"Really, Shinigami-sama? A Q&A session? Must I?"

"Yes. You're our strongest meister, Stein."

"Why?"

"Why do you have to do this or why are you the strongest meister?"

"… Both."

"You have to do this because people will want to ask you questions, and you're the strongest meister because you just are."

"… Fine. When is this?"

"Twenty minutes."

The silver-haired meister did his best not to gape, but his exasperated sigh told the tale.

"Thanks for the notice." Stein turned and shook his head, and Shinigami-sama sighed.

"Sorry!" he called out. Stein raised his hand and seemed to swipe the words away.

"Yeah, yeah, got it." he murmured.

Stein hated the murmurs that always rippled through the classroom when he was teaching. But, somehow, as he came into the familiar room to see it filled with strangers, everything was worse. He shrugged off his labcoat and tried not to make a face at the muted applause he got. He wasn't one for show, and considering he was the show, he wasn't entirely pleased.

"Alright," he sighed, and he stood in front of the desk, arms crossed, "questions, I suppose." Stein tried to sound interested, but he really wasn't.

"What's it like being the strongest meister at this place?"

"What sorts of things do you teach your students?"

"How can you tell if someone has abilities like yours?"

Most of the questions Stein was asked by the visiting weapons and meisters were fairly banal, and he could respond to them without thinking too hard. That was until a man stood up who looked about the same age as Stein, and cleared his throat.

"Doctor, your weapon is the Deathscythe, Marie Mjolnir, is it not?" he asked. Stein narrowed his eyes.

"Yes." he replied, and the man continued.

"And seeing as you have a versatile soul and are the strongest meister around this place, surely you could have any choice of weapon that you wanted, right?" he asked. Stein crossed his arms.

"I suppose." Stein said, and the man nodded.

"I understand that Mjolnir was assigned to you during the Kishin awakening, but that's long since passed. Why are you still with a weapon as ineffective and unyielding as Mjolnir?" he asked. Stein's eyes widened almost imperceptibly and he clenched his fists against his folded arms.

"You are aware that you're talking about one of the most powerful weapons in the world?" Stein asked, and the man nodded.

"Yes, but you were the first meister of Shinigami-sama's most esteemed deathscythe, Spirit Albarn. The weapon is surely better, no?" the man replied, and their quick fire conversation showed no signs of stopping.

"Spirit Albarn may have been my first weapon and Shinigami-sama's chosen Deathscythe, but Mar – Mjolnir's form isn't exactly ideal for a shinigami." Stein corrected himself, and the man nodded.

"Exactly. Why is she a Deathscythe if she's incompatible with Shinigami-sama?"

"Because," Stein gritted his teeth, "she collected 99 souls and a witch's soul, something very few weapons are able to do."

"But she didn't do it. A meister did it." the man retorted, and Stein resisted all urges to slam his fist on the table.

"I did it. She is the only Deathscythe I helped to make - and even then-"

"Ah. So you're showing Mjolnir preference because you made her into a Deathscythe?"

"No!" Stein raised his voice before taking a deep breath and calming himself down again.

"I am her meister because she is a highly skilled weapon and that's all there is to it. I'm afraid this has become a discussion, so are there any further questions?" he snapped, and the man sat down, and he may have been left unscathed had Stein not seen the smug smirk on his face as he did so.

"Alright. That's all the questions I have time for, but thank you for attending. I hope you find your way around Shibusen soundly."

The group applauded and Stein got that uneasy feeling in his stomach once more. As people came down from the rows, a few were brave enough to approach him, including the man who had questioned him before. After getting through all of the other enquiries, Stein finally got to the man.

"Now, in all that discussion, I didn't get your name." Stein remarked.

"I'm Tyler." he said, and Stein nodded.

"Okay, Tyler… are you a meister?" Stein asked, and Tyler nodded.

"Certified three-star." he replied, and Stein scratched his chin.

"Odd. Never heard of you." Stein nearly smirked when he saw Tyler's expression drop, but he continued nevertheless.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say you're something typical. Like a scythemeister?" Stein asked. Tyler nodded.

"Okay, great. I teach, so I know that the best way to learn is to actually experience things. Would you agree?" Stein asked.

"I suppose so." Tyler said, and Stein nodded.

"Okay. Well, there's one big benefit to wielding a weapon like Marie Mjolnir." Stein said, and Tyler cocked an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Tyler asked.

Without warning, Stein grabbed Tyler's shoulder with one hand and swung a fist hard into his stomach, evoking a loud cry from the meister. Stein leant down to the keeling man and narrowed his eyes.

"A mean fucking swing." he hissed and let go of Tyler, leaving the meister to try and work through the pain.

"Hey, how was it today? With everyone there? Sorry I didn't come in, but I figured you'd have everything under control."

Stein heard Marie's long line of questioning before he'd even shut the door, and he sighed.

"I think I'm in a bit of trouble." Stein replied, and Marie emerged from the kitchen, her brow furrowed.

"What happened?" she asked, and Stein motioned for her to come and sit down, and she did so.

"I think I'm in a lot of trouble, actually." Stein admitted, and Marie gasped.

"What did you do?" she asked, and Stein glanced up at her.

"I may have sort of, possibly, perhaps… punched someone…" Stein confessed, and Marie's eye widened and she clicked her tongue.

"Stein! What… why?" she asked.

"Because he was incredibly rude." Stein stated, matter-of-factly, and Marie shook her head.

"Nope. Not a good enough reason for you to be punching people, Franken!" Marie exclaimed. Stein sighed.

"Do you want to know the truth?" Stein asked, and Marie nodded.

"You're going to take it the wrong way." Stein added, and Marie gave him a discerning look.

"In a more wrong way than you punching someone for no reason?" Marie asked, and Stein sighed.

"Fine." he glanced down and began.

"Shinigami-sama sprung this question and answer thing on me with some of the guests over. And everyone was fine except for this one guy…" Stein trailed off, and Marie crossed her arms.

"Keep going." she demanded. Stein sighed and looked up at Marie.

"He asked me why I'd choose a weapon like you when I could have any weapon I wanted." Stein finally said, and Marie blinked.

"Wh… What did he mean it like?" Marie asked.

"I believe he said you were ineffective and unyielding." Stein remarked, and he could see Marie desperately trying to internalise her hurt.

"Do you get why I punched him?" Stein asked.

"Why are you my meister?" she looked up, and Stein moved towards her, shaking his head.

"No. Don't ask that. Don't let that idiot compromise this partnership." Stein basically demanded, and Marie sighed.

"I figured that punching him probably let you know what I thought about his opinions." Stein said. Marie sighed and looked up.

"Do you think he'll stay for the rest of the open even though you hit him?" Marie asked.

"Oh, I expect he's got more people to insult." Stein replied. Marie nodded and a small smirk crossed her features.

"Good."

"Tyler."

The meister turned around to see Stein behind him, and he frowned.

"What do you want?" he scowled, his hand playing at his stomach.

"I have to apologise for my behaviour. I also wanted to introduce you to someone." Stein said, and Tyler continued frowning, but Stein continued nevertheless. After a moment, a petite blonde made her way over to them and Tyler near-gasped. His breath hitched in his throat as she approached, and he was even more worried when all she gave was a smile.

"Meet Marie Mjolnir." Stein smirked, and Marie extended her hand.

"Hi, there." she smiled, and as Tyler grasped her hand, she shook it incredibly firmly – Tyler trying to keep a look of pain off his face.

"I heard you and Stein engaged in a lot of discussion the other day. And I just figured that you'd want to meet his ineffective and unyielding weapon." Marie said, and her smile didn't waver.

"No, I-I… I didn't mean to, no, I didn't…" Tyler stammered, and Marie sighed.

"It's okay. We don't have to talk now. You just get back to me when you're part of an elite group respected by Shinigami-sama himself, okay?" she smiled widely and Tyler's eyes widened.

"I have to go." he said, and he did just the same as he said. Marie sighed and crossed her arms.

"See? Don't you just want to hit him?" Stein asked. Marie nodded.

"Oh, yeah. I do." she said, and Stein nodded in return.

"I guess I need to go and see Shinigami-sama now. I expect there'll be some sort of reprimanding involved." Stein sighed, and Marie shook her head.

"I talked to him. Apparently, your little friend said that Justin becoming a Deathscythe on his own was disrespectful to meisters and that Azusa was simply not the same calibre of most other Deathscythes. He said that he can easily put it down as a workplace accident." Marie remarked, and Stein crossed his arms.

"Yeah. He's one of them." Marie added.

"I don't get why meisters get so conceited like that. And I'm a meister." Stein added.

"I don't get why anyone gets conceited. Though I do appreciate when my meister stands up for me in cases of ignorance." Marie admitted, and Stein sighed and rested his arm around the blonde's shoulder.

"Well. I've got to stand up for my ineffective, unyielding weapon." Stein remarked.

"I'm sure I'm going to have to stand up for my meister who punches strangers at some point, too." Marie replied, and Stein smirked.

"I'm sure you will." he replied.

A/N: :3

I'm still totally stuck on romantic Stein/Marie but they're a pretty damn good BroTP too :D