"Doo doo-do
Doo do-doo-doo!
Doo doo-do
Doo do-doo-doo!"

- Third Eye Blind


After the fourth attempt, Asuka clicked decisively on the spacebar, stopping the song, and whatever the hell it was Shinji considered himself to be doing. It certainly wasn't a dance.

"Okay," she said, pinching the area between her eyes, and trying to phrase her question in a way that wasn't exclusively confrontational. "What is it exactly that you're not getting about Hey Ya?"

Shinji shook his head, frustrated, "They keep changing time signatures."

"They what?"

"Time signatures. They keep switching in the verse from four-four to two-four. It's throwing me a little." Shinji ran his hand over the back of his neck. "I've always had an ear for stuff like that. My cello teacher used to –"

Asuka pointed. "Shinji, stop right now or I swear to god, I'm gonna shove your litter nerd self into a locker tomorrow morning in front of all the kids. It's got a beat. An easy beat." She clapped her hands in a manner she figured would demonstrate to him just how deep his stupidity was running right now. "This is the simplest thing. Monkeys do this." Shinji shook his head.

"I know, but I'm telling you–"

Asuka closed her laptop, disconnecting it from the speakers and standing. "Okay, well that's us. See you at home."

"No! No, hold on," Shinji held up a hand. "I'm sorry, I'll really try this time. Maybe I just need another song?"

Her eyes narrowed. They had already spent hours and hours in the rehearsal space – now it was dark outside and Asuka still had English homework to finish. She didn't mind English homework, actually. It was the one thing that old loser assigned she could actually make her way through, and she liked impressing everyone in the class with her flawless readings of the materials. They were all very jealous, she was sure.

Asuka sighed, cocking her head to look at Shinji. "You really like her, don't you?" He blushed, averting his eyes to somewhere else on the paneled wooden floor.

"I… I don't know about all that," he faltered. "It would just be nice to see her smile more, don't you think?"

For a moment, he caught a strange expression passing over Asuka's face. It was a sort of resigned sadness, similar to something he'd seen Misato wear before. He had suspected that Asuka felt like her time was being wasted and the expression only confirmed it, leading to a soft sinking in his own heart. Shinji hated disappointing people.

It may have just been a trick of the light though; a moment later, she was rolling her eyes and opening her computer back up.

"Fine. We'll try something else," she plugged the speakers back in and clicked to the next track on Pandora. "But if I hear a single word about time signatures, Ikari, so help me."

Shinji put all of the things his cello teacher said out of his mind, placed his arms back around Asuka's waist and let his mind fill with perfect pop music that he was sure would never die.

Suhm-BAH-dee once told me the world was gonna roll me...


"It's hell. It's hellish, awful, awful hell." Touji bit down on the candy bar and scowled. His rant continued through a mouth full of caramel. "You don't know the half of it. The rep's gone nearly crazy with this thing only a week away."

Shinji nodded sagely. Gym was outside on the basketball courts today, but he was sitting on the bleachers with his friends. He wasn't usually the first choice for sports, but with all the effort he knew was awaiting him when school let out, Shinji decided just to opt out today. It was Wednesday and already he felt exhausted. His limbs ached. One more week of practice sounded like it might as well be another year of his life.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Do you guys practice dancing a lot?"

Touji shook his head, "Nah. A lot of just like, helping her plot things out. We hang out at her house a lot. I have to help her plan where seats are, book a DJ… if I'd known this was part of the racket I'd have said no," Touji tossed the crumpled wrapper of the Snickers towards the garbage can ten rows down. It ricocheted lamely off several metal seats and found its way through the cracks and into the abyss below the bleachers, never to be seen again. He sighed. "Her sisters ain't bad though."

Shinji looked over at him. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, they're actually kinda cute kids," Touji glanced off to the left, where the girls were on the track. "I think sometimes Hikari just needs a break. She works hard, ya know?"

Shinji couldn't help but smile at his friend's small moment of introspection. Touji leaned back, shaking his head. "So what about you? How's boot camp going?"

"It's going well!" Shinji lied through his teeth. "Really well. I think I'm getting better."

"You're not wearing those outfits again, are you?"

"No, that was vetoed pretty quickly."

"Well, that's a mercy. Shit was downright unnatural." Touji leaned forward, shaking his head. "I gotta say though, Chief, I don't really get it. You're asked out by the cutest girl at the school, and instead of doing the smart thing and spending time with her, you decide to hop on the god damn crazy train and spend hours and hours cavorting around with, let's be real, the closest thing we'll ever see to the Antichrist." He spread his hands wide. "She's not even your date!"

"Oh right, because whose date is she again?" Kensuke turned around in front of them, his glasses low over a lascivious grin. He pointed to himself. "That's right. Kensuke, bitches."

Touji shook his head. "You're bragging about an early grave."

"Sohryu's hot as hell and you know it," Kensuke looked back towards the court, quite proud of something he only had to say yes to. That had been one of the strangest phone calls of his life.

"She's about as hot as she is psychotic."

Kensuke shrugged at the point well made. "Well, you can't win 'em all, right?"

"Oh come on, Asuka's not really all that bad." Shinji mentioned lightly. "Oh, Kensuke, I've been curious: when you're talking, what do you guys chat about?"

Seemingly all the bleachers turned to look at him in confusion.

"Huh?" Kensuke pushed up his glasses, as if they might somehow help clear up what Shinji meant. "What did we chat about when?"

"You know, over AIM." Shinji looked back and forth between them. "Do… do you guys not IM?"

There was a long beat of silence where everyone thought about whether instant messaging was still a 'thing' anymore, and if they'd ever gotten around to deleting their AOL screen names.

"Oh yeah. That." Kensuke coughed. "Yeah, all the time. She sends me pics and stuff."

Which was the latest in a long line of lies that Shinji believed without question.


"Well, I didn't forty-thousand-yen love it. Jesus." Asuka pulled her friend out of the store bodily.

"I dunno, I thought it was pretty."

"Lots of things to spend money on. I'm not getting married in it, Hikari." She sighed as she glanced around the mall. This store was a total bust and they were starting to run out of options. "Maybe I can just go in my school uniform? Who am I trying to impress here, anyway? Aida? Not difficult. A low-cut tanktop would 'impress' him just fine."

Hikari shrugged. "You're the one that asked him."

"Cornered animals strike at anything," the redhead mumbled darkly. "I need a break. Let's food."

The food court in this mall was a godsend. It was the only place in Tokyo-3 that made a slice of pizza Asuka liked and she needed it now more than ever.

"Four days," she said, biting into the stuffed crust. "Four days and this madness is over, and if I never have to hear the word 'corsage' again it'll be too soon."

"Is it really that bad? I've actually been getting to know a lot about Suzuhara," Hikari giggled. "He actually said this really funny thing the other day when Mae was-"

"Hikari. Don't. Please," Asuka held up her slice. "I need to just not think about any of those idiots right now. This pizza is my sanctuary. It is my only friend."

She continued to eat her mall-pizza sullenly. What was she even doing anymore? Was this important, in the long run? She didn't know. At this point, if she woke up tomorrow and the dance had been cancelled, she would have rolled over and slept happily.

There was one small thing she would miss, though.

Loathe as Asuka was to admit it, she had come to look forward to the hours after school when she'd be alone with Shinji.

The faster songs made him flail like a toddler, to be sure, but whenever a ballad came on, he stopped thinking too hard. "This is slower," he'd said, confidently. "I can do the slow ones, Asuka." She insisted they practice anyway.

He'd held her waist as one would cradle a dying bird at first, but after a week of constant practice he gripped it firmly. His hands were stronger than he knew, and his shoulders broader than she had realized. She'd come to associate the smell of him with warmth and resting her head on his shoulder.

And that scared her.

A puppy crush was one thing, but this dancing and holding, it... well, it was something else entirely. Whenever she thought of his hands around Rei's waist that way, smiling shyly down at her whenever he accidentally stepped on her foot...

Chomp. Rei's neck transposed as cheesy crust.

Yes. The sooner this was all over, the better. For everyone. Forever.

Asuka tossed her plate into the garbage and stretched.

"Let's try H&M," she said. "You're lucky I love you, Hikari. This dance thing might just be the death of me."

Hikari laughed as they began to walk. "You know, sometimes I wish I could just say my feelings like you do."

"It's one of my strengths," Asuka admitted, not even totally aware of how hypocritical that statement actually was.


"Wow! Better!" Asuka actually clapped. "That was much better."

Shinji panted, smiling. "Really?"

Asuka nodded firmly as she shut down her computer. "Wonder Girl better watch out tomorrow. If she's not careful, you might just sweep her off her feet. Then she'd be stuck with you." Turning, she paused at Shinji's stare. Asuka felt a mutinous little flutter in her chest. "Wh-what are you staring at, dummy?"

"Nothing, really. I just..." Shinji shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't remember the last time I saw you smile like that. It's a good look for you."

"Oh." Asuka blinked, looking away from him. Stop it, she thought. It's Rei he wants. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it..." The studio space felt quiet and vacant already. He looked around, disappointed that this might be the last time he would ever see it. "You know, this was frustrating at first, but I've really enjoyed learning with you," Shinji ventured as he gathered his stuff. "Maybe after the dance we can... uh... keep doing it or something?"

She looked at him strangely. "Yeah," she mumbled. "Maybe."

Shinji's brow furrowed, but he decided not to push it any more.

Asuka shouldered her bag, putting on a smile as she made for the exit. "So tomorrow's the big day, huh? You excited?"

"Yeah," he admitted, following her out. "Yeah, I think it'll be fun. You?"

"Yeah, it'll be something. I'll just be happy if Aida keeps his hands to himself. You'd better not disappoint me, though," she winked, turning off the lights. "I'll be watching you on the dance floor, Ikari. Time to find out what we're made of."

The door shut and the dance hall was at rest, not to be disturbed again until Christmas, the holidays, and whatever may occur before the new year.