Chapter Two
'Give Me a Break!'The lieutenant of NERV, Misato Katsuragi, still buzzed from the former night's alcohol was the first one to leave the apartment, getting up even earlier than the students of Tokyo-3's school. Although she found it to be a bit much, forcing them into school even after the whole ordeal of piloting the Eva's, wasn't that enough for NERV to be satisfied with they're performance? Apparently not. It never would be. The dark haired girl took a quick shower, drying off before the sun had even risen, she put on her black dress, red jacket and combat boots as usual, and of course, her necklace that was kept with her at all times.
She began her way out of the apartment, after feeding Pen-Pen, Asuka had yet to find out about the penguin, but her reaction would be rather entertaining. Katsuragi made her way to NERV, out of the two students on the other hand, Asuka awoke first, considering she was also the first asleep. They had two hours to get to school, which seemed like enough, right? The young girl quickly woke herself up, shaking herself around in order to make sure she wouldn't fall back asleep. Her hair was a mess but that was fine, she'd shower anyways, Soryu got up, stretching her tall frame, it cracked and popped all over as she hadn't moved all night.
The girl began her way out of the room, loose hairs falling all over in the air, opening the sliding door, she was greeted by a penguin, Asuka quickly rubbed her eyes, even if she was still kind've drowsy, she couldn't be that tired right? "SHINJI! You have a penguin?!" The redhead didn't leave him any time to answer, she quickly made her way to the shower, a towel and rag in hand, she turned the water on hot, and quickly washed her body and hair. She felt healthy, looked healthy, and as if she could do anything, she slightly hoped Shinji would think she was stunning, Asuka wanted and liked the attention but wouldn't dare allow him to touch her ever. She returned to her room, hoping her yelling awoke Shinji, the girl then got dressed into her school outfit, her frame was illuminated in the light through the curtains, she was perfect in anyone's eyes, but she didn't think that of herself. She put her hair up with her neural connectors and awaited Shinji's arrival in the kitchen.
The brunette boy jolted awake at her scream, only to be greeted with nothing. 'Am I already having nightmares about her?' He contemplated the chances of the scream being real or not as he put his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes awake. Maybe it was just part of his dream. He recounted the dream in particular. A dead girl in his arms, another holding him from behind. The boy decided it would be best to put it behind him. It was only a dream and last he checked, dreams couldn't hurt him.
Much like every morning Ikari began getting ready, except for this time he had to fish his clothes out of the few boxes in the living room, leading him to remember the cruel reality that had unfolded. He shuddered at the all too recent events of yesterday. The spiteful Eva pilot from Germany was now living with him. Click. More nail biting, except this time he didn't stop himself. He'd needed any stress reducer he could come up with for the day.
After a few moments he would stop and finish getting ready, doing his best to ignore the panic attack of a situation. He got dressed in the same thing he always wore. White button up tucked into his jeans. His clothes were almost essential to his routine. Without them, he would go uncomfortable for the day. With his clothes finally on, he moved to the kitchen to prepare his breakfast. He decided on something simple. Rice and eggs sunny side up. He took a moment to think about Asuka beforehand. 'Does she even know how to cook?' Considering the unlikelihood of it the boy rolled his eyes and concluded on making the girl a serving of breakfast as well. He got to work, cracking the eggs over the pan.
Soryu sat in the chair at the table, as Shinji walked right by her, she paid no attention to it really, considering they were on bad terms already. "Really gonna play the silent game huh Idiot-Shinji? You're probably regretting what you said last night hm?" She rested her head in her palm, a bottle of water on the table, "I take it you'll make food for me too? Better be a good cook." Asuka gave the boy a side-eye, with a rather smug look, but the words that he said last night still hurt her. She hated it.
He kept his back turned, pouting at the girls seamlessly endless comments. "Of course I know how to cook, I'm actually really good at it!" While his voice gave off the impression of cocky bragging, he was actually being genuine. Shinji excelled at cooking. He considered it to be one of the only things he was good at outside of piloting. "A-And why would I regret what I said? I-I'm still waiting for my apology." He demanded from the safety of his back turned to the girl, trying his hardest to sound confident but finding it rather difficult
Still glaring at the boy as he cooked, she wondered if he genuinely did mean what he said. He had the chance to live with the great Asuka Langley Soryu basically alone and he wanted to ruin it? "Apology?! You're the one who started it, idiot. You could've just dealt with it and went on, but you had to say something!" Ikari's words had annoyed her, as if she'd apologize to him, that useless excuse for a pilot.
"I-I... Hmph" He huffed out at a failure to find a comeback, afterall he was never quick witted. He turned his attention back to his cooking, finding it to be close to an unbearable hell with the feeling of the girl's frigid glare on his back. After a few more minutes that felt like hours Shinji placed the finished product in front of Asuka. "There, it's Tamago Kake Gohan. I…um...I hope you like it…" He wished her, before setting his own serving down on the side opposite of her, beginning to eat. He waited till she had actually eaten some to ask her uneasily, in yet another pathetic attempt to get praise. "How is it?"
"It's...edible I suppose" She continued eating, finding the food to be rather delicious, but wouldn't let that be known as she was never the type to give praise. About half way through her finishing her food she began to wonder why the boy dared to stay in her presence after the recent events of the other night and the almost-argument they could've just had. "So, what's life like Shinji Ikari?" Soryu thought that he had to at least have something going on, a girl maybe? Maybe even an actual group of friends?
The boy was caught off guard, but seeing as to how she was being less hostile, he rationed it best to indulge, but alas he was left to remember his life wasn't interesting. The boy found that Eva piloting, the one thing he despised doing, was the only thing people found interesting about him. "W-Well life is, um, it's good I guess. I have a couple friends but they're away in America right now...um I still have my friend Ayanami at school and she's really nice!" He anxiously lied with a fake smile. Ayanami wasn't his friend nor was she 'really nice' she was callous and uncaring towards everything. The angel battle and yesterday was the only time she was nice and even then in Shinji's mind it was definitely debatable whether she was actually being friendly or just trying to appease him so he would leave her alone. Why was he lying about this? Was he trying to impress the 2nd children? Why? She was mean and cruel to him. There was no chance she could care about a measly boy like him and he shouldn't care about an awful girl like her. Although he had the curse of having to experience her menacing and ferocious attitude, even Shinji found some impossible attraction towards her in the short time they'd known each other.
"Isn't she the pilot of Unit-00?" The girl found herself actually intrigued by Shinji's words, could he be fond of Ayanami? Maybe even with her romantically? Asuka thought about it, but why would it be Ayanami? She's been told of the pilot's emotionless nature, was she pretty enough to warrant a love for her through it? Soryu shook her thoughts away, picking at her nails, she was still waiting for the boy's answer. The German had finished eating what Ikari had cooked, finding herself wanting more, but she wasn't exactly hungry nor did she want Shinji to waste his time making more. But of course, even through the food, Asuka's thanks wouldn't be given to Ikari, especially not after the thoughts she formerly had about the boy wanting Ayanami, there was a splash of jealousy to her thoughts, why the blue haired girl over her? What made her so special? 'Why am I worrying like this?! I just met him, I don't need to worry about his love life.' But truth be told, Asuka did want people to love her, to a point of sacrificing themselves for her own well being, even if it was Ikari, she wanted to be the one he'd want over Rei. Although for the moment, she wouldn't worry about it, lowering her arms from the table, she stopped picking at her fingernails and propped her head up in her palm. Awaiting Shinji's answer.
Though it should have been obvious that Asuka should have been aware of Rei, considering they were both pilots, Shinji found it odd that she did. "Oh! So you know about Ayanami? Yeah she's the pilot of Unit-00." He answered the girl, with a helpless smile on his face. Even if the bluenette didn't care for the boy in theory, he still couldn't help but think fondly of the girl. She really was important to him, no matter how she felt about him, it didn't matter to him. Seeing as Asuka was already finished with her food, Shinji picked up the pace with his own as he was barely half way done. He always was a slow eater and most people saw that as a hindrance to him, but he enjoyed taking his time with his food. He put time and work into making it, so it would only make sense that he took his time to enjoy it.
"Of course I know about Rei, she's a pilot after all." It took a minute for Ikari to realize the connection before he turned a little red from obvious embarrassment. "O-Oh right! sorry, I completely forgot…" Soryu would soon get up, finding herself disappointed with his lack of conversation skills. She placed her dishes into the sink, under the impression that Shinji would take care of it, he cooked it after all. The girl returned to the table, picking up her bag and placing it in her lap as she sat down, turning her head up to Shinji. "You should hurry, I'd rather not be late on my first day, because I waited on an idiot."
'Hmph, glad to see she's back to being a jerk.' He cynically thought before considering her point, they were going to be late if he didn't hurry up. He scarfed his food down before quickly taking his dish with him to clean along with Asukas. Once done with the dishes, he scrambled to get his book bag out of one of the boxes. "Ugh why did you have to ruin my routine like this…" He whispered to himself, half hoping the red head wouldn't hear. Shinji knew this was only the beginning of her ruining many of his usual comforts. He began biting one of his nails as he dug through the boxes, frantically searching for his bag.
"What are you looking for? I'll help find it, you're looking a little panicked if it's that important Ikari." The woman stood up, heading over to the multiple boxes, and began searching with him, if they found it now they'd have just enough time to get to school without being late, and in all honesty, Asuka didn't feel like dealing with the attendance ordeals today. As she searched through two of the boxes, she ended up finding what she thought to be Shinji's bag, the young girl dug it up, and held it in her hand, it looked worn out by whether it be age or just the way it was handled, he probably needed a replacement. "Here, keep it somewhere you'll remember so we don't have to do this again." She handed the bag to the young boy, awaiting him to grab it.
Looking up to the girl, finally able to recover from his brief wave of anxiety, Shinji grabbed the bag. "I-I'll be sure to…Thank you…" Even if it was because she didn't want to be late herself, Shinji still deeply appreciated her help. He got up and made for the door. "Come on! I'm sure if we leave right now, we'll still make it!" He assured her as he made his way out of the door, beginning his long walk for school.
His shift from an anxious persona with a slight stutter into a much more confident one surprised the redhead, he was either nervous or confident without knowing it. This was strange to Soryu. But, getting rid of her judgments, she followed the boy, walking rather close beside him, she hated the idea of walking behind him, but considering she didn't know where she was going, she had no choice but to follow him.
After what felt like an endless amount of time walking in silence, the two finally reached the school. "So this is it, huh? The school that's to be blessed with the great Asuka Langley Soryu!" She exclaimed triumphantly, leaving Shinji to give a blank stare. "Yeah uh, this is it. What class do you have?" He asked in hopes it would be on the opposite end of the school from him. The redhead removed a paper from her book bag and looked at it for a moment. "Looks like I'm in class 2-A, do you know where that is?" she both answered and asked, placing the paper back in her bag.
'Oh god…' was all the young Ikari's mind could come up with in that moment before he weakly gave his own answer to Soryu. "Y-Yeah…I know where it is…" He walked past the girl, expecting her to follow him. This threw Asuka off a bit. He sounded both grim and vague in his response, which logically could only mean…'No….It can't be…'
Minutes passed with Shinji guiding the foreign exchange student through the corridors of the school before they arrived at classroom 2-A. "Well. This is our class." 'Are you serious?!' Asuka's thoughts held anger to them, she had to share a class with Ikari, and his group of idiots too, although she felt slightly thankful they were gone for now. She had met them on the boat and it was an experience to be sure. Shinji of course knew Rei was in the class, he had an infatuation with her in a way, but Asuka had no idea of the bluenette's existence in their classroom, or what would slowly grow into a hatred for her. Ikari entered the classroom before Asuka, before he could even get his bearings to prepare for the day of lectures, ramblings and PE class. He glanced at Rei, staring for a few seconds before being met by Asuka passing him by and walking to the front of the class. With her passing, the boy continued to stare.
Even as Asuka introduced herself to the class, writing her name on the board in chalk, large enough for the whole class to see, and as she talked, it was drowned out as he stared at Rei. But, he snapped back, as Rei turned her head to him, catching him staring once again, Ikari realized he had been in front of the whole class. 'Oh no….' He saw that Asuka had chosen her seat, being on the right side of the class, opposite to him and Rei. The nervous boy walked to his seat, his body shaking a little at all the attention of him staring at Ayanami. "S-Sorry!" Shinji frantically spit the words out to the teacher, but he paid no mind as the bell rang, just as him and Asuka thought, they made it just barely in time.
Soryu glared at the boy, he was being idiotic over that emotionless looking girl, for what reason was that worth it? She pondered it, over and over as the teacher rambled, he never gave them physical homework, just tests that they could study for and things they'd do on the computer provided by the school. In the meantime, Asuka messed with her computer, figuring out how to use it. Ayanami on the other hand, placed her computer on the desk, moving her papers and other items. She sent Shinji a message as she did yesterday, "Hello." was all it said, hoping Shinji would respond soon. Rei then returned her attention to the window again, as usual.
The brunette boy had his attention all around the room, finding anything to look at and focus on than the embarrassment that was formerly at hand, he found himself nervously biting at his nails, tearing them apart from the rest of his hand, it was unhealthy to say the least, it was becoming a bad habit. But upon seeing his computer screen brighten at Rei's message, his attention jolted to the screen. 'again? Does she really want me to talk to her..? She's just… talking is all.' Shinji was unsure of whether or not Rei wanted to talk to him, maybe she had nowhere else to go? The boy began typing. "Hey, Ayanami." Then, it was sent. He awaited her answer.
Asuka continued to mess with her computer, being bored out of her mind with things she had already learned, she was even tempted to leave school altogether, but then she'd have to deal with Misato, something that wasn't worth it. Finding the message system, she texted the class president, Hikari Horaki. She'd chosen to be friends with her, not out of her look or what seemed as her personality from an outlooker, but because there was a certain little bit of respect derived from Asuka to someone in a position of Hikari's. "Hello?" Was all she said, and waited for Hikari's response.
Rei noticed the boy's immediate response, it was rather strange for Shinji, but who could blame him? They had this class for essentially the whole day, aside from PE that is. "Why did you run away from me yesterday?" Ayanami questioned over the computer. Ikari was shocked at the question, so shocked that he couldn't even answer it. He knew why, he was a useless, nervous and worthless wreck of a person, if he'd even called himself one, but he couldn't bring himself to answer her, it scared him. So instead, he simply closed his computer, allowing time to pass. Rei saw this, wondering why he was ignoring her, 'did I say something bad? The book said it's ok to confront people about the way they feel…' sadly, the book couldn't explain what to do with someone of Shinji's caliber.
The pale girl felt a hint of pain at his ignorance of her, but it wasn't physical, she couldn't figure out what it was, was this living? Were these emotions? 'Maybe I could talk to Gendo, or even about this..' was all she thought for the time being. Thinking confused her and even hurt her sometimes, she disliked it. Rei turned her attention back to the window, hating the feeling she had.
Misato had arrived at NERV around an hour earlier now. Waking up a bit before the children of her home would often take a hefty toll on her. Noticeable by the amount of coffee the lieutenant had already drunk in the morning, and the fact that she was still rather slow in her thought process, she still hadn't really woken up to a normal extent. But regardless, she showed up because there was nothing else to do, if she quit then she'd be lost, nowhere to go and nothing to do, she'd also lose her new 'family' that she had just grown accustomed to until the arrival of Asuka. Outside of wandering NERV or bothering Ritsuko, she would normally stay in the food court of NERV HQ, to most employees' surprise, it was a rather nice place. Then her bliss was interrupted, by thoughts of Kaji, she had just seen him yesterday, was he really finding his way into her mind that quickly?
Kaji himself was sitting in his cramped office at NERV, typing away at a computer. Another inspection report for NERV. With finalizing his report, he lit a cigarette and took a long savory drag. Leaning back in his chair he began to think of Misato and how she was doing. Ryoji knew that at some point he would go up and bother her again. How could he not? Even after all those years that they were separated, he couldn't help but remain infatuated with her. Kaji smiled fondly on his memories with Katsuragi. Both the old and newly made ones.
Ritsuko was still residing in her office, as she always did. Filling out papers, documents, and reviewing pilot tests and employees on her computer. Her life was simple, but she had an ache for more, something better, although she wouldn't fulfill that anytime soon and she knew it. The best she could do to keep herself entertained was share a one sided love with Gendo Ikari, that only ever resulted in pain for herself and nothing ever changed for Gendo. The sullen man was probably in his office, contemplating and recreating his schemes in his head. Over and over, round and round. Ritsuko made her way to the food court of NERV HQ, knowing Misato would be there, as usual.
The young Maya Ibuki walked the halls of NERV, taking her break time now to go bother Dr. Akagi, at least she thought it was bothersome, even if Ritsuko disagreed. Ibuki really did care about the doctor, but even so, she would continue to pursue what she considered selfish needs of attention from her superior. As the brunette finished up searching NERV, going to Akagi's office, even the majority of areas Maya was allowed to enter, she saw no sign of Ritsuko, but then her mind lead her to the food court, if she wasn't in her office then she'd be on break time right? As Maya entered the food court, somewhere she chose not to eat, oddly enough. She'd notice that Ritsuko and Misato had been talking, alone, at a table nearly away from everyone else, but Misato didn't share the feelings for Ritsuko that Maya did right?
Even still, shaking off her intrusive overthinking issue of what she saw in front of her, she hated the sight. It filled her with a little mixture of pain, sadness, and even a hint of anger, to see Ritsuko not even give Maya that time of day after the amount of care she's given to the doctor. 'It's fine, maybe I should just give up right?' Maya left the food court, heading back from break rather early, in a much worse mood than before.
Gendo sat at his desk, his fingers interlaced in front of his face, pondering the future he was to create soon. With his scheming, his biological son and his artificial daughter would sacrifice humanity and possibly themselves in order for him to be reunited with his beloved wife. Normally Gendo felt no guilt or grief over this plan, but something was off today. In his thoughts, he started to wonder about Shinji, his only true child. Was it fair of him to use his son as a tool for his schemes? The commander shook off his feelings. It shouldn't have mattered what role Shinji played in the grand scheme of things. Instrumentality was for the betterment of mankind. Still, it wouldn't hurt anything to see how his son was doing. He looked up at the clock seeing that Shinji's school still wouldn't be out for another few hours
The young Ikari had finally finished his run for PE, coming in last again. Placing his hands on his knees as he hunched over, the boy breathed heavily, trying to recover from his running. While he was in considerably good shape for his age, Shinji barely had any stamina in his body. Sure he was thin but he was never an active boy, only ever doing the bare minimum that was required of him. "Whenever you're ready Ikari!" The PE Teacher sarcastically yelled from the side of the track causing the brunette boy to nervously discompose. "R-Right, y-yes sir. Sorry sir!" He quickly yet miserably lumbered his way over to the sitting area where the entire male populace of the class was impatiently waiting for him. He kept his sights to the ground, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.
Soryu finished her run, originally having come first, she did more than was required of herself, four miles more in-fact. It eased her mind to run, but she never considered a sport, nor did she do it when not needed. Second place belonged to Hikari, and Rei had come sixth, rather surprising considering they stayed semi-fit from pilot training. Asuka and Hikari had sat down already, with the rest of the girls that had already finished, being impressed with Asuka's display of athleticism, it was her goal to catch their attention, she wanted to be like a trophy that they could look at, but not touch. As Hikari droned on about things she enjoyed or liked, trying to make conversation with the girl who had reached out to her, Asuka had tuned her out, albeit an accident, her thoughts ran on about Kaji, and everyone else she had recently met, then Shinji came to mind, Rei had too.
She thought about the boy's attitude, and the way he acted towards Ayanami, she didn't think the bluenette was worth the attention she had garnered from Ikari, she was doll-like, emotionless and careless at all times it seemed to the redhead. As Asuka tuned out Hikari, she looked around to see Rei reading by herself, under the shade of a tree, apparently the PE Teacher didn't care about what anyone did as long as they were done, so it seemed. The redhead stretched her tall figure as she stood up, for the first time in a while, her hair wasn't held up by neural connectors in public. Soryu walked her way towards Rei, her red hair shaking as the sun illuminated her, as if she truly was an object worthy of obsession, it was her goal in the first place. As she neared Ayanami, the pale skinned girl put her book down, not allowing the cover to be seen, she was hiding something from the fiery-tempered German, was she truly that fearful of what she was reading? Asuka put her hands to her side, clenching her fist and looking down on the girl, her legs stretched apart allowing her flexibility to move her upper body, "Rei Ayanami."
Rei stared up at her, not aware of the rather rude way Asuka spoke, her words held a certain volatile energy to them, but Rei was unaware of all the emotions Asuka had currently directed at her, all she knew was that her comfort was interrupted by someone she had never talked to. "What?" She responded bluntly, not sure of how she should respond in the first place, but she was much more sure of herself than the pilot of Unit-01, the same boy she had now taken a sort of liking to. Hikari on the other hand, sat surprised that Soryu had seemingly gotten up out of the blue, and walked to the girl who never socialized with anyone. Seeing it as rather rude, she was a little upset, but would let it go, looking at Asuka, she saw that she'd taken a rather aggressive stance, maybe it was really worth leaving in the middle of a conversation? The redhead stared at Rei, feeling the slight annoyance in her voice, her eyes were normally a nice blue, but now looked like the sight of a demon out of pure anger for the nerve she thought Ayanami had on purpose, it was an understatement to say she was short-tempered.
"How do you feel about Shinji? I've noticed within the first day of being here, that idiot has quite the liking for you, you know that right?" As a small smirk became plastered across her face, she thought that she would gain something against the boy, and maybe even something against Ayanami. At the notice of the question that was sprung without any hint of it, Rei's red eyes widened a little bit, it really did string a thought process in her head, 'How…do I feel about Ikari..?' The question hurt her head, was it even answerable? Was it even something she'd actually know? Rei had shown emotion at the question, something that was obviously extremely rare. While she thought, it felt like forever, but in truth, it was only a couple seconds, she felt… anxious? As if something had fluttered in her stomach at the thought of Shinji, when he visited her… she enjoyed his presence, that was all she knew. "I enjoy Ikari's presence, is that a good enough answer?"
Soryu hated the fact that she hadn't gotten anything out of it, "So would you say… you like him? Or maybe even love him?" Asuka knew she had to get a straight answer, or Rei would prove that she truly was a doll, either way, she would get something out of it. Again, Ayanami pondered her question, 'What is love? What does it mean to like or love someone?' Rei had continued to think and think about it, leaving Soryu to stand there for a couple seconds, in the pure silence of the corner. "Liking someone is good… correct? I guess you could say I like Ikari." Ayanami had no clue that she had accidentally proven Asuka right, and it would be a rather regrettable decision for all three of the pilots, "Goodbye, Ayanami." Asuka smiled smugly, walking back to Hikari and taking her seat beside her once again, school was now almost over, they only had the rest of this class, then they'd be free to change back into they're uniforms, and begin going home.
"What'd you say to her?" Hikari's voice was inherently nice in nature, she never seemed to have any issues with anyone, ever. "I asked her about Ikari, and it was well worth it." As Soryu finished her words, the bell rang, it was more than loud enough to be heard outside, of course the boys ran they're way to the locker-room, the rougher ones did at least, Shinji on the other hand, still stood alone, it seemed as if someone needed to snap him out of whatever trance he had trapped himself in. Asuka and Hikari headed towards the entrance to the girls locker-room, Rei soon followed, although making sure to stay behind, not wanting to deal with people. Soryu entered the room, swiftly changing, even her fit frame was better than the others, then again, it was apart of the goal she wanted socially, as she finished putting her uniform back on and gathering her things into her bag, she was tempted to leave Ikari alone on his walk home, but instead, the young girl awaited his arrival at the entrance of the school, knowing he wouldn't take long.
As with most things he had control over, Shinji took his time getting ready, still worn out from the mile he had run. After changing back into his regular school clothing, the brunette let out a relieved sigh. After such an exhausting day he had a nice quiet walk to look forward to. Sure it would be an even bigger strain on his legs but it was tranquil and relaxing which made it all the more worth it for Shinji. He was almost certain that the red haired German would leave him to walk back home alone. It was in this belief that Ikari would be led into the comfort of knowing that he would have some time to himself before having to deal with the girl for a while. This comfort was quickly robbed from him as he was greeted with the voice of the very girl he wished to avoid for the time being. "Hallo Shinji!" Her voice was tender but teasing. Deciding not to be rude he decided to greet her back. "Oh. Hello Asuka. How was your day?" His voice was friendly yet a bit fearsome. She was being nice but the boy knew there was something she had in store for him. Asuka began to walk, assuming the nervous wreck of a boy would follow her, to which he did, she couldn't blame him though, he'd probably beat himself up over something. "It was rather nice, especially without your presence during PE." She snickered to herself a little, she wouldn't consider herself a 'bully', she always saw it as joking around, but maybe he didn't. "But how was yours, idiot?" She kept her face forward, not feeling a need to turn her attention around to the boy. "Um… It was alright I guess..." He lied, trying not to offend the girl as she did him. In all honesty the day was actually rather unsatisfactory, largely due to the very red head he was walking with. Soryu knew he didn't enjoy PE, in-fact a good bit of girls gossiped about the boys and which ones were rather wimpy, Shinji often came up in that conversation. The two had begun walking, with little conversation sprinkled in-between.
Rei Ayanami had begun her walk home faster than Asuka had even gotten to the entrance gates of the school. The blue haired and pale skinned girl rather disliked thinking, it was hard, an unexplainable type of hard too, but she pondered about Shinji anyways, 'What does Shinji think of me? Does he love me? Or care for me in any way? What is it like to care for someone? Was it like when he saved me and I smiled? Was it the pain I felt when he cried?' The book Rei was reading offered no lesson on what it felt like to love, but she was still so intrigued whilst she walked. What if Shinji truly was her first love? Or only love she'd ever have? Commander Ikari would know what to do, after all he was Shinji's father so it only made sense that he would know how to logically treat the situation. Before she knew it, Rei had arrived home, or rather, the brutalist apartment she called home. Ayanami walked in, locking the door behind her and laying her bag beside her wall, she continued forward into the apartment, undressing herself and leaving the clothes on the floor, aside from her bra and panties. The young bluenette laid her pale body onto the white bed, reading, as she did all day, everyday.
As the walk back to Misato's apartment came to a close, the sun had begun to set. It brought much more detail to Asuka's features, she held hopes Ikari would notice them, she was rather jealous in a way, of the constant attention Rei received, she hoped to change it. Asuka walked in, still being ahead of Shinji, she was a little surprised Misato had left the door unlocked but then again, none of them had a key besides her. Soryu walked in rather fast, allowing the door to slowly drift closer and closer to closing before Ikari stopped it with his hand, "Thanks for holding the door, Asuka…" the brunette muttered to himself, rather tired with the day and the conversations they had, but he found himself to find a sort of comfort in them all the same. The redhead marched her way to her room, before she closed the door as she entered, slightly regretting the fact she left it open all day, she peaked her head out at Shinji. "I'm getting changed, don't peak or I'll kill you, pervert." And with that, Asuka closed the door, swiftly making her way to the dresser that held her more casual clothing, reserving the closet for dresses and the like. Pulling out a light waterish green t-shirt, and black and white shorts that fit her frame rather well, coming up around her waist. She quickly undressed, allowing her uniform to fall to the floor, she slid the shorts on, and the t-shirt, they seemed to be tucked into her shorts, fitting rather snugly, she then picked up her uniform, and exited her room, Shinji on the other hand, was still dressed in his school uniform, but Asuka thought nothing of it, instead she walked her way to the laundry basket, and tossed her things in, meeting Shinji in the living room where he sat on the couch, his bag between his legs. Soryu took a seat on the opposite side of the couch, her arm propped up on the arm of the couch, allowing her head to stay up, and with that, Asuka dropped a bombshell on the boy. "Ya know, the first children likes you, or are you too idiotic to see that already?" Soryu attempted to keep her face straight, slightly smirking whilst awaiting the boy's answer; she knew he'd be rather stunned, but it was worth it.
It took a moment to register in the brunette's mind, what she had said traveled through one ear and out the other the first time he heard it, but then it replayed over and over in his thoughts, until his face turned very visibly red. "W-What?!" Shinji's bag now in his hands, he clenched it as a sort of reassurance of what he was hearing, 'There's no way she'd like me… She's just lying is all.' "T-that's not t-true Asuka! Your l-lying to m-me!" He shouted at her, hoping it'd confuse or stun her to try and visibly show he was right. But it didn't, she stayed perfectly still, unmoved and unaffected by his yelling, "Then why'd she tell me she does?" She smugly smirked at the boy as she looked in his direction, knowing that it'd either ruin his chance of a romantic relationship with her or make one, but her gamble was on the former, she just hoped her want for attention didn't turn to genuine feelings for the boy. Shinji physically recoiled at her words, surprised Rei would say that to Asuka of all people, they had literally just met after all, "She just doesn't know what that means! She doesn't actually l-like me, Asuka!" He turned his head away, upset with Asuka's words. She just wanted a rise out of him, that was all.
Surprisingly, the boy was actually correct in his thinking. It was obvious to tell that Soryu took pleasure in her teasing of the boy. But where there was pleasure, there was also a slight tad of jealousy. How was Shinji getting so flustered over just speaking about Rei? As he shouted, she let out a disappointed sigh "Such a shame that you're such an idiot" Not allowing him to retorte, she decided to experiment, placing her long, exposed legs on his lap, causing the boy to freeze, his face turning blood red. "Oh? Is there something wrong, Shinji?" She couldn't help but grin to herself. 'So it seems that idiot Shinji isn't immune to my charms after all. No surprise there though.' It was easy for her to admit that seeing the boy stuck in place from her small advances, gave her a devilishly giddy feeling. Shinji on the other hand felt shivers that he was unable to act upon. Hellish shivers that crawled down his spine. What was she doing? Wasn't she just trying to convince him that Rei liked him? His thoughts of Rei disappeared with just a slight shift of Asuka's legs. He swallowed hard as his eyes moved right from the legs that lie atop his. Trailing her thin yet fit form.
The boy just couldn't understand her temptations. His labored breathing only made that more apparent. "W-What are you...What are you doing A-Asuka…" The girl hid her giddiness, playing dumb to her affect on him. "Hm? I'm just resting my feet. I hope it doesn't bother you too much." She had him right where she wanted him, seeing his eyes work their way up her body. This was what she wanted. To be truly seen. Sure, she had to work harder to get him all rattled than that doll Rei, but it didn't matter. In the end, She had his full attention.
Shinji swallowed hard before feeling the lust growing in his pants, causing him to jump from the couch "I-I-n-need to make dinner!" The helpless boy yelped as he scampered back to his feet. Asuka allowed a sinister smirk to emerge after Ikari turned his back to her. 'So maybe he's just easy to fluster. What a helpless child.' Satisfied with how her experiment went, Asuka decided to listen to music on her S-DAT, resting her eyes. Shinji on the other hand was wide eyed in the kitchen. His shaky hands struggled a bit to open cabinets and for that reason he decided on ramen.
The night from then on would remain uneventful with Shinji and Asuka eating food in awkward silence. Ikari still couldn't understand what was going on, but he still attempted to move past it, deciding that the best course of action would be to let the night carry on frigidly as it had been, avoiding eye contact with the girl and trying to keep his thoughts off of the topic of her. Asuka herself was in the shower at the moment, leaving Shinji to watch a movie on the couch. It was a monster movie from the west that had been released last year. He was actually intrigued by it, seeing the lizard monster fight, what he could guess, were bug monsters. Each mighty blow delivered by the monsters made the boy tighten his fist harder in anticipation for what would come next, before his view was blocked off by the very girl he had finally managed to take his mind off of.
She stood in front of him, taking a look at the movie for herself. He peaked over her body, too excited to wait for her to move. He barely caught a sight of the lizard monster swinging his tail into one of the bug monsters flying at him. An unconscious smile formed on his face from the action. Asuka turned around to see this, a scowl already forming on her face. "How can you even enjoy this stuff? Honestly, we do the same thing that's happening there and from what I hear, all you do is whine and mope about it." She critiqued the boy more than the movie. In truth she found the movie interesting as well, but chose her pride and antics over momentary enjoyment.
Having a feeling she wanted something, the boy sighed out loud. "What do you want Asuka?" He didn't care to address her criticism as he would rather be able to enjoy the rest of the movie.
Deciding to ignore his arrogance, she asked "I just wanted to know if Misato was home yet." She stated in a questioning tone. Ikari just kept trying to watch the monster movie, giving a barely attentive reply. "No, I think she's staying late tonight too." His response offered Asuka a reason to grin at him. "So…We have the house all to ourselves then?" She questioned in a confident tone. From what she observed, most boys would lose their minds over that, but all Shinji could do was nod and grunt in agreement, leaving her to debate whether he even listened to her or not. "You're so boring, Shinji. I might as well go to bed if this is the entertainment I'm to be given for the rest of the night." She huffed out aggressively, turning to go to her room. All Ikari did was keep his focus on the movie. "Good night." He lamely replied back to her. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by this, but this was just her being her usual self. She just wanted him to feel bad and in all honesty it worked behind the untainted exterior he was showing.
Hours had passed since he had said good night, yet Shinji was unable to fall asleep. He laid on the floor tonight, finding the couch too cramped for comfort, but it wasn't the floor that caused his discomfort tonight. It was his own mind that did. His thoughts were plagued by Asuka now. How could one day with the girl leave such a lasting effect on him? Other than Ayanami he'd never felt so weird. Only, with Rei their intimate interactions were by accident, with Asuka they were purposeful. He had such a weird feeling in his stomach thinking that he just wasn't sure how to contain it. His music did very little to help, although he would have some songs from America arrive soon so maybe trying to translate those would help take his mind off of it.
His incessant thinking was stopped by the sliding door opening, revealing the light from what was once Shinji's room. He could feel What he could guess were Asuka's footsteps drawing near. He forced his eyes shut, not wanting to be caught awake by the 2nd children. 'What is she doing? She just needs to use the bathroom right?' His thinking was rational and realistic until he felt something drop in front of him. His eyelids would unlatch ever so slightly, only to jolt open with the sight of Soryu beside him, staring. "A-Asuka…" The boy breathed out astonishedly, letting his cover be blown, causing her to let out a brief and barely audible chuckle before sighing. "So you're still awake. Can't sleep either, huh?" He tried to find some words to say but all he could push out of his throat was "N-No...I can't…" A small ghost of a smile took form on her face, glad that she finally found one thing they had in common. "So what keeps you up at night, idiot Shinji?" She yawned between her. For some reason she found laying near the boy on a floor of all things much more relaxing.
Ikari couldn't help but blush. Was she actually interested in talking to him? "I-I-g-guess I've always had t-trouble s-sleeping…I-I've never really known why." He choked out his lie horribly. Shinji knew perfectly that his lack of sleep started when his mother disappeared and his father abandoned him. Sleep deprivation was just one of the many unconscious side effects that would last his whole life because of that. It was an unconscious side effect they both shared, but they wouldn't tell each other that. After a few moments of silence the boy spoke up, a hint more relaxed, staring back into her eyes now. "What about you?" His optimistic question put a pessimistic expression on Asuka's face. "Well aren't you quick to assume I like you enough to tell you something so personal." She lightly scowled, rolling her eyes before flicking his nose softly.
As per usual, her words bewildered him. '...I like you enough...'? 'Does that mean she really likes me? As a friend right? Of course it's as a friend! Don't be stupid! You barely know her and you're already thinking dumb thoughts...' His thoughts ran rampant with his unsuccessful attempt to keep a straight face. Asuka found his facial struggling cute, letting her scowl ease into content. "You have a funny face, Ikari, you should keep it that way." She yawned out, making the boy look away with a blush, which in turn, caused her to smile briefly before closing her eyes. "I'm sleeping here tonight, kay?" She quietly stated, certain that he wouldn't object to it.
"O-Okay…" was all he could say.. He found himself pathetically unnerved again. His heart was doing everything in its power to escape his chest, yet he couldn't even manage to look at the source of his distress. Time would pass and It would feel like an eternity before Asuka sounded like she was asleep.
Finally having the courage to look, Shinji's sights wearily traveled down to the girl in front of him, until he met her resting face. It seemed so calm and tranquil compared to her usual expressions. Her breathing was relaxed and gentle. Taking advantage of her sleeping state, Ikari had a chance to properly take in and appreciate Asuka's beauty. He couldn't deny she was a sight to behold, worship even. His eyes drifted down to her pale lips. There was a slight opening between them, allowing her to breathe so freely. That's when the idea came to the boys head. Maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing to take advantage of this situation a little more...
Allowing his curiosity to hold his decency prisoner, he leaned towards her face. His heart attempting yet another escape as he inched closer to her face, he pursed his lips out like he had seen in so many movies from the west. He was gonna do it. He was gonna kiss a girl for the first ti-
"Don't even think about it, idiot." She muttered, somehow knowing what his plans were. His entire body shifted backwards in a second. In only a moment he would be laying on his back, staring up to the ceiling. "I-I'm…I'm sorry…" he forced out of himself. 'I'm so stupid. Why am I so stupid?!' His self threatening thoughts actually helped cope with the long uncomfortable silence that would remain for the rest of the night. Eventually his thoughts would dim along with his sight as sleep began to take hold, ending the long day.