I'm not sure how this happened, actually. Originally, I had wanted to make this one SoulxMaka and then it turned into SteinxMarie and now it's some delicious smoothie of pairings I like. Actually, I haven't even written it yet, but the premise seems good. I mean, I'd read it. Now, before I start to really ramble (like an idiot), I should start the story.

IMPORTANT : This, I should mention, takes place about two or three years into the future.

Enjoy

Stein was a man of many talents. He was an accomplished researcher, a....lovable... teacher and , of course, a spectacular doctor who just happens to specialize in, ahem, "surgery". He had graduated at the top his class. Well, second to Kami, that is, but only by about half a point. He was fluent in over 70 languages, slowly making his way to 80 so that Shinigami-sama's neurotic son would stop glaring at him so much. Something about "beauty". Stein didn't know much about the normal person's view on beauty, much less Death the kid's, because his idea of beauty was a squirming or dead species, strapped to a cold surgical table next to a variety of sharpened and sterilized scalpels as well as many other painful and dangerous looking pieces of equipment. Indeed, Stein was an artist. However, as talented as our beloved doctor is, he was at this day, bested by none other than Marie Mjolnir, the crushing weapon. Let me take the time to explain, in detail, this afternoon, when Marie had forced Stein to go to the local park with her.

--

"Hey, Stein! I found the perfect place to rest!" Marie called cheerfully as she all but skipped over to a bench, shaded well from the summer heat by a large tree. Stein walked over at a pace slower than normal, brought on by the fact that he had been dragged out of bed on a Saturday at the ungodly hour of 1:30 pm. He groaned inwardly, wincing at the bright sun, having assumed he wouldn't be seeing the light of day all weekend. His schedule had been changing a lot since Marie had come to live with him, even after the kishin was defeated. Apparently, Shinigami-sama had moved her stationing to an incredibly slow region, literally ten minutes away from his house and considering that Marie helped soothe any bouts of insanity, finding a place to live these days was a total pain in the ass, and she would be hard pressed to find closer lodgings than the one he had unwittingly made available to her, it was pretty much unanimous that she would continue to stay with him. The only one who hadn't agreed to it was Marie herself. He didn't understand why exactly, but her face had been very red when he asked her and he deduced it would have something to do with marriage. Stein had never made any effort to understand women and he really wasn't planning to make one.

Stein sat down on the bench, grateful for the shade's merciful shielding of his eyes. He laid back and prepared to nap, but Marie would have none of that. She started at him for a few moments and suddenly started to shake him.

"Ugggmmphfivemoreminuutes." Stein responded in his usual suave fashion.

"No, Stein, I have an idea! Let's play a game!"

"No."

"Aw, come on, Stein, winner gets the loser to do whatever they want."

'Sleep in peace.' was Steins immediate thought, resulting in him sitting up and, after a rather large yawn, agree to the game.

"So, what is this game of yours?" he asked.

"Stein, how good are you at analyzing relationships? Or, really, just people in general? "

After briefly wondering if looking at souls counted, he answered that he was fairly good.

"Great, so, as you can see, over there, a bunch of our students are hanging out." she pointed to the space, about 40 meters in front of them, past the surprisingly empty picnic tables, to the jungle gym on which his students were having fun. Soul, Black Star, Death the Kid, and Ox were playing a game of manhunt, with Black Star being it, Tsubaki was sitting next to Maka, who was reading, and watched to the boys play. Liz seemed to be sharing with Kim and Jacqueline some hairstyling tips and Harvar seemed to be in deep thought. Patty, unsurprisingly, was making giraffe sculptured out of sand.

"Yes, I see them." Though I doubt that anyone besides Maka, Ox, Harvar and Tsubaki have finished their homework.

"Well, the objective of the game is to make a scenario, give out both of our theories of what their reactions will be and why and then do the scenario to see who's right. Whoever gets three points first wins!" Marie explained, as Stein thought that her influence was not the only influence rubbing off in his house. He'd not known that Marie was so willing to turn the emotions of a bunch of teenagers into a game. He might like this side of Marie, also.

"Alright, you make up the scenario." he offered.

"Hmm, alright, let's start with something easy." She stared at the teens, as Black Star punched Ox and screamed his victory as loudly as possible, and then snapped her fingers.

"What do you think Harvar is thinking about?"

Stein thought. Recently, Harvar and Ox had gone on a mission to Berlin to defeat a cat-like pre-kishin, Dinah Wonderlund, who had been eating the souls of young girls. Stein remembered that while his father was French, his mother, now deceased, had been German.

"He's thinking about his mother." Stein said with finality.

He saw Marie's lips curl upward and her eyes gleamed with amusement.

"I think he's asleep."

Stein's eyes widened.

"Don't try and trick me. He's not sleeping. I remember you giving Liz your cellphone number a while back, call her and tell her to tell Harvar 'Laura Schulte' It's his mother's name."

Marie just smiled, as she pulled them both behind the tree and out of sight as she made the call.

"Hello?" Stein watched as Liz dropped Jacqueline's hair to pull out her phone.

"Hello, Liz, it's Marie-sensei. Is Harvar, by any chance, with you?"

"Actually, Yeah."

Marie smiled.

"Great! Could you lean over and just tell him the name 'Laura Schulte' for me, please. Nothing else, just tell him that name."

"Umm, okay, hold on a sec."

Stein watched, displeased as Liz leaned over and told him the name. He didn't respond. Liz shook him and he fell, but still didn't respond. Through the receiver on Marie's phone, Stein heard the sound of a loud snore. 'Crap.'

"Sorry, he's really asleep." Liz said to Marie.

"Oh, it's okay. No big deal. I'll let him know Monday, so don't trouble yourself." Marie said as a sly grin swept onto her face as she looked at Stein, "Don't forget your homework, see you Monday."

"Bye." Liz looked a little troubled by the homework bit but seemed to put it out of her mind as she returned to rearranging Jacqueline's hair, Stein noticed.

"That's one point for me!" Marie sang.

"Don't get too full of yourself, Marie, that look on your face will scare the children." He shot back.

Marie scowled, "I don't wanna hear that from you." She mumbled.

"I'll choose the next thing," Stein said, figuring he would get one he was certain he knew.

Looking at the group of children, specifically the boys on the jungle gym, who were now having the worst time trying to get Kid-kun away from Ox's crooked tie so the obsessive boy could be 'it', decided his scenario.

"If one of the boys, who are not 'it' as in this game, were to accidentally grope Tsubaki, How would Black Star react?" Stein could taste his victory, "I think he would point out the loss of the person who did it, as they would have had to touch the ground, and not pay any attention to Tsubaki. After all, the boy's lifted up her skirt as interrogation method before, as Sid's told me."

Marie shook her head, "He'd jump down and throw the kid off, for sure." She said.

Stein looked at her, puzzled.

"He would lose the game. He hates to lose."

"He'd probably scold Tsubaki for "Making him lose the game" after." She told him.

Despite what Marie had said, he stuck to his guns.

"Why don't you use that monster strength of yours to shake the ground a little and we'll see who's right." The man said.

"Patience, this needs to be timed just right." she said.

In his boredom, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes. About to pull one out, he noticed something strange.

"Did you change my brand?"

"Huh?"

"My smokes. Did you change the brand?"

"Yeah, there's less tar in this one. Now you'll live longer and you won't have to do that gruesome tar removal thing every two months. Seriously, you gotta warn me when you do that, I had nightmares."

"Hm, thanks, I guess." He had to admit, even if it was him, tar removal was not very comfortable. She looked out for his well being. When was the last time someone did that, simply for him?

"Now!" Marie snapped him out of his thoughts with a sudden kick to the ground, effectively shaking many leaves out of trees and knocking Ox right into Tsubaki's cleavage. It was just not Ox's day, it seemed.

Stein watched in horror as Tsubaki squeaked in surprise and Black Star jumped down from the monkey bars, threw Ox off of her and sent him flying into a red support bar. Kim running past him to see if her boyfriend needed any medical assistance, Black Star turned toward his weapon.

Stein hadn't taken lip reading classes for nothing.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes."

"Good. Don't make me lose the game next time, Tsubaki and-"

If the last twelve seconds hadn't already shocked Stein then the next five really would.

"Don't let any other guy touch you!"

He noticed the mildly surprised look on the others' faces. Apparently Stein had missed something in the last couple of years that he'd been their teacher, the rest of them hadn't. As though she had read his mind, Marie spoke up.

"They grow up awful fast, don't they." There was reassurance in her voice but Stein thought he could sense an underlying feeling of mockery.

"I'm beginning to think that perhaps you are more observant than your childish face leads on." He said.

"I choose to take that as a compliment. Thanks." She answered.

"Why wouldn't it be a compliment?"

"I've got another one!" Marie said, ignoring him, "This one's for the win!"

Stein sighed. They hadn't really designated turns but past experience told him that Marie's aggressive side could not be dealt with.

"Right, what is it." Stein had long since gotten over his sleep depravity, he could handle not getting those extra hours of peace, but Marie had a thing for dragging people into the swing of things, something that got him at this moment to feel the sudden twinges of competitiveness.

"For the past few minutes Maka has been sweating in that thick sweater. A smart girl like Maka would definitely wear something cooler underneath. Now, if you have been paying attention to her over the past years you can see why Soul no longer makes fun of her chest."

Indeed, C-cups were no laughing matter.

"Now I bet Maka is gonna get fed up with that sweater pretty soon. The scenario is: What will Soul do?"

"Nothing. He'll want to make sure she's comfortable, because he's in love with her."

Marie looked at him in shock.

"Wow, if even you noticed that....WOW, Maka must have a terrible radar for this kind of thing."

"No kidding."

"But, Stein, I'm going to have to say you're wrong. Soul may get embarrassed easily (much to his chagrin) but he's way too possessive to let that slide. Especially when Kilik's been hitting on her the past couple of weeks, not that she's noticed."

"Soul certainly has."

"Correct, another day or two and he'll knock his block off."

"'Knock his block off '? Thanks for taking me back to second grade, Marie." Stein said, nudging her, playfully.

"Oh, Your so mean!" Stein noticed, with satisfaction, a slight pink blush on her cheeks.

"The point is," She huffed "He's gonna try and cover her up."

"We'll see." He said.

"What'll we see, hmmmmm?" An unfamiliar voice said. Stein jolted. He inwardly scolded himself for being so caught up with Marie that he lost thought of his other surroundings. Including that of the younger Thompson sister, who was sitting right next to Stein.

"P-patty! When did you get here?" Marie said, clearly jarred by the girls' presence.

"Just now!" She said happily, "So, whatcha doin'?"

"Cultivating trees." Stein said, with a carefree smile.

"GYAHAHAHAHA!!" Patty laughed loudly, "Booooriiing!!"

Marie got right on board, "Very! Very very, very boring! For you! Fun, fun, fun for us! Right Stein?!"

Stein really did get a kick out of watching Marie lie. She was just so bad at it. It really was like watching a fish out of water.

Smiling inside and out Stein replied with the truth this time "It really is very fun."

Patty then ran off somewhere, singing about how they were so weird.

"There! She's taking her shirt off!" Marie cried excitedly.

"Pervert." Stein commented as Marie scowled at him.

It was simultaneous. The more Maka lifted that sweater the wider Soul's eyes got. Stein didn't need to lip read. He could hear him from where he was.

"PUT THAT DAMN SHIRT DOWN THIS INSTANT, MAKA!"

After that, silence. Soul, Stein noted, was not very smooth. Maka was also not very temperamental.

"MAKA CHOP!"

Both were rather loud. Especially when it came to each other. Or only when it came to each other. Recovering quickly for his purpose, Soul got up and dragged Maka behind the picnic bench for some unnecessary privacy.

"WHAT'S YOUR DEAL, SOUL?!" Maka shouted.

"WHAT'S MY DEAL?! WHAT'S YOUR DEAL?! YOUR THE ONE TAKING YOUR CLOTHES OFF IN PUBLIC!"

"IT'S HOT OUT, SOUL, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED!"

"WELL, I DON'T EXACTLY WANT TO SEE PEOPLE OGLING MY GIRLFRIEND!"

Soul, Stein discovered, was very good at making a group of people go absolutely silent. Maka was very good at remedying that.

"SOUL! WE WEREN'T GOING TO TELL THEM YET!" Maka cried, face flushed in embarrassment.

Apparently, the person who was most aware of Soul's feelings for Maka was Maka herself.

"Well," started Liz, "It's about freaking time. Congrats, you two, on being our newest and loudest couple."

After that, Stein resorted back to lip reading, as the rest of his students seemed to be considerably more quiet. Other than Black Star.

"YAHOO! PARTY AT KID'S HOUSE!" The teen shouted loudly, pouncing on Kid's back.

"What are you talking about?" Kid said, agitated.

"For Soul and Maka's hook up! Right?!"

"WHA-?!"

"Of course! Hush, Maka, don't worry. If it's a party for you two, I'll make it as beautiful as it can possibly be made." Kid said, dutifully, as he murmured about how to coordinate the punch to the table cloths.

"Hold up, guys, not cool!" Soul chased after Kid and Black Star, whom he had unwittingly piggy backed. Seeing this, Patty chased Soul.

The others, aside from Maka, laughed.

"Well," Marie said with satisfaction "It looks like I've won, Stein. Three to zero is pretty indisputable."

"I won't argue," he said, laughing inwardly at her victorious expression "So what's this request of yours?"

"That is," She said, her cheeks going aflame for a reason Stein didn't understand "We, uh..."

"We haven't got all day, Marie." Stein said, impatiently "Out with it."

Seeming to get some courage from the annoyance brought on by his comment, Marie blurted out her wish.

"Marry me, you jerk."

Stein's eyes widened for a moment before his mouth pulled into a smirk.

"Was that all?"

--

"Cultivating trees?" Kim said in disbelief, Jacqueline by her side as the boys were fooling around up ahead as boys do.

"Yup, yup. That's what they were doing!" Patty said cheerfully.

"Well, that explains that little earthquake earlier." said Tsubaki, slightly displeased by the memory of Ox in her chest, yet happy about Black Star's reaction.

"And that weird phone call." Liz continued.

"I didn't think Marie-sensei was one to make bets. Well, it's not a big deal." Maka said, furrowing her brows as a thought occurred to her "But, I feel like we've forgotten something."

--

elsewhere

--

Harvar woke with a large yawn and a stretch.

"Hey, guys," Harvar said, groggily, looking around, "Guys?"

There you go. I'm not sure how this got to the way it is now but, yeah. BTW, Schulte is just some generic German surname I picked up off Wikipedia. Also, did you like my very blatant Alice in Wonderland reference? Dinah, the cat? Young girls, like Alice? I'm sorry, I am completely in love with cheesy puns.

Hope you liked it! Review if you'd like, I appreciate comments!