Hakase Stein sat at his desk passively turning the screw in the side of his head. Nibbling away at the end of his unlit cigarette he had in his mouth, he began to write an F on Black*Star's paper, only to find that the pen had run out of ink. Shaking it a bit, he tried to write it again. No ink. The pen was crap. Stein sighed and threw it into the trash bin he had next to his desk.
Oh, that pen was dead to him.
"Well that's the last time I waste my money on pens from Staples..." He muttered irritably. He reached into the pocket of his stitched up lab coat and pulled out a new red pen, holding it up to the light for emphasis that it was pure and wouldn't betray him.
Pulling off the cap from the tip of the pen and sticking it atop the pen itself, he finished the F successfully with a content smile.
"Alright then. Finished with the tests. Now onto the essays from last week. Which means I'll have to read them all by tomorrow!" He spoke to himself enthusiastically and frowned, the right lens of his glasses catching the light, his slate colored left eye filled with displeasure. "Oh, how I love this part of my job..."
He pulled the first essay off the tall stack he had in the basket that sat on the right corner of his desk.
Patty's, to be exact.
It was a fast read considering there were no words. Just a giraffe eating what appeared to be another giraffe.
Oh, the joys of cannibalism.
Snorting and shaking his silver haired head, Stein went to write an F, but the pen refused to lose anymore of it's new ink.
The magnificent world of pens seemed to taunt him.
With a frustrated sigh, he threw it across the room. Staring after it in distaste, he turned the screw in his head until it clicked, calming down as his irritant emotions were shut away from his mind. Stein froze when he felt a pair of eyes on him. He slowly looked upward towards the windows that lined the back of the room. He met a pair of grassy emerald eyes that belonged to none other than Spirit's blond haired daughter, Maka. Judging by the smirk on her face, she was quite amused; giggling. Under one hand she held a few books to her chest and the other was lightly pressed against the window itself. Her smirk quickly faded and her face flushed a rosy pink when she realized she'd been caught watching. Her pigtails drooped slightly and she looked down at the ground.
"I'm such an idiot..."
Stein's eyes widened, looked around the room, and then rested back on her just as she walked out of sight.
"What the...?" He furrowed his eyebrows slightly. Maka's lips didn't even move when he heard her voice. She was far away, the two of them separated from the thick glass window, yet her voice sounded direct. They weren't even resonating souls and Stein heard her voice loud and clear as if it echoed throughout the depths of his mind.
Stein began to turn his screw and shook his head, trying to get himself to forget about it. Marie entered the room with two cups of coffee from Death*bucks.
"Franken, I thought today was a long day for you, so I brought-" She stopped and her butterscotch colored eye filled with concern when she noticed how pale Stein's skin was. "F...Franken? Are you alright? You seem a bit shaken..."
Stein stood up from his seat, forcing a smile upon his lips as he walked up to Marie, taking a cup from her.
"I'm just fine, Marie. Just a bit stressed is all. Who would be sane after all the work I'm checking and assigning?"
Marie laughed a bit and lightly punched Stein's shoulder as he took a sip from his coffee.
"Hey... It's not funny to joke around about sanity when it comes to you."
Stein raised a mocking eyebrow, lowering the cup from his lips and setting it on his desk.
"Well it made you laugh, didn't it not?"
Marie began to blush and smiled, rolling her one eye that wasn't covered slightly.
"Yes, Professor, it did."
"Then who's to complain?" He looked at her over his shoulder. "Thank you for the coffee, by the way. I'm surprised you remembered the kind I liked."
That last statement caused Marie's blush to darken.
"It was no problem... Anything for you."
His eyes flickered up to her own and she looked away.
"Well, I'll leave you to your work. Seems like quite a lot. I hope the coffee helps."
"Probably will."
"Goodbye, Stein." Marie turned and quickly left the room, gently shutting the door behind her.
Stein smirked faintly, but it left as soon as it appeared when he lowered himself back down in his signature computer chair.
It had been quite obvious many times before now that Marie had the hots for him.
Bad.
Stein was well aware. He closed his eyes, leaned backwards in his chair, and propped his feet up on the desk. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened with Maka's words heard in his head. It was because he was a scientist that he couldn't stop trying to piece it together behind his eyelids. Many questions repeated themselves over and over like a broken record. He had thought the stereo that played it had stopped playing during the final battle with Medusa. As soon as madness flickered, it was gone, and the questions stopped. He opened his eyes up wide and froze, staring up at the ceiling lights high above where he sat.
"...Damn."
