Disclaimer:Eh, it's better off not being mine anyway...
The Wanton Angels
Episode 2
By Traingham
A.N: Big-O did it first...
A.N II:To the readers who ask about "Angels in Despair" and "Second Chances at Fatherhood", those are lost forever (Well, to me, anyway. No doubt someone in the world has a copy on their computer somewhere). "Second Chances at Fatherhood" really has no purpose anymore since Gainax has already released a few official works that basically implemented those ideas (Gendo playing dad; the angels in human form; post third impact world and post second impact world colliding; Rei I, II, and III existing at the same time; Yui being alive, and blah, blah, blah.) I do plan on rewriting "Angels in Despair" though; likely with a rebuild twist.
Shinji Ikari often thought of women in his spare time when his troubled mind wasn't occupied with its default setting of self loathing, though not in the particular sense that society would expect of a young man like himself; at least not always in that sense. Aside from his friends Touji and Kensuke, there wasn't much of a male presence to speak of day in and out. Kaji popped up every now and then at his own convenience whether it was to drop by at the apartment to try his hand at rekindling Misato's passion for him from their golden years together, or to impart upon Shinji the occasional pep talk. Aoba and Hyuuga never went out of their way to see Shinji personally, only greeting him on chance encounters in Nerv headquarters, which only left two other men to speak of: Gendo Ikari, the man who was his father in life only in the biological sense, and Kozo Fuyutski, a man no easier to connect with emotionally if only because he was just as hard to get ahold of at a social convenience as Commander Ikari.
Women, on the other hand, were common company and simply played more of a dominant influence in his life for some reason or another. Now that in no way implied that Shinji Ikari understood the female psyche any better than the next guy, because his living accommodations certainly weren't made any easier for the fact. What that statement truly meant was that his life was a touch more complex than the average fourteen year old, and as a result there were higher expectations on his ability to approach seemingly mundane, everyday situations such as the act of using the toilet, or taking a shower. He had to be able to pick up on the smaller details of seemingly inconsequential conversations; notice subtle changes in the appearance of his housemates, and read their ever shifting moods for fear of unsettling the balance of his relationship with them.
Once again, Shinji Ikari often thought of women in his spare time, normally when the two women that he shared an apartment with weren't around to disturb his thoughts, but perhaps that was an issue in itself–the thinking. Shinji did a lot of that. He did a lot of reflection, introspection, and observation; a lot of inner work that never really saw the light of day outside of his mind because he simply wasn't adept at sharing his thoughts, and that was a problem. Women were all about expression of self, about sharing private thoughts and personal observations with one another, so his inability to do that sort of thing in a social environment placed him in a very interesting position, because Misato and Asuka desired his input. Perhaps both of the lovely women had their differing reasons for desiring as much, however, regardless of what those reasons were it all came down to the same intended result–to better understand him as an individual.
"How do you feel about highschool?" Misato might ask him.
"It's fine, I guess." He might reply awkwardly.
"Just fine, huh?" She might respond to his plain answer disappointedly.
"Why do you play the cello?" Asuka might inquire of him.
"I don't know." He would likely reply lamely.
"Such a boring boy." She would naturally respond to his lameness.
For Shinji that was fine. He could live with them concluding that he wasn't a person of interest, that he wasn't worth their time–but women were complicated people; they made his head hurt. Misato still found him interesting; she still wanted to know more about him despite his own personal opinion that he had absolutely nothing more to offer her in that respect. The people that originally took care of him before he came to Tokyo-3 would have simply written him off and proceeded on with their lives, but Misato was a persistent woman. Shinji chalked it up to his ability to pilot the Evangelion. Yeah, that was the reason Misato bothered wasting her time on him.
Although he often wondered if that was really the case, or a cop out on his part because he was too afraid to accept the possibility that maybe he was just a close minded recluse that didn't have the world figured out after all. Pathetic.
...but, really, that just made the next person harder to write off.
Asuka Langely Soryhu, second child, and self proclaimed ace pilot of Evangelion Unit-02, was a conundrum given the form of a fourteen year old girl. From day one she makes it clear that she sees him as nothing more than a stepping stone to her claim as Nerv's number one pilot, treating him like gum beneath the sole of her shoe destined to be scraped away in due time, but then they meet on a non professional basis and she wants to talk to him like equals. One moment she tells him to stop talking to her on breaks and the next moment she's mad at him for being so quiet all the time when they're together at home. She walks around the apartment in the loosest, low cut outfits, just short of baring it all, when he knows for sure that she has a decent pair of pajama pants and a casual tee somewhere in her diverse wardrobe, and she gets angry at him for letting his eyes linger upon her exposed curves longer than necessary when she calls his attention for something. She hates him today, she wants to be friends tomorrow.
"Kiss me Shinji, I'm bored!" She demands.
"Ugh, kissing to pass the time was a horrible idea!" She gargles.
"Why won't you say anything to me, idiot?!" She complains.
"Get away from me, pervert!" She cries.
"She's crazy." Shinji muttered to himself with an annoyed crease at his brow, standing in the kitchen with his attention elsewhere when he should have been monitoring the beef stew he was cooking for supper this evening. In his lapse his hand went lax around the wooden spoon he had been using to stir the stew, palm relaxing just at the rim of the piping hot stew pot, and–"OW!"–the smarting dealt to his hand harshly catapulted him back to reality. Scowling at the angry burn he rushed over to the sink to open the cold water and let it pass over his hand.
"Dammit." The house chef turned away from his numbing palm to glare at the stew pot like a partner betrayed, however, the silent quarrel between them would have to postpone until a later time. Someone was deliberately ignoring the doorbell, instead favoring a heavy hand upon the door. "Asuka?" It had to be the German girl because any other threatening presence willing to bang on the door with such force would have been neutralized by the section-2 agents that were, no doubt, monitoring the apartment complex at all hours of the day, all days of the week, and so on and so forth.
Funny how that still made Shinji feel so vulnerable.
Another hard knock at the door roused Shinji forth from the kitchen with a tentative answer of, "I'm coming!" He took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he approached the door and placed a hand over the panel beside it to press two fingers against the 'open' button. As he predicted, Asuka Langely Soryhu stood there expectantly, arms crossed and a sullen expression on her beautiful face.
Oh yes, he found her beautiful–painfully so, but let's use that word in a sentence so that it was in the proper context, shall we? Asuka Langely Soryhu was like a beautiful storm. She was the sort of calamity that held your eyes, paralyzing you with its awe inspiring presence up until the point that it was too late to escape its deadly embrace. Weird, then, how Shinji Ikari so easily remained oblivious to every attempt she made to swallow him up.
"What took you so long, third child?" The second child snapped at him as she let herself in. "I interrupt something?"
Shinji blinked, curiously poking his head outside before looking back at his ill-tempered roommate. "Wait. Didn't you and Misato leave together? What happened?"
"She's coming." Asuka told him with a dismissive wave, walking to her room without looking back at him.
"Did you guys get into an argument again?" Shinji asked, still standing beside the door for Misato to arrive. The tone of his voice indicated that he didn't approve of how often the two of them butt heads, and that stopped Asuka just as she placed her hand on her door to slide it open.
She turned to glare at him, but a smile broke out on her face as she exclaimed, "Well, well!" She sounded impressed, but he knew she was only mocking him. "So the third child does pay attention to what goes on in this apartment when he locks himself in his room!" The smile that broke out on her face when she began to mock him fell into a scowl, and she snapped, "Mind your own business!"
Thinking that perhaps he did come off as a little nosy, Shinji apologized to her (Asuka's brow twitched at the worn out line). "I'm sorry." But it didn't feel proper to simply leave it at that. "It's just that–"
"Why are you holding your hand like that?" At some point in the exchange Asuka's attention fell from his face to the hand he'd been gingerly holding since she walked in.
Shinji glanced down at his smarting hand as if just realizing he had it attached at the wrist. "Oh, I burned myself."
The way he downplayed it angered Asuka, bringing a deep furrow to her brow. She walked over to him without a word, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him over toward the kitchen. "Come here." She spoke to him as she would a child.
"Asuka, wait." He stammered, worried about leaving the door open and unattended, but she didn't seem to be having it from him then and there or at any other moment for that matter. Past the pots and dishes they went until the girl found what she dragged him into the kitchen for. "Misato still hasn't..." The words died on his tongue when he felt the soothing sensation of cool water washing over his smarting palm. He then realized what she was doing; helping him in the same way he helped Rei Ayanami when she burned herself on his visit to her apartment.
Asuka didn't seem to be aware of it herself, the way her thumb idly stroked his wrist, or how her other hand found its spot at his waist to maintain their close proximity. "What are you, stupid?" She asked him, delicately holding his hand underneath the pouring water. "Can't you take care of yourself? I mean, you're supposed to be good at handling yourself in the kitchen, right?"
As she spoke to him Shinji turned his gaze away from Asuka's face for fear of succumbing to the urge to lean closer and sniff the subtle scent of shampoo in her hair. No doubt that sort of behavior would earn him an open hand to the cheek, or a fist to the gut (Not the face!). Instead he allowed his sights to settle upon their hands in the sink with a timid, "Thank you."
Asuka felt the breath momentarily catch in her throat from hearing those two unfamiliar words leave his mouth. Shinji never thanked her for anything in the past. Perhaps that had much to do with the general nature of their relationship (which was ambiguous at best), but she had to admit that there was something especially nice about it.
"Shinji, I'm home!" Misato's voice filled the apartment melodically with the announcement of her arrival.
Asuka's expression once again soured at the sound of their guardian calling out to her fellow pilot and roommate, almost as if she had just then recalled something unpleasant. Glancing at Shinji she saw that his attention had been drawn toward the sound of the lovely major's voice. He was like a puppy, she swore he was.
The nice things never did last very long.
Asuka removed herself from him with a humph. "I'm sure you can take it from here, third child." She turned to leave the kitchen, stopping for a moment when Misato came to lean up against the side of the entry way with a wide smile. Seeing Asuka together with Shinji made it falter somewhat though. That much didn't go unnoticed by the resident male, nor did the atmosphere of heavy tension that permeated the small room when both ladies locked eyes.
"I'll be in my room." Asuka didn't hold the stare down very long before brushing past the lovely major. Misato didn't bother turning her head to see the German girl off.
"Wait, Asuka!" Shinji called to her, pulling his hand out of the sink. "We're about to have dinner!" He didn't receive a response.
"Don't worry about her, Shinji." Misato waved off his concern, her expression lightening up again. "She's just having one of those days."
Shinji pulled a paper towel to pat his hand dry. "She seemed just fine a second ago." He raised his palm for Misato to see the thin welt that had risen where his hand made contact with the rim of the pot. "She brought me into the kitchen to run cold water over it, see?"
Misato cringed in her usual exaggerated fashion. "Ooh! How did that happen?" She approached him to get a better look at it, genuine concern marking her lovely features–Oh god, was she ever lovely.
Shinji usually ignored Touji and Kensuke when they whined to him about how fortunate he was to live with a woman as beautiful and sexually appealing as Misato Katsuragi, but only because he was able to affirm as much to himself every morning when she greeted him in her high cut jean shorts. Strangely though, he wasn't as affected by her good looks as his classmates were, perhaps because he was aware of how much of a slob she could be when she wasn't concerned with keeping up appearances.
"I burned myself on the pot. That's all." Shinji told her nonchalantly, but the major frowned.
"Geez, Shin-chan," She caressed his hand between hers. "Be careful in here. I mean, yeah, I love your cooking–I mean, reaaaally love your cooking–but if you're going to get hurt in here..."
"Don't worry about it, Misato." He tried not to sound annoyed. "It happens."
She scowled at him. "You say that a lot, Shinji!" She pressed her forehead to his hard, narrowing her eyes as she stared back into his. "You're not going to get a steady girlfriend if you act like a jerk to her!"
"What?" Shinji stammered, pulling his head back. "I'm not being a jerk. I'm just saying–"
"That you'll be more careful next time." Misato finished for him.
"That I'll be more careful next time." Shinji bowed his head.
The older woman slapped a hand on his shoulder with a pleased grin. "You're learning." She then sniffed the air theatrically. "Mmmmm. That smells like heaven." Said in a husky voice that would have sent Hyuuga into cardiac arrest.
"Beef stew." Shinji informed her pleasantly. "Bought the meat at a good price yesterday. I think the guy likes me."
Misato managed to hold herself back from teasing him about mentioning that last line. "Well, I'm sure after that fall you took on the sidewalk yesterday, that meat should be extra tender." She did so adore how his face turned beet red when she poked fun at him though. How could she resist the opportunity?
"Uh..." Shinji's back straightened upright with a jerk, his lower lip quivering with embarrassment. "How did you know that?!"
She winked affectionately. "A girl has her secrets." She smiled wickedly. "And some of the good women in section-2 do love to keep surveillance on you."
"What about my privacy?" Shinji asked flatly, his expression deadpan.
"I'm sure kidnappers would support that sentiment." She quipped before shrugging her shoulders. "At least they don't watch you on the toilet, or in your sleep."
Shinji had to agree with that. "Well, yeah, I guess."
Misato raised a hand playfully with a cock of her shapely hips. "Those are exclusive to me."
And Shinji was beet red once again, crying out, "Misato!" His predictable response made her laugh until her throat choked. Moments like these made the rest of her night after the long hours at Nerv headquarters. Sure, she had Ritsuko there to bother when the day went by that much slower, but the faux blonde never did know how to carry on interesting conversations outside of subjects of her own work, which kind of defeated the purpose of going to her office.
"Seriously though, Shinji. We need to put some more muscle on that body." She told him in a semi-serious tone, patting a hand on his bicep. The training he received at Nerv did make his body more solid, but it would have been nice to see him get a little bigger; like that Suzuhara kid he hung out with. "Asuka can bench press more than you, no sweat. Doesn't that bother you just a little bit?"
Shinji bowed his head slightly, pressing his forefingers together at the tips. "Well, if you're going to make me self conscious about it..." He grumbled, looking aside.
"Tell you what!" Misato exclaimed excitedly, poking him in the nose. "How about we get a gym membership together? We'll be workout partners!"
Shinji shook his head. "Nah...you'd embarrass me out there." He was serious, actually. Misato's tight body wasn't the product of a casual lifestyle after all. He'd caught a few female Nerv employees staring enviously on more than one occasion; Ristuko and Maya included (And Maya certainly did stare. Perhaps more than others.).
Misato rolled her eyes knowingly. "You'll be fine. Just sleep on it, okay?" She stepped around him to lead him out of the kitchen from behind, saying, "In the mean time, me and Asuka thought we'd get you something to make getting around with those grocery bags easier."
"You got me something?" Shinji asked, looking to her over his shoulder with a faint glimmer of excitement as she continued to lead him to the apartment door. "Really?"
"You bet." The major told him with a grin, drawing no small measure of gratification from the childlike expression on his normally stoic face. She removed her left hand from his shoulder once they reached the door to press the 'open' button on the panel beside it, and, "TA-DAAAH!"
Shinji hopped up when he saw the bike waiting for him just outside the door. "Whoa!" He cried out, falling to one knee to inspect the bike up close (That paint job though...Unit-01?). "You guys..." He cried out, but couldn't form the rest of the words. "You guys..." He repeated himself, though this time his voice came off as a little strange.
"Shinji?" Misato could swear she heard his voice crack.
He turned his head to look up at her and her heart nearly broke. "I don't deserve this." Tears welled in his eyes. "You're too good to me, Misato."
"Are you kidding me?" The older woman shook her head at the claim. "You deserve more than this Shinji. Way more." She held up a finger to stop him from going on with the usual self depreciating rant that he was prone to making in these situations. "And don't start putting yourself down in front of me, Shinji, or I'll beat you with that bike until you accept it." She crouched beside him to wrap an arm around his shoulder, pulling him close. "Besides, Asuka picked it out." She lied. "She'll probably punt a toaster into your bath water if she finds out you're dissatisfied, you know."
Shinji chuckled. "I guess you're right."
Twas plausible.
We've come to terms...