning the bolt on the side of his head.
Amaya suddenly launched herself out of her chair and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing his torso.
"Yes," Amaya said, a half-laugh half-sob escaping from her throat. "Yes, I want you to adopt me."
Stein felt her tears practically soak through the front of his coat, but he only smiled in relief, and put a hand on her head lightly.
"Alright," he replied. "It's already been done."
He closed his eyes, memorizing what it felt like to have someone embrace you because they wanted to...
Just in case it didn't last forever.
...
About fifteen minutes later, Stein made Amaya sit back down at the table and try to calm down.
"Just take deep breaths," he told her, guiding her to the chair.
Amaya sat down and tried to take deep breaths as instructed. She gathered her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, trying to catch her breath.
Stein really couldn't believe that anyone would be so ecstatic to be adopted my him that they would cry uncontrollably.
"Amaya," Stein said.
"I'm sor-ry," Amaya said, hiccuping from her tears. "I'm taking deep br-breaths!"
"No, it's not that," Stein reiterated, amused. "I was going to ask you- were you really this surprised?"
"Ye-s," Amaya hiccuped again, her breaths coming in sharp gasps.
"How?" Stein asked. "I accidentally let things slip several times."
"I-I thought you were just being n-nice," Amaya answered, more tears falling.
Stein didn't honestly know how to deal with crying women. It was past his forte of knowledge.
He chuckled.
"I thought I was being blatantly obvious," he added, rubbing her back.
Amaya took several deep breaths to steady herself.
"I thought you thought I was w-weird," Amaya added, with a laugh.
"Why would I think that?" Stein asked, confused once again.
"B-because of the fights with Black Star, and k-kissing your cheek, and, me eating River's soul- everything," Amaya said, hiding her face with her arms and knees.
Her face was red and she didn't want him to see.
"What about Black Star?" Stein asked.
"You know why I got into those fights with him, I know you do!" Amaya said, lifting her tear-stained face to look at him.
Stein was quiet for a second.
"I do know why you got into those two fights with him," Stein finally said. "I overheard them both. How did you know I knew?"
"Because you a-always know everything!" Amaya replied.
Stein outright laughed at this.
"I don't think you're strange at all," he said casually.
Amaya continued to take deep breaths, and her sobs finally subsided.
Stein made her some tea, and set it on the table in front of her.
"Feel better?" Stein asked.
"I wasn't ever sad," Amaya replied, sipping her tea. "I was crying because I was happy, as cliché as that is."
Stein didn't respond.
"It seems like all I ever do is cry anymore," Amaya said. "Before I enrolled into the DWMA, I could count the number of times I'd cried on one hand."
Stein just listened to her.
"I- I can't believe you actually want to adopt me," Amaya told him, blowing on her tea to cool it off. "I'm completely messed up."
"Completely messed up is my normality," Stein replied, pushing his glasses farther up onto his nose.
Amaya drank some tea and tried to calm down.
"So that's why you wanted to know about Taljin?" Amaya asked.
Stein nodded.
"Is that why you kept your thoughts blocked when we soul resonated?" Amaya wanted to know.
"It's one of the reasons," Stein replied.
"And that's why you were always grading papers?" Amaya added.
"Yes. I wasn't grading papers," Stein smiled. "I've already discussed it with lord Death. It's all legal."
"You're a sneaky man," Amaya said, with a laugh.
Stein chuckled, and Amaya drank the rest of her tea in comfortable silence.