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Spirit looked out the window yet again, fiddling with his tie nervously. A hand pressed down lightly on his leg, stopping its rapid jiggling, and he glanced over to see Stein staring at him.
“You need to calm down, Spirit,” Stein said. “Everything is going to be fine.” He squeezed Spirit's knee reassuringly.
“I know, I know, but – what if she doesn’t approve?”
The corner of Stein’s mouth quirked up. “You’re an adult; you don’t need your daughter’s permission to get married. Besides, you two have been getting along a lot better lately."
“I just don’t want her to be upset that I’m remarrying. I mean, she doesn’t even know that I like men.”
“I still don’t know why you never told her we were dating.” Stein’s words held a hint of a pout that Spirit would normally find cute if he weren’t so anxious.
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey Maka, I know you’re bummed that your mom and I aren’t together anymore, but guess what, it turns out I’m incredibly gay for your teacher.’”
Stein snorted and said, “I would’ve phrased it a little differently.” A knock at the door interrupted their banter, and Spirit jumped up and rushed over. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to reveal Maka, right on time for dinner.
“Maka! Come in, come in!” Spirit greeted her.
“Hi Papa. Oh, hi Dr. Stein, I didn’t know that you’d be here.”
Stein looked pointedly at him and said, “Yes, apparently Spirit is quite forgetful when it comes to telling you important things like that.” Spirit flipped the other man off behind his back.
“It’s no big deal. Is dinner almost ready? I’m starving.”
/
Dinner passed much too quickly for Spirit’s liking, and the three of them ended up in the living room afterward, Spirit and Stein on the couch, Maka in one of the chairs, and a coffee table between them. The conversation had lulled, and Spirit had yet to bring up the topic of his impending marriage.
“So, Spirit,” Stein spoke up, “didn’t you have something you wanted to tell Maka?” Spirit glared at him, but Maka looked over curiously.
Spirit cleared his throat. “That – that’s right. Um. I know this will probably come as a surprise, but uh. I’m getting married?” His inflection made it sound like a question instead of a statement, and he could practically feel Stein rolling his eyes at the awkward delivery of the news.
Maka furrowed her brow. “To who? Do I know her?”
“It’s, uh, someone you know, yeah. It’s not exactly a ‘her’ though…” He looked down at his lap, too nervous to see the look on her face. Stein held out his hand and Spirit took it without thinking, grateful for the support. There was an intake of breath from Maka.
“Shit. It’s Dr. Stein, isn’t it?” Spirit nodded, feeling like he might vomit. He dared a glance at her. She didn’t look particularly happy about the announcement, and his heart sank.
Maka scowled and repeated, “Shit.”
“You’re mad, aren’t you?” Spirit asked dejectedly.
She looked startled by the suggestion. “What? No, not at all! It’s just–” she broke off into a mumble that sounded suspiciously like “I owe Soul and Liz so much money” before shaking her head and smiling. “I’m happy for you two, really. A little surprised, maybe, but why would I be mad?”
“I don’t know. Because I’m getting remarried? To your professor? Who’s a man?”
Maka blinked. “Okay, wow. First of all, you and Mom have been separated for a while now. I knew it was a possibility that you’d remarry. Second, I actually like Dr. Stein, so as long as you don’t start dropping by in the middle of class to make out or something, then I don’t see what the problem is.” Out of the corner of his eye, Spirit saw a faint pink flush cover Stein’s cheeks and groaned inwardly. He’d have to make it very clear later that they would be doing no such thing. Maka really shouldn’t be putting ideas like that into the man’s head.
“And third,” Maka continued, a frown on her face. “I’m sorry if I’ve ever given either of you the impression that I would judge you, or anyone for that matter, for not being straight. Is that why you didn’t want to tell me that you two were dating?”
Spirit could tell that Maka felt bad, which wasn’t at all his intention. “Sweetie, no, you don’t need to apologize. I wanted to tell you, I really did, it’s just… complicated.”
“Please don’t take it personally, Maka,” Stein added. “Coming out is a very personal and scary thing for a lot of people. You’ve done nothing wrong. You understand, right?” Spirit felt a rush of affection for his partner. Stein may not admit it, but he really was great with kids when it mattered.
“I understand,” Maka said, nodding.
Stein smirked and said, “Besides, if we’d told you earlier, then it sounds like Soul and Liz would’ve been missing out on a rather substantial payday.” Maka laughed, as Stein had likely intended.
“I’d actually like to know more about that. You were betting on me?” Spirit asked.
Maka grinned. “On Dr. Stein, actually. He’s been distracted during class for a while now. And then he let slip one day that he was seeing someone.”
Spirit turned to Stein and laughed at the look of surprise on his face. “So you were betting on his love life?”
“Yup. I don’t know how Soul and Liz knew, but–” A look of horror crossed over Maka’s face. “Oh my god.”
“What is it?” Spirit asked, worried.
“Oh my god. There was one day that Dr. Stein was in a really good mood, and – I have to go.” Maka stood abruptly and walked towards the door. Spirit followed her immediately, Stein just a few steps behind.
“Wait!” Spirit called out.
Maka stopped with her hand on the doorknob, cheeks flaming red. “I’ll come back again soon okay?” She hesitated, then hugged him quickly, whispering, “I love you, Papa. Thanks for telling me.” And then she was gone.
“What was that all about?” Spirit turned to ask Stein. The man had a decidedly guilty look on his face.
“Well… remember that day a few weeks ago? In the closet?”
Spirit didn’t like where this was going. “You mean when you said, and I quote, ‘Don’t worry, there’s no one else on this floor.’ Is that the day you’re referring to?”
“… I may have been lying.”
Spirit dropped his head into his hands. “Nooo. You said you checked.”
“I did. They were all the way at the other end of the hallway though, so I figured we’d be alright. If you hadn’t been so loud–” Stein wisely shut his mouth at the glare Spirit aimed at him. They stood in heavy silence for a minute before the pink blush returned to Stein’s cheeks. He licked his lips, fingers twitching.
“Spirit–”
“No,” Spirit said firmly.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say."
“We are not making out in front of your class.”
“…”
“And people think I'm the sex-crazed one.”