literature

Quitting - Chapter 1

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    Stein sat at his computer, typing away. It was report card time, the time every teacher at the academy dreaded. Writing those report cards took forever, and it was frowned upon to not leave something in the comments section that wasn't at least a paragraph long. Stein sighed, stopping momentarily to light up a cigarette. He sat back and watched the smoke swirl around.
    "I wish you'd stop that already..." Marie said, from where she had been sitting on his couch.
    "Hmm?" Stein turned around to face her.
    "I know you've heard it a thousand times but it's bad for you," she said. "And what's more it bothers other people too. When you do that around others it makes them feel like they're choking on their own air."
    "I'll just do it when I'm alone then," he replied. "My health is of my own concern."
    "Look, I know you can operate on yourself and everything, but that might not help a whole lot if you end up with lung cancer," she countered. "And if you're not concerned with your own health on that matter, what about the people that breathe that? Are you prepared to be responsible for the illness or even death of another teacher? What about a student? What would you do if your smoking caused Maka to pass away? Or Crona?"
    "Those are worst-case scenarios, Marie," he said. "You really need to stop getting hysterical over things."
    "You're so difficult sometimes!" she exclaimed, standing up and heading for the door. "I'm going outside, away from this smog!" She stormed out, leaving the place in silence.
    Stein sighed and put his cigarette out. He didn't really feel the way he had said. He was just saving face by being so calm. Truthfully, he hadn't considered what could happen. Now he felt like a walking force of destruction. He glanced over at his pack of cigarettes, which was sitting on his desk next to him. He picked it up and tossed it in the trash can.
    "I'm keeping myself sane through my own scientific talent," he muttered, turning the screw in his head. "I don't need those."
    Still, he knew that while he could fight the psychological withdrawal symptoms, he wasn't quite sure how he'd handle the biological ones. The moment he threw that pack of cigarettes away, he created a void in his life that would have to be filled by something. And now he had to figure out what. What was not harmful but just as pleasantly addicting? He thought back to when he was younger... what did he like? Besides dissecting small woodland animals, what had really excited him? Then he remembered. Food, especially candy, and things that were bad for him. The memories came flooding back of him stealing from the lunch counter, and all the times he'd have Spirit buy or make him something sweet while they were living in their dorm together... Yes, he'd try that. The next time he craved a cigarette, he would replace it with junk food as his little treat. Having settled this mental dispute, he finished the last couple report cards he had to fill out and then grabbed some money and headed to the store to buy his childhood favorite sweets.
I had ignored this for a while and decided to finish it when I was in the mood... A three-chapter story involving Stein quitting smoking and replacing cigarettes with sweets because he needed something to latch onto while he was quitting so he didn't start again or go insane.

IMPORTANT HEADCANON NOTICE: One of my headcanons is that little!Stein used cuteness, intimidation, rule-breaking, and pity to get things he wanted, and one of the main things he wanted was sweets. I seriously think that Stein has a secret/suppressed liking for sweets.
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