...Alright... It's been like, over a year since I actually posted anything... I really need to update at more regular intervals...

There isn't nearly enough SteinxMarie on this site! This needs to be remedied! Therefore, I bring you this, written between 2 and 5:10 am...

Why, for the love of all that is holy, is all of my writing accomplished in the wee hours of the morning?! I was joking the first time I said my muse worked the graveyard shift! Joking!!

Anyways, this is my first Soul Eater fic. The plot bunnies have been gnawing on me to write this since I finished reading the comic. That said, there are some slight spoilers for past chapter 38.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Soul Eater. I wouldn't be earning minimum wage at a movie store if I did. XP

.:Variations on a Theme:.

--

The sight of one Franken Stein on his doorstep in the middle of the night had made Spirit Albarn's blood run cold.

His thoughts had jumped first to his impending doom at the tips of Stein's scalpels, then to his beloved Maka and how he'd never get a chance to say good-bye and had never patched up thing with Mama and dear god his daughter's birthday was coming up what was he going to do, and countless other things besides.

Stein - completely unperturbed by the man's sudden descent into a gibbering nitwit - had interrupted the sobs with a mild clearing of his throat.

"Senpai, if you're about finished…there's a matter I'd like to discuss with you."

Spirit, looking up from his fetal position on the doorstep, had been slightly surprised; not only had the meister opposite him not made a ghoulish joke about dissecting him, he looked to be almost… nervous, a rare look for Stein indeed. Curiosity peaked, he'd motioned him into the house.

--

"So, what's this 'matter' you wanted to discuss?" Spirit drawled, pouring a drink for them both. "It isn't like you to be out and about this late; you're usually off doing something creepy in your lab."

Completely unfazed by the comment (after all it was basically true), Stein swirled the amber liquid in his glass thoughtfully.

"I'm not entirely sure how to breach the topic, I'm afraid. It's… confusing, to say the least." Now entirely curious as to what his colleague was getting at, Spirit gave him a disbelieving look.

"You, the genius meister capable of wielding any weapon, master of a million dissections,are finding something confusing? This is gonna be good." Stein smirked, and wandered off to collect Spirit's office chair from a room down the hall. Slouching backwards into the chair, one arm dangling lazily, he wheeled himself slowly back into the room. He cranked the screw in his head, thoughtful once more.

"Well, maybe not confusing… but not something I've been able to entirely sort out either…" Spirit raised an eyebrow. "You see, Senpai… It's about Marie."

Comprehension dawned on the Death Scythe. Of course Stein would wonder about that particular 'matter'. He smirked a bit, watching the smoke tendril up from the man's cigarette. Not being particularly well-versed with the opposite sex (outside of dissections), it was only natural that Stein be unfamiliar with a woman's affections; and Marie had been, not clingy, but quite obviously attached to the stitched-up scientist since their arrival back at Shibusen, after his name had been cleared of BJ's murder.

Spirit had often wondered what had actually gone on between them while searching for the real culprit, as the woman had neither borne the scars of continued nocturnal dissections, nor had she declared Stein a raving lunatic. Quite the contrary, she had defended him against such comments.

"What about Marie?" Spirit asked, hiding a grin behind his glass. Seeing it anyway, Stein shot him a dirty look.

"You know what about Marie," he muttered curtly. Spirit grinned more.

"You mean how she's completely head-over-heels in love with you, or how she's completely head-over-heels in love with you again?" Stein blinked.

"…What do you mean, 'again'?" he asked suspiciously. Spirit rolled his eyes.

"Or maybe it should be 'still', but it figures you wouldn't have noticed. She adored you in Shibusen way back, you know. …I suppose you were to busy dissecting things to really notice any girls-"

"Unlike you, who were too busy noticing girls to do any real work," Stein interjected, sipping his drink. Ignoring him, Spirit continued.

"-too busy dissecting things to notice girls like Marie. And there were, plural, girls; at least, there were before they realized you'd probably dissect them in their sleep."

There was a long pause before Stein spoke again, choosing instead to spin in slow circles. Then, finally:

"You're serious, and that's the strangest part." Spirit grinned rather devilishly, and carried on in a sing-song voice.

"She really liiiiked you- And she still liiiiikes you- And now you're nerrrrvous-" Stein glared half-heartedly at the childish man before him.

"Because we can't all have your womanizing ways, can we, Senpai? I recall they lost you some rather valuable assets, though…" He puffed away at his cigarette almost victoriously as Spirit keeled over on the floor and began sobbing about his wife and daughter. ("Papa still loves Mama and Maka the most…!")

Once Spirit was able to collect himself, he faced Stein seriously.

"But she really does like you, doesn't she?" Stein sighed, the same nervous expression from earlier flickering across his face.

"It would seem so, for whatever reason."

"And that's the problem?" Stein shifted a bit before replying, almost reluctantly.

"That's about the size of it, yes."

"Well," Spirit mused, a teasing smile playing across his lips, "how do you feel about her?"

Stein thought about that for a moment, expression no longer thoughtful, but puzzled.

"…I've… been asking myself the same question, Senpai…" He paused, and Spirit motioned him on, refilling his and Stein's drinks. "… I suppose that I… don't want to dissect her…" he finished lamely. Spirit promptly snorted his drink out his nose.

"You- you what?" His eyes were wide with surprise and utter shock. Stein wanted to dissect everything. Spirit himself could attest to that, having been an unwitting experiment to the insanity-prone meister for several years. "You don't want-! Did Hell freeze over while I was pouring my drink?!"

Stein merely shrugged, slouching further forward into his chair. The glare of the overhead lights reflected off his glasses, thoroughly blocking his expression from Spirit's probing gaze. He didn't like this feeling, he decided; this confusing jumble of thoughts clouding his normally clear mind.

Marie Mjollnir was definitely a talented weapon, and a Death Scythe at that. As he was so used to Spirit-senpai, his curiosity towards another weapon of similar calibre should have been purely natural; he was, after all, a scientist. And dammit if that didn't make him want to dissect every other flesh-and-blood specimen in the world, endangered species or no, so why not her?

He cranked his screw irritably. Ever since they left Shibusen it had been this way. Ever since she had cried, had sobbed helplessly and clung to him like the entire world had ended and she'd been left behind. ...Which he supposed was a rather apt description, as she'd lost someone close to her and been forced to flee with his supposed killer into the night away from anything warm and familiar to her.

He couldn't quite get his head around the nagging ache that seeing her so broken had caused; the sudden urge to make things alright, and make her happy again... Or the way her absolute trust in him had made him fell better that he had in ages…

But that was hardly the point was it? He had no idea why it was bothering him, or why it should be at all. He was crazy, wasn't he? He was prone to insanity, wasn't he? He dissected everyone, didn't he? What on earth was attracting (attracting!) a woman like Marie Mjollnir of all people?

Medusa, to some logical extent, he had understood. The woman was crazy, and manipulative, and a witch, and crazy. If it had been any sort of true 'attraction' (which he supposed it had to have been, the crazy bitch; 'I love you' indeed) it had been for her own personal gain rather than personal pleasure.

But Marie he just couldn't figure out.

She had never said a word against him, in all the time they'd been travelling. Never. Teased, certainly; meant it, no. She went to bed honestly sure she wouldn't wake up in a creepy lab somewhere, dissected or dead.

He remembered the first time she'd smiled, really smiled for the first time in days. And for whatever bizarre reason, his heart had done some odd flip in his chest, leaving him perfectly puzzled as to what had caused it, since, as far as he knew, a bad case of the crazies didn't give you cardiac arrhythmia.

And when they had cleared him, she hadn't been surprised at all, merely smiling, muttering an 'I told you so' under her breath so no one but he would hear.

What was that character of Carrol's always saying? 'Curiouser and curiouser.'

Spirit waved a hand in front of Stein's face,interrupting his inner rambling.

"Really, Stein. If it's bothering you this much, maybe you should just talk to her or something." Spirit still sounded thrown. Stein spared him an annoyed glance.

"And say what? 'I don't feel like dissecting you. Whatever could this mean'?"

"Or something, sure…" Stein scoffed and slammed back the rest of his drink, holding the glass out to Spirit to refill it. Spirit merely stared at him.

"No wonder your daughter runs away from you: are all of your plans that half-assed?" Stein muttered. Spirit ignored him and continued to stare.

"…You like her!" he crowed. Stein glared up at him irritably. "You're trying to explain it away in your head somehow, but you like her!" He started to laugh, then made a show of pretending to cry. "My little Frankie is all grown up!"

His show came to an abrupt end as Stein borrowed a move from Maka's repertoire and pegged him with a book. Setting his empty glass down, Stein stood and stretched as Spirit twitched on the floor.

"Alright. You have fun, Senpai. I'll be going back to the lab now. Lots of creepy experiments to run."

As he closed the door behind him and started the long walk back, Stein pondered the conversation with his former weapon and classmate.

Curiouser and curiouser….

--

Marie was caught slightly off guard as, once more lost in Shibusen's winding hallways, Stein tapped her on the shoulder, startling her out of her reverie. Blushing shyly, she turned to face him, beaming.

Stein, outwardly collected, gathered his wits about him. 'I don't want to dissect you. Whatever could this mean?' …He was going to kill Spirit.

"Marie… do you think I could talk to you for a moment…? There's a… small matter I'd like to discuss."

And there we have it. Written at 2 this morning.

...Stein's a bit OOC, but it's hard to judge exactly what his personality is since he's really just screwing with people most of the time...

If you want to get a feel for how I pictured Spirit sounding while singing, think Miss Congeniality: 'You think I'm gooooorgeous, you want to tooouch me', etc, etc.

So, please telll me what you think!