Spirit sighed. He trusted Maka to do well in her exercises with Soul, but it would take a while for her to adjust to him being a Death Scythe. For the time being, all he could do was believe in his baby girl, but watching her set to the skies, soaring up into the clouds: well, it made him just a tad emotional. Marie was smiling, too, her hands absentmindedly playing with the hem of her shirt as she stared up.
"They grow up so fast," Spirit commented, remembering when Maka was so small he could hold her in one hand, how he used to read to her. Marie giggled and nodded, which sent her blonde hair in front of her shoulders. She carelessly flicked it away just as Spirit looked down at her, and her hand managed to move her collar enough to show him a glimpse of-
"Woah woah woah, is that a hickey?" he asked, immediately shocked out of his sentimental stupor. Marie's eye went wide, her palm clapping down overtop where the mark was under her collar.
"No! I…I burned myself…accidentally."
Spirit raised a brow, his lips twitching. "Yeah?" Kami used the exact same excuse in the past, back before they were official. "How'd you manage that one?"
"I was curling my hair!" Marie said, but her voice was raising up, a blush coming over her face.
"Oh? My, that curling iron must have teeth," he teased, giddy at being able to tease her.
"It's just a burn, Spirit, stop being a jerk!"
Spirit tipped his head back, letting loose a chortle. "Ah, c'mon, Marie! I'm me! I know a hickey when I see one."
"It isn't a hickey!" she argued, refusing to admit defeat. Spirit grinned at how stubborn she was.
"Is that why you've been wearing higher collars? Man, I was wondering."
"Don't pay attention to my neckline, you pervert!" Marie yelled, smacking Spirit on the shoulder, which stung more than he thought Marie knew. He winced, flinching away from her and taking a few steps back, raising his hands up in the general gesture for peace.
"Calm down! Jeez, you don't know how strong you are."
Marie huffed, looking away. After a pause, Spirit stared at her, his mind bringing up the fact that she wasn't the only person who'd taken to buttoning up a tad more, and he gasped when it finally hit him. "Wait a minute, you and Stein…Death, is that why the two of you have been so cheerful lately? That means I won the betting pool-"
"Betting pool!?" Marie asking, whirling around. Before Spirit could deflect, or tease her for the dark red flush over her face that indicated how right he truly was, Marie's punch was wailing him across the chin, her eye closed in mortification.
It was only later, while he was nursing his swollen cheek in Nygus' office that he realized Marie never denied his accusations of just who was to blame for mouth-marking her.
"Stein, my man," he said, into the empty office, the pride echoing.
Though, the busted lip certainly muffled it.