Virtues and Shinn

Chapter 1: Humility

Disclaimer: I do not own GSD, the plot, nor the characters.

I'm back with a sequel! Another Community Fic for Akatsuki Impulse. This time Shinn will attempt to reverse the damage done by the Seven Deadly Sins by using the Seven Holy Virtues. So yes, another religious fic, but it has to do with virtues, which a lot of people can relate to, so please don't knock this until you read it. Please note that this continues from the last chapter of Sin and Shinn.

After speaking with a doctor and being examined (more like poked and prodded), Shinn was released from the hospital with a prescription for headaches that would be more effective than Tylenol and a stern warning not to mix it with alcohol (or any other pills with alcohol for that matter).

"So, um, I should get going. Sorry about your suspension and everything…" Cagalli began and felt horrible for giving him the papers after an event like this. She still held a sinking suspicion that he had actually tried to commit suicide last night, whether intentionally or subconsciously. She didn't trust him being alone right now, but didn't dare offer to stay with him either.

He took the papers warily, and then gave her a half-smile. "Nah, it's okay, I know I deserve it. Just…thanks for, you know, saving my life and all. I don't want to make you any more late than you already are, so you should get to work." He told her.

"But wait, how will you get home?" she asked, feeling a bit silly for not thinking of that before.

"Uh…"

"Here, I'll drive you and then head to work. It's fine, come on."

It was a mostly silent drive back to his apartment as they both contemplated what just happened. Not only did things not go how they were supposed to go, but Shinn almost died. Aside from that, apparently they both confessed their feelings for each other. What would they do now? Where would they go from here?

Cagalli still had feelings for Athrun as well, and she couldn't just dump him to jump Shinn's bones! Plus, her dating Shinn would not only look highly suspicious right after she had him suspended, but also a bit discouraged. Athrun was one thing…it was expected for them to be together, but Shinn? The council would have a field day, and then she'd have to deal with everyone else…

Athrun, Kira, Rey, Luna, Meyrin, maybe even Stellar, not to mention all her co-workers…

What a mess.

Shinn was just confused. One moment he was having this whole philosophical moment, the next he was dying? He really didn't remember how he even got home that night, and wondered how he managed to drive without getting another ticket or crashing. It was odd that he escaped death by car just to nearly die of a few pills mixed with alcohol…

…okay, so maybe there were more than just a few pills, because the doctors had to pump his stomach to be sure he wouldn't try to die again later that day. But still. It was odd how fate worked.

But better yet, who would come to his rescue but Cagalli herself! He still had a hard time believing all that had happened, and wondered if he were just having a bizarre dream because of the recent events. He pinched himself real quick to see if he would wake up or even feel it, and Cagalli looked at him oddly, so he gave her a sheepish look and concluded that he was, indeed, wide awake.

And in a mess.

He had confessed to her his feelings. Granted, she had confessed hers as well, but now what the heck were they going to do? Screw each other and move on? Actually, that wasn't a bad idea…

'Wait, this isn't right. She's dating that prick Athrun. Sure I could be an ass and screw her just to spite him, but would that be enough? Would that really help matters? It would probably just make things worse.' he thought to himself.

"How are you feeling?" she asked and stirred him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, uh better I guess." He replied and shrugged. He felt pretty normal, a bit dizzy and tired as hell, but normal nonetheless. At least his headache was gone…for now.

"That's good. The doctors suggested someone should check in on you every once in a while for a few days…" she told him.

"Yeah, I heard. Rey will do it."

"Are you…sure?"

He wondered what it was in her tone that he was detecting, it sounded a bit like doubt and…jealousy?

"Well, do you want to check up on me?" he replied with half his smirk.

He stopped himself from laughing at her blush, and admitted he liked it when her face got red because of her affectionate feelings instead of her anger.

"Well, I figure I owe you that much, since I was the one who suspended you and drove you to drinking, and probably was the one who gave you the headache in the first place, unless Rey did…"

He chuckled a bit. "You can both check up on me. Maybe I can get Rey to play hooky one day so we can hang out, in case I get bored sitting home alone for fifteen days…"

"Hey, you were the one that was misbehaving. I had to do it. You were practically trying to kill him!"

"I couldn't kill Rey, he's my friend! My…only friend."

She glanced at him with a sympathetic look, but then told herself he wouldn't want her pity. "Well…I could be your friend." She said quietly, almost hoping he wouldn't hear her.

"What?"

Obviously she wasn't quiet enough. She tried to hold back the blush and replied, "If you be nice, we can be friends…if you want. I know on the way to the hospital we were both a bit…uh, out of it, but if you want another friend I'd like to not argue with you every day."

"Oh." He was silent for a moment as he contemplated this. Having more than one friend would be nice, especially a hot one…

'Gah! Stop thinking of her that way! Apparently she plans on dismissing the love fest we had going on earlier, so I shouldn't encourage it by thinking of how I'm going to get her in my bed once we reach my apartment!' he yelled at himself.

"Shinn?" she asked in a worried tone.

He snapped out of his thoughts and finally replied quickly with, "Oh yeah sure, we can be friends…if you don't annoy me, that is."

She rolled her eyes. "You're the one that always annoys me!"

"Oh please, you're the one always at my desk bugging me about work. 'You haven't finished your paperwork', 'You got in trouble again', 'I'm going to fire you if you keep doing that', blah, blah, blah!" he said, imitating her voice.

"First of all, that's the only way you ever get any work done, second of all, I do not sound like that."

"Sure you do, everyone always loves my impressions of you when you're not around."

"….I'm choosing to ignore that." (A/N: Word wanted me to put "I is". Silly Microsoft and your poor grammar!)

"Good."

She shot him a half-hearted glare and wondered whether they would actually go back to the way things were before. She wasn't sure how disappointed she was that he wasn't automatically trying to change after that life-threatening blow, but then again wondered whether she should have expected as much. Is it so hard to just be good sometimes?

She sighed and he looked a little guilty. Just because she saved him from nearly dying didn't mean he would act all goody-goody-two-shoes. Then again, wasn't he just contemplating last night that he needed to change some of his ways before he ended up in a bigger mess than he already was?

He sighed as well. "Look, don't expect me to act like a saint from now on, but I am grateful, and I didn't try to kill myself, at least I don't think."

She looked over at him quickly with a shocked expression and he feared for his life as the car started to swerve into the other lane.

"Geez don't try to kill me now!" he exclaimed and she corrected her driving.

"Sorry, you just…what you said…"

"I was joking! Trust me, I don't want to die right now, what just happened made me realize a few things about my life."

"Well then, good, I'm glad. Not that you had to experience such a dramatic event to open your eyes, but that you don't want to die." She replied quickly.

"Yeah…"

"Alright, we're here." She said as she parked. They glanced at each other and Shinn got out. Cagalli hesitated for a moment and then turned the car off and got out as well. Shinn furrowed his eyebrows at this but then shrugged and kept going up the stairs to his apartment.

The older woman that lived next door was out and she gave them a smile as they passed. He wondered why she was smiling and saw her wink at Cagalli, which made him feel a bit concerned. Maybe he should move to a place with less odd neighbors…

"You know you didn't have to walk me all the way to my door. I mean, even if this were a date, I would be the one walking you to your door, remember?" he said jokingly.

She blushed a bit again. "I just wanted to make sure you're alright."

"The doctors released me, didn't they? Besides, you've already missed almost half the day already. If you don't go now it wouldn't be worth it anymore." He told her.

"Yeah, I know." She said and stood there for a moment as he unlocked his door and went inside. She knew she had to leave, but for some reason she didn't feel right leaving him alone. She hesitated for a moment and then stepped inside before he could shut the door on her.

"What are you…?"

"I want to make sure you won't pass out again. You gulped your prescription down right after you got it, and you may have some bad side effects."

"Are you my mother now or something?" he asked, a little irritated. He knew he shouldn't let himself get irritated, but bad habits die hard. It was almost instant for him to be angry around Cagalli, whether he liked her or not.

She too looked a little peeved after his comment. "No, I feel responsible for you right now. Plus the council told me I'm responsible for your actions anyway, and if I let you die after saving you I could never forgive myself!"

"Stop pretending you care and just get out of here! I don't need you to take care of me, I'm fine! Why are you being so nosy?" he yelled.

Now her face was red with anger. So much for their lovey-dovey moments…

"I'm not being nosy you brat! I'm actually trying to look out for you, but obviously you don't want any help at all, even when you need it!" she yelled back and glared at him.

They were at it again, and she knew things would end up going back to the way they were before. She was angry because she knew he was close to opening up to her, but refused to open up to anyone so now he was just trying to shut her out. It was almost pointless to try to get through to him, but she resolved to be just as stubborn and make him open up whether he liked it or not.

He knew this would happen; next she would use her noble act of saving him as an excuse to badger him even more and make him do ridiculous things to pay her back! He couldn't believe he admitted his feelings to her either, so now he had to make her forget that even happened before things got even worse!

Before he could retaliate, however, she was yelling again.

"I'm trying to be your friend here, but you're so afraid of changing that you can't accept when someone is trying to help you! You're the most stubborn, childish, immature person I have ever met!"

"Oh really? You're the most stubborn, idiotic, bossy person I ever met!" he shouted back.

"Why can't you just grow up and be a man for once you selfish-!" she screamed before she was cut off by his lips on hers.

His hands were tangling in her hair and she was clawing at his back and shirt before she even realized what they were doing. She broke apart and started to say something when he stopped her again—with words this time.

"You want me to be a man, fine, I'll be the man Athrun can never be." He told her and kissed her again. This time she didn't try to push him away, but responded in kind, partly out of shock, partly out of attraction.

Soon they were heading toward his room, and his shirt was already off as he was working on her skirt. He made a remark about her wearing a skirt, but she was too busy enjoying the moment to really reply the way she normally would. Her top was more difficult, since she was wearing her formal Representative suit, but soon it, too, was gone.

"Did we just go through a weird, animalistic mating ritual or something?" he asked when they were done, still panting.

"You know, I think I've always wanted to do that. Just randomly make out with you in the middle of a heated argument. It felt fitting for some reason." she replied and they laughed.

He turned toward her and slowly kissed her again, this time with more affection. It was a sweet kiss, not just full of lust and passion as he cupped her cheek.

He looked into her eyes and then looked away. He started to move when she caught his face and turned it back to her. "Hey, don't run away from me, not now." she whispered.

This time he was the one to blush, but he ducked his head and smiled, staying put. "Now you're definitely late. You might get in trouble, the day's almost over now." he said to change the conversation. He wasn't ready for a full heart-to-heart just yet.

"Oh, crap, that's right." she said with a worried look.

He grinned, "Who knows, they may suspend you as well. That might not be such a bad thing though, since we'll be able to see each other more." he replied and moved in for another kiss.

She blushed more. "Shinn…I don't know…"

"What? Oh, right, you're with Athrun. Are you afraid he'll get jealous?" he asked with a wicked grin.

"I know he will, but he can't know, you can't tell him, ever." She said and sat up. He sat up as well with a quizzical expression.

"Why not? It'll be a nice wake-up call."

"Because…just, please don't tell him. He'll hate me."

"He won't hate you, he's too noble. He'll probably just hand you over, easy as pie."

"I doubt it, besides, Kira wouldn't let that happen."

"That pansy? Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting you two are related."

"Well, he did kidnap me on my wedding day."

"What?"

"You didn't know?" she asked as he continued looking at her with a shocked expression. He shook his head so she told him how Kira appeared with his gundam and took her—literally—from the alter.

"Well that…wow…I actually respect him a bit now. Not that being tied down to Yuuna would've been so bad for you, at least he would've made you act like a woman." He joked and she punched him in the arm. "Ha! You hit like a girl." He teased.

"That's because I am a girl, you dolt." She snarled playfully.

"Really? I couldn't tell." He sneered back with a smile.

"Then you'd be homosexual, dear." She replied in a saccharine voice.

He stopped laughing and got red in the face. "Hey, hey! I was joking! Besides, I've slept with plenty of women, so I doubt I'm gay."

She giggled and he scowled at her, and then started tickling her. She burst into full on laughter and swatted his hands away.

"Heh, your jugs jiggle when you laugh." He smirked.

"PERVERT!"

She ended up staying at his place, since it would be no use coming in just for an hour or so. She knew people would worry and think her dead, and kept checking the windows for cop cars to arrive at his place to have him arrested for her alleged murder…

To keep them busy she demanded that he clean his place, which would make them focus on something other than what just happened.

He was taking out the trash when he noticed the older woman looking at him worriedly. She was practically at his doorstep and peered inside when he opened the door.

"Is everything alright? I heard you two yelling and then silence. You haven't killed the girl have you?" she asked in a concerned voice as she eyed the large garbage bag.

"Oh, no! We uh…had an argument but now we're…uh…we got over it." He stammered and watched for any cop cars to arrive and arrest him for Cagalli's alleged murder.

She smiled brightly and had this oddly knowing look which kind of gave him the creeps. "Ah, okay, well I'm glad to hear it." she replied and winked again. He made a weird face and tried not to think about her knowing the two of them just had sex. Could she have heard?

He tried not to shudder as he hoisted the bag into the large dumpster.

"I hope Cagalli's body wasn't in there." He heard someone say behind him.

He whirled around to see Rey and relaxed. "Oh, nope, just trash. Why would you think Cagalli's body was in there?" he asked and tried to think of a way to make Rey leave before he saw Cagalli in the apartment. He cast a nervous glance to the still open door.

Rey smiled. "Well she didn't come in today, and she was supposed to deliver your papers. Everyone thinks you killed her."

"Seriously?" he exclaimed.

Rey laughed. "Not really, they assume she decided not to come in because she was so sick of dealing with you. Heh, get it, sick?"

"You…just…what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh just checking up on you." Rey replied casually. Shinn was reminded of what had happened earlier, and decided that his friend didn't need to know anything about his day. He'd never hear the end of that rant fest.

"Well, I'm fine, as you can see, so shoo."

"And leave you alone? No way. So how'd it go with Cagalli after all?" he said with a slight smirk. He looked like he was about to burst at the seams, which made Shinn narrow his eyes slightly.

"Uh, fine. She gave me the papers and left." He replied.

"You know it's not good to lie."

Shinn struggled with something to say to that when Rey laughed again. "I saw you glance at the door, plus I think I would recognize Cagalli's car since I see it every day at work. I'm glad you took my advice." He replied and winked.

"Okay stop doing that! That's the third wink I've gotten today!" Shinn exclaimed.

"Really now?"

"My old lady neighbor kept winking at us and I think she heard us…uh…doing the laundry…"

"Shinn, I already know, so you can stop lying. Seriously. It's good to tell the truth every once in a while."

"Okay, so I have thin walls. What else is new?"

"Shinn? Did you fall in the dumpster or something?" Cagalli called as she poked her head out of the door. Shinn cringed and covered his face with his hand.

"Hey Cagalli! Sorry I'm keeping Shinn from you, I just wanted to check in and make sure you two weren't dead. See you tomorrow, unless you're still 'sick'." Rey called up and started walking away.

"What? Hey!" Shinn said loudly.

Cagalli blushed a deep red and slinked back into the apartment, closing the door and leaning against it.

Rey couldn't help but to smile and Shinn smiled back after a while. "Have fun." He said and winked again.

"Will people please stop winking at me?"

Cagalli left shortly after, both of them feeling awkward, and Shinn wondered what they would do. Cagalli had to go back to work tomorrow, but Shinn was thankful for his suspension. There was no way he could hide this, especially not around Athrun.

Speaking of…

Shinn eyed his phone, practically glaring at it. He was thinking of calling Athrun and telling him everything, but Cagalli's words kept echoing in his mind. Still, it felt wrong not to tell him, especially since he promised himself he would change. What better way to start than with simply telling the truth? Rey was right after all; sometimes it was good to tell the truth…

…unless you're sleeping with your rival's girlfriend, who just happens to be your boss and the Representative of Orb, who recently suspended you for inappropriate conduct at work.

He continued his staring contest with the phone for ten more minutes, then sighed and fished out Athrun's number (not even thinking of how he got it and why he kept it in the first place). He dialed and waited for the answer, dreading it and wanting to get it over with at the same time.

Cagalli was going to kill him. Good thing he didn't have to see her for fourteen more days.

"Hello?" Athrun answered.

"Uh, hey, it's Shinn."

"Oh, hi, what's up?" Athrun asked hesitantly.

"I know you're wondering why the heck I'm calling you right now, but uh, I gotta tell you something."

"Okay…" Athrun replied hesitantly.

Shinn took a deep breath and then, "I slept with Cagalli."

He regretted it, but he had to admit: it felt good to tell the truth.

That's one small step for Shinn, one giant leap for mankind. It's easy to be good, just start with a little truth. Now that you've "girded your loins" with truth and humility, you can begin putting on the Armor of God.

If you keep this up, you just might be able to change yet.

-Author's Note: Yes, that's still Rey speaking. I got the inspiration to right this sequel, although updates may be slow. It picks up right where the last one left off, because it seemed fitting, and will be in the same style as the last one as well. Please let me know what you think! Peace-