You're searching for good times

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TWO

With a mixture of dread and anticipation, Shinji Ikari came back to the waking world and yet kept his eyes closed, gradually letting awareness fill him. He was lying in bed, he was sure of it, his broken S-Dat's earbuds jammed in his ears. In anticipation, he slid one free, and then let his hand hover over the clock, his eyes still squeezed shut. He cut the radio off just as it started.

Ti-i-i-…

Silence as his hand jammed down on the button, hard. He sat bolt upright and stared at his wrists. The shackles were gone. He was no longer in the holding cell at NERV. After he'd started screaming about the day repeating there'd been a flurry of activity. Misato had driven him, bleary-eyed, to the Geofront. There was talk of mental instability and contamination. They put him in a rubber room, like he'd gone mad. Ritsuko looked at him sadly as she slipped a needle in his arm.

Then he woke up here. Again. On the same day.

He got up, pulled his sweats on, and stole softly out of his room. He slid Asuka's door open. She was asleep, snoring softly, a thin trickle of drool from corner of her mouth. She looked so peaceful. He was actually glad she was undisturbed. He slid her door shut, slipped into his shoes, and darted out the door into the dawning sun. It wasn't six thirty yet when he knocked on the door of the convenience store. The old man stared at him through the glass.

"What?"

"Eggs!" he shouted, cupping his hands against the glass.

"Late," the old man shouted, "Get lost!"

He took a few steps back. He did something unusual. Without ID or money or anything, he started to walk. He had to think. He had to figure this out.

Today was today.

So was yesterday, and the day before that. The same day, over and over again. Would he wake up again to that stupid song tomorrow? What would happen?

If today was yesterday, or today, or… his head started to hurt. Whatever. If he was right, that meant… he started to walk, with a purpose now. He felt a little at ease as he crossed into a poorer section of town, the old tenements that had been occupied by NERV while the Geofront was being excavated. He could hear the pounding sounds of deconstruction as a nearby building was being torn down,

He had to know. He had to.

He came up on Rei's apartment block just as she and his father were emerging. Shinji was right, he'd picked her up in person. Shinji strode up to his father, a manic gleam in his eye.

"Father," he called out.

Gendo looked surprised, genuinely surprised, and Shinji relished it. Shini smiled, he actually smiled, which only confused the old man more. A pair of agents emerged from the black limousine idling at the curb, eyeing him with their hands thrust into their jackets. One spoke into the sleeve of his jacket.

"Hello, Father," Shinji said, waving to Gendo as he walked up.

"What are you doing here?" the old man demanded, his face a mask.

"Fuck you, that's what," Shinji grinned, "and fuck your Evas! Hey Rei, let's ditch this loser and go to the mall!"

THREE

Shinji sat bolt upright, his hand stopping the radio just in time. He'd anticipated it perfectly. His fingers rested on the button, the speaker barely having squeaked out a tinny Ti before he stopped it. A broad grin spread across his face. He felt almost giddy, like he was going to burst out of his skin. He touched his face. No black eye. No stitches. No mark where a white gloved fist had struck his cheekbone. He was alive.

He was alive?

He got up and walked into the kitchen.

He opened Pen Pen's door.

"You," he snapped, "Penguin!"

"Wark?"

The bird stared at him with its head cocked to the side, in its almost-intelligent way. Shinji's grin widened, and he took it by the hand. Flipper. Whatever. Anyway, he pulled it out into the kitchen, crouched down to the bird's level, and looked it straight in the eye.

"You," he said. "You're responsible for this, aren't you? Always watching, always plotting. What does 'wark' even mean, anyway? You taunt me. You task me. It ends now."

He dragged the penguin down the hall, picking up Misato's key's from the hook where they hung at the edge of the kitchen. Asuka watched, rubbing her eyes and blinking in surprise as the boy dragged the penguin past her door, a look of determination on his face. He dragged Pen-Pen by the flipper down the stairs and out to the parking lot, where he found Misato's car by clicking the remote until it beeped. He opened the passenger door, shoved Pen-Pen inside, and then slid over the console into the driver's seat.

It took him a minute to figure out how to move this thing.

"We're going to figure this out," Shinji said, starting the car. He held the key too long and the engine screeched.

"Oops."

"Wark," said Pen-Pen.

It took him a minute to figure out that he had to put his foot on the brake to work the shifter. By the time he shakily wheeled the car back out of her parking spot, Misato herself was running out of the building with her spare keys, hair flying, bra-less breasts jiggling gloriously, Asuka a few steps behind, a look of sheer horror frozen on her face.

"Stop!" Misato screamed.

"No!" Shinji shouted back, "I'm done with your orders!"

He slammed the car into drive and pushed the gas pedal to the floor.

Oh, wait, that was neutral. D was drive.

He pushed the pedal to the floor and with a squeal of tires he was out on the road. A lorry blew its horn at him and swerved to the side, spilling a crate of eggs onto the road. For every ten that shattered in an explosion of albumen and yolk, one rolled, perfectly fine. Something about that amused Shinji.

"The eggs," he said, "it's about fucking time!"

"Wark?"

"Quiet, you wouldn't understand!"

"Wark!"

Shinji swerved to avoid a fire hyrant and the tires squealed. He slammed on the brakes in reflex and the car skidded to a swirling stop amidst a tiny dust devil of tire smoke and exhaust. Shinji sat in the driver's seat, panting. He heard sirens.

"It's the cops," he said to Pen Pen. "We have to get out of here."

"Wark," Pen Pen protested.

"What, you think you can do better?"

"…wark?"

Laughing maniacally, Shinji pulled Pen-Pen onto his lap and planted the bird's flippers on the steering wheel.

"You steer," Shinji shouted, "I'll work the pedals!"

He turned on the radio. Misato's presents all sucked. Meatloaf? Really?

He flipped the dial until he landed on something he thought he liked. Classical.

"You know what? Fuck classical," he told Pen Pen, and whirled the dial again.

GA GA OOH LA LA

WANT YOUR BAD ROMANCE

"This'll work," Shinji said, putting his hands on Pen-Pen's flippers.

Ten minutes later, the Renault was wrapped around a lamppost, and there was a gun in his face.

"It was the penguin, officer, I swear."

"Wark."

FOUR

"Pilot Ikari, where did you get a tuxedo?" Rei asked in her quiet voice, a hint of confusion at the back of her tone.

"I bought it. I haven't been spending my pay checks," he grinned.

"…we get paid?"

He shrugged. "May I come in?"

Rei opened the door a bit wider. She was dressed in her school uniform. Shinj shook his head as he brushed his way into the apartment, settling his hand on her hip.

"Excuse me," he whispered in her ear. She blushed. She actually blushed, a faint red tinge, crawling up her cheeks, like a glow. He smiled. She merely looked bewildered. He lifted up the shopping bag he held in his hand.

"You're about a size two, right? Petite?"

"I… think… yes?"

"I'll wait out here. Go change. We're going out."

"Your father is on his way," Rei said, standing beside her bed. "He will arrive in fifteen minutes."

Shinji looked around the dingy apartment. The walls were stained from a leaky roof. Everything was so bare, so industrial. He ran his finger along the top her dresser and brought up a film of grime on his fingertip. He frowned at it.

"Rei, how do you live like this?"

"It is sufficient."

"It is not sufficient. Are you happy?"

"I… do not require…"

"I didn't ask that, I asked if you're happy, Rei. I've never seen you smile, not since the Fifth Angel."

She blinked.

He felt a heavy hand slap on his shoulder. Rei's brows furrowed in every so slight concern. He heard a Section 2 agent's voice in his ear. "We've got him."

"Goodbye, Rei," Shinji said as they dragged him out in handcuffs, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

FIVE

"And now for something completely different," Shinji'd said, resting his fingertip on the clock radio. That was how his day started. He gathered his things and walked out of the apartment, took Misato's car, and at a much more sedate pace, headed off towards the mall. He'd leave Rei alone for today. He could catch her tomorrow. Which was also today.

A white Lotus pulled up beside him at the stop light. The window rolled down. Kaji stared across the lane at him, grinning. Without rolling his own window down, Shinji gunned the Alpine's engine, felt it torque against the brakes. The light went green.

They raced.

Kaji won, easily. Shinji found him a lot less eager to take the curves than Kaji had. As a matter of fact, he slowed down to a normal speed when taking them. Also he used his turn signals. He felt a little sheepish. He rolled the window down.

The unlit cigarette fell out of Kaji's mouth.

"Kid," he demanded, "what the hell are you doing?"

Shinji shrugged. He looked at the clock. It was that time.

BA-A-AD ROMANCE!

"Pull over somewhere!" Kaji shouted. Shinji nodded and pulled to the side of the road.

He wasn't expecting the man to haul him out through the window of the car.

He shoved Shinji roughly against the side of the car. Shinji quailed. He wasn't expecting this.

"Kid, what the hell."

"I…" Shinji gulped.

"Look kid, I like you, but this is crazy. You're going to get yourself locked up."

"I… I just wanted to have some fun."

Their eyes met. Kaji's own widened, and his mouth worked as if to say something. He slackened his grip on Shinji's collar, reached through the window of Misato's car, and turned off the ignition, then pocketed the keys. He walked over to his own car.

"Get in."

Shinji settled into the passenger's seat and clipped the seat belt over himself, then folded his hands on his lap. Kaji drove for a bit in silence, thinking, then pulled over.

"Shinji," he said, "I'm sorry. I know you're under a lot of pressure, but this is crazy. You're lucky you weren't killed."

Shinji looked at him for a moment.

"KajiI''sthesamedayeverydayIdon'tknowwhattodo!"

"Shinji?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Have you been drinking?"

SIX

Shinji took a bite of his donut and moaned in ecstasy. The other patrons stared him, but he ignored them until he'd thoroughly chewed and swallowed the first bite of his fifth donut, which had white frosting and sprinkles. He pushed the plate of donuts at Rei.

"Pilot Ikari," she said.

"Shinji."

"Shinji, I do not think that your current diet is appropriate."

"I do," Shinji said. "Have one of the pink ones."

Rei stared at him blankly for a moment, then picked up one of the donuts. She considered it, lifting one finger at a time away from the sticky surface, and then sniffed it. Her eyes widened. She took a small, demure bite, leaving crumbs and bits of pink frosting sticking to her lips. After chewing for a moment, she licked them away and a genuine, involuntary smile spread across her face.

"It is… good."

Shinji smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

"Pilot I… Shinji?"

"Yes, Rei?"

"You have been acting abnormally today."

"Yeah," he shrugged, taking a sip of his triple espresso.

"I will have to report your activities to the Commander."

"Okay. Want some coffee?"

She looked at the cup, and back down at the donut, then took another bite, then looked back to the coffee.

"Yes."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes."

"What would you do if you knew there was no tomorrow? That there was no consequences to any of your actions?"

Rei's eyes widened.

SEVEN

"Note to self," Shinji said, pressing the button on the radio. "Always get Rei coffee."

EIGHT

Tapping the radio to shut it up, Shinji got up, walked through the apartment, opened Misato's door, snuggled in beside her, and pillowed his head on her cleavage, slipping his hands around her hips under her cutoff shorts. He fell to sleep with surprising speed.

NINE

"Totally worth it," Shinji grinned as he woke.

TEN

Shinji strutted into the apartment and tossed his new leather jacket onto the couch, causing Asuka to jump up from where she'd been playing a video game. He flopped down on the couch and yawned, staring outside at the patchwork cloud haze as it turned hues of red and orange in the setting sun. Asuka eyed him warily.

"What's with the jacket?"

"It's a motorcycle jacket," he said, flipping through the mail.

"You don't have a motorcycle." Asuka said.

"True," he said, "I need to start working on that." He got up and headed into the kitchen. When the phone rang, he scooped it up.

"Yo."

"…Shinji? Listen, I'll be home late, so-"

"Cool beans," Shinji said, and slapped the phone down into the receiver. He started working on dinner.

He busily hummed along to his new MP3 player. The clerk had eyed him when he said he wanted the entire Lady Gaga collection, but Shinji shrugged it off. "Different strokes for different folks," he'd said. It was the shadow on the wall that alerted him to Asuka's presence. He pulled out his headphones and turned.

"Shinji?"

Here it comes.

"Yes?"

"I'm bored."

Shinji shrugged. "Read a book."

Asuka's eyes narrowed. "Let's kiss."

"No," Shinji said.

Her eyes shot open wide. "Excuse me?"

"I said no. You treat me like garbage. You insult me, belittle me, make lewd comments about my manhood, call my best friends stooges, and generally talk down to me like I'm a piece of trash when all I ever do is cater to your every whim, save your ass when you're in trouble, and support you. If you genuinely have feelings for me, then we can sit down and talk it out. If this is some kind of way for you to tease me and make me suffer and humiliate me, then you can fuck right off."

She stared at him, her mouth gaping for a moment, then turned and ran to her room. Smirking to himself he turned back to his dinner, ate, and retired to his room to fiddle with the new laptop he'd bought with three months of back paychecks. He chuckled when Kaji dragged Misato back into the apartment, drunk as ever. Maybe he could work in a few gropes after Cassanova left again.

The battery in his MP3 player died, and he yanked the earbuds out angrily. The S-Dat always worked better. He sighed. Oh well, he'd just buy a new one tomorrow.

"Why," he heard a tiny voice whisper.

Something lurched in his stomach. He crawled on his hands and knees to the door and listened through the rice paper.

"No one will help me," Asuka pleaded to herself, "No one wants me. Why can't I have one good day?"

His eyes went wide.

"I just want one good day," she sobbed.