AN: No crossover, no crazy oc. The later chapters are far more pilot-centric. I feed on reviews. SxA with a dash of R.

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Shinji sat on the cold sidewalk, his back resting against the unwelcoming steel of one of Tokyo-3's many streetlights. How long had he been staring up at the muted yellow light, swarming with hundreds of supplicating bugs? It had been crowded when he sat down, but now he was the only soul on the street. Not that he could ever be really alone, with a whole branch of NERV dedicated to babysitting him, he thought ruefully. As if in answer to his thought, a jet black sedan slowly pulled up alongside him. Typical NERV, jet black, tinted black windows, government plates, most expensive model. Meanwhile, he had to take the train or risk driving with Misato. Then again, I do drive an Eva, he thought.

Apparently the occupant of the car realized Shinji wasn't going to get up on his own. The driver's side window slowly slid down. The face inside was handsome, in a way that didn't stand out. He didn't have the movie star appearance and charisma of Kaji, the cold ruthless aura of command of his father, but he was sort of getting the mysterious Section 2 agent vibe down. Right now he was trying to look disapproving, but mostly seemed amused.

"Kid, we've really got to stop meeting like this. My boss gets closer to a heart attack every time you sneak off," he said, leaning one elbow out of the window. It was entertaining watching the higher ups scramble, trying to decide whether to treat it as a missing superweapon or a runaway teenager. Still, he worried, these episodes were becoming more frequent. Shinji was too shy to vent like normal people, so this was his modus operandi. The passenger door opened and Shinji slid into the leather seat, moving quietly as if trying to go unnoticed.

"Sorry, Agent Spalding. I'll try not to do it again." The same rote response he had given all the other times.

"Seriously though, next time they might send the big guys with tazers. They'll just bag and tag you. You don't want to know what Agent Sawashima does in his free time." Problems had a way of being smoothed out at NERV, even if that rough edge happened to be your son.

Shinji snorted. "Father wouldn't risk any harm coming to his precious Eva pilot. Although I'm sure he'd be fine with it if I wasn't the one driving that thing."

He was probably right, the agent reflected wryly. Gendo was a cold one, except with the girl.

"If you want alone time, just call the number I gave you so an agent can shadow you. That way people won't freak out."

"That kind of defeats the point of alone time, doesn't it?" Shinji replied, trying to sink into the chair. Sometimes they treated him like he was stupid, although Agent Spalding wasn't as bad about that. The car was plain NERV issue, but there were a few personal touches here and there. Coffee from the usual stand in the cupholder, that little wobbly thing on the dashboard.

For a time, only the sound of fingers drumming on a steering wheel were heard as passing lights illuminated the interior of the car one by one.

"So, what happened this time?" Technically, forbidden territory. He wasn't supposed to get personally involved. Pick the kid up, keep him safe, bring him back to his guardian. That was the job. But, shit, if he tried to help and maybe stopped him from going out like this, it was for the best, right?

Shinji glanced over in surprise, it was hard to tell with just the light from the dashboard to go buy, but he seemed to be genuinely interested. Section 2 generally treated him like some old lady's escaped pomeranian. "Asuka broke my SDAT because I was ignoring her when she asked for dinner."

"Jeez kid, you fight giant monsters regularly and the girl you like picking on you is what upsets you." Honestly, he was surprised. Shinji's file had a special note about the SDAT. Soryu had never struck him as quite that malicious, proud and more than a bit spoiled yes, needlessly cruel no. The angels affected her more than she wanted to admit, apparently.

Shinji spluttered and made several other uncomfortable sounds, trying to speak. The urge to open the door and throw himself out was fairly strong.

"I don't like her! She treats me like a slave, and hogs the TV, and makes me do her laundry and then hits me for touching her bras. She says I'm a pussy because I don't like Rammstein. She makes up stupid rumors about me at school and now everyone calls me Morning Wood Boy," it all seemed to pour out at once, and before he knew it jumping out onto the asphalt was looking like a better and better option.

The sudden outburst faded and an awkward silence filled it's place. Agent Kelly was glancing at him with an extremely skeptical look on his face.

"Okay, maybe I like her a bit," he whispered, the skeptical stare boring into him. As soon as he admitted it, it changed into a conspiratory partner-in-crime look.

"What about Ayanami? You met her first right?" Shinji turned redder, if it was possible. The kid was fun to tease.

"Um, well, yeah, she's not as mean to me but that's probably only because she doesn't pay any attention to me." Whenever he looked at her in class, she was staring out the window. Shinji was completely unaware of Rei's sixth sense that told her when to look away.

"So which do you like more?" He felt silly, but Shinji had a way of making awkward silences increasing uncomfortable, and this was better than nothing.

"Um, I guess Rei. No, I mean, Asuka. Well, both?"

More awkward silence. The stare was more accusatory this time.

"What, why are you looking at me like that? Not both at once! I'm not a pervert or anything! A few dreams don't count right?" Shinji could feel the walls of the hole getting higher and higher around him. Oh God, I'm an insect, why am I even alive? Laughter pried him roughly from his self loathing.

"That's fine, kid. I mean, you live with Major Katsuragi and Pilot Soryu, right? There'd be something wrong with you if you didn't think about things like that." Shinji looked over in relief. Agent Kelly seemed to be struggling to hold onto the wheel and not laugh at the same time.

"Um...oh." So everyone else dreamed about holding hands with girls. That was relieving.

"I mean, the assistant director of my division always wears these tight skirts. And what about Dr. Ritsuko and that mousy technician? Half of NERV thinks about those two together." Seeing the blank stare on Shinji's face, he coughed awkwardly.

But they're both girls, Shinji thought in confusion.

"Right. Well then, let's buy you an mp3 player. I mean, it was weird that you even still had that old SDAT."

Shinji's face brightened. Some kids at school had them, and they held thousands of songs. Maybe he could take it in the Eva. Did they made LCL proof ones?

"Oh...but I don't have any money." Shinji's face fell. Asuka made him buy sushi with his allowance, and it wasn't enough anyway.

"We'll just use NERV money." Yeah right, the budget branch was tighter with their money than Asuka in a plugsuit. They used pencils down to the nubs. Shinji was staring up at him now, and he could almost see the dollars in his eyes. "But that's it, okay? They keep track of this stuff." Shinji was crestfallen, but brightened when they pulled into the parking lot of an electronics store.

They got surprisingly few awkward looks, seeing as they were a dangerous looking man in a black suit and a tiny twig of a Japanese kid debating the merits of different mp3 players. The few customers inside that late mostly ignored them. A while later they were walking out, Shinji looking happy and holding a bag containing his new mp3 player.

"I guess I have to save money for songs," he said, already planning how to hide it from Asuka.

"Just ask your nerdy friend how to pirate music," the agent shook his head, the kid was too straight-laced for his own good.

"Err, how do you know about Kensuke? And isn't that illegal?" Shinji felt like a police officer had just told him to shoplift.

"Everyone in Section 2 has read your file, kid. And who cares, you listen to classical right? It's not like the guys who wrote it are going to miss the money." Not to mention you're saving the world and all, he added to himself.

"Yeah, I guess." Shinji was quiet as they drove back towards Misato's apartment. He held the manual to his new mp3 player up to the window, trying to get enough light to read it by. Agent Spalding looked over and smiled to himself, kids healed fast, even when they were shoved into a war they had no place in. Everyone at NERV had to deal with the helplessness brought on by having children in the Evangelions. Most people struggled with wishing they could take the place of the children, while being relieved that the responsibility wasn't on their shoulders. He felt it keenly, having to sit back and let a boy fight for him. If he could make the kid a little happier, why not break a few rules?

As the car stopped in front of the familiar entrance to Misato's building, Shinji put the manual back in the bag and started to get out of the car.

"Listen kid, this was fun, but no more sneaking out, alright? It really does cause problems at work." Shinji nodded, appearing contrite for the first time.

"Thank you for the mp3 player. And...can you not call me 'kid'? Lots of people at NERV do that and it's kind of irritating." Shinji immediately wished he could take it back. On the Shinji scale that was roughly akin to peeing on someone's shoes.

"You're right, I'm sorry. You do an adult's job and deserve an adult's respect, Ikari-san." No one knew quite how to deal with Shinji, and everyone came to a different conclusion.

"That feels weird, just Shinji is fine." he smiled genuinely and got out of the car, shutting the door.

The passenger window rolled down. "Ah, call me Kelly then, Shinji. Err, my mom was Japanese any I think she didn't know it was mainly a girl's name. Stay out of trouble."

"Goodnight then, Kelly-san." Shinji waved.

"Goodnight, Shinji."

After the pilot was safely in the house, the car pulled away into the night of Tokyo-3.