The Ripple Effect [Stein x Reader]

Human

As the sun sets on Death City, two shadowy figures quietly trace the cobblestone streets, no words passing between them as their feet click against the street quietly. No more than a week had passed since you had visited the professor in the nurse's office. Ever since that one visitation, Nygyus had since taken over as head nurse - leaving Stein to help lead and combat a fast-approaching war.

Ever since then, The Professor that had been so prominent in your life had drifted out - occupied by more important things like the impending war that seemed to have reached the brink of exploding. It's not that that bothered you, though - the one thing you wanted was that man as far away from you as possible. There was no point in belaboring a relationship of any type when both were uninterested in pursuing it.

Ever since that one checkup with Stein, you hadn't seen him since. Over the course of two months Nygus made sure that you were well taken care of and Justin provided some sort of company - though usually the two of you sat in silence, you listening to the rhythms that blasted from his earphones, breaking the stale air that was held between the two of you.

On occasion, you and Justin did share a conversation. The could either be as trivial as discussing the nothing that happened in your day and him sharing his eventful day to as deep as discussing morals and ethics - though you had a tendency to stray away from the topics of morals and ethics as they tied into religion, a topic he was passionate about, and that was something that the two of you quickly learned you had completely different concepts and beliefs. However, with religion being all-consuming for Justin he often brought it up and you had learned to simply nod and act as though you agreed; it saved a lot of trouble and hassle.

"Why do you keep it so dark in here?" Cross-legged you at a very familiar table as the boy locked the door to his apartment behind him. You had been here countless times before but you hadn't asked him why it was so dark. There was no time like the present, you guessed.

"Keeps it cool"

A simple response for a seemingly-simple man.

"What has Stein been doing, lately?"

"Fighting a war" he answers, sitting at the low table in front of you with his own legs crossed.

"What have you been doing, lately?"

"The same"

"How can you fight a war when you're always watching me?"

"Alas, I have two unpleasant jobs that require careful balancing"

You furrowed your eyebrows together at the statement, slightly offended- that was before you notice the slight upturn of the right corner of his mouth that caused you to blink.

"Did you just make a joke?"

"I suppose so"

Your first genuine smile since you had been officially released from the underbelly of the DWMA and into Justin's full watch crawled onto your face. Maybe it was even your first smile since you came into this world. (Well, if we were being honest it was more along the lines of a smirk than a smile) Who knew? And in the end, who cared? A smile was a smile.

"Are you hungry?" You ask plainly.

"No"

His stomach grumbled and a red look of heated embarassment crosses his features.

"I guess God has shown me the truth" You commented.

"Have you finally taken to believing in a higher benevolence?"

"No"

"So that was a joke?"

"Yes"

"[Name], there are many things we joke about but religion is not one of them"

"I disagree"

It was Justin's turn to furrow his eyebrows together.

"Do you want me to make you something?"

Justin answers you with a passive nod, falling into silence once more. When you thought about it, that might have been the most normal conversation you two had held. But that didn't matter. Instead, with great struggle, you stood up and made your way into the kitchen.

And as you came into the kitchen and you looked through all of the ingredients he owned (seeing as he had many, it was safe to assume that he was well-versed in the art of cooking) it had dawned on you that you didn't actually know how to cook and that you had mostly subsisted off of the cafeteria's food and granola bars.

Seeing as he didn't seem to have any instant food, you pulled a bag of noodles and a pot out. Boiling water and cooking noodles didn't seem too bad, right?

A pot of burnt noodles later Justin sauntered into the kitchen, wondering as to why it was taking so long, and leaned over the small island. He couldn't hear you but by the various formations your mouth was making it didn't seem to be going well.

"You have such a filthy mouth"

"You know what, you can go f-" A cry of pain as you dropped the strainer left your hands and fell onto your foot "-ourself"

"Do you even know how to cook?" he inquired, stopping over to pick up the strainer from the ground.

"No"

"Then why did you offer?"

"I got cocky"

"Not abnormal"

"You can starve, Justin Law"

"At this rate, I will"

Silence.

"[Name]?"

"What?" You asked sharply, clicking your tongue against the roof of your mouth angrily.

"Do you really not know how to cook?"

"Do you think I did this all to make one elaborate and painful prank?"

"I wouldn't put it too far away from you"

"Justin Law, do you have a death wish?"

"Not particularly"

More silence passed as the beating of his music hummed through the room.

"Would you like me to teach you?"

"Teach me what, Justin?"

"How to cook"

"No"

"You don't want to know how to cook?"

"I do but I don't want to learn from you"

"Then why not have Stein teach you?" He snapped a big irritably.

A pause.

How was it that you brought out the worst in him? Justin normally considered himself all-around pleasant and mild-mannered until he came into a room with you. Then he was more irritable; then he was more human.

"Insensitive?"

"A bit"

"Forgive me, [Name]"

"No," you sighed, the irritation in your chest subduing itself, "I should apologize. I'm being disagreeable"

"Aren't you always?"

"Justin-!"

The corner of his mouth quirked upwards and you let your shoulders slump in defeat.

"Just teach me how to cook"

"We'll start with something simple to learn"

And as he made his way to his cabinets to sort through them, your eyes focused on his back. You couldn't help but feel something in the pit of your chest.

And then you realized-

It was not Professor Stein who had made you feel human.