Don't look. Just hug
#This is a very short story, based on drawings created by artist CC, A mini-script of sorts. Enjoy and please support CC's drawings!
It's a tiny bath room of less than five square meters. The wooden barrel sat in the corner got rotten around the edges, and the nearby floor had dark stains from long term water condensation, making one wondered if Kensuke ever used this bath room in the last six months. The shower sprinkler was old and discharged little water, spraying out to an area the size of Shinji's chest. Shinji stood in silence, trying to empty his mind, but he couldn't help but to recall Asuka's naked body.
Asuka, naked, drinking water.
Asuka, naked, playing video games.
Asuka, naked, brushing pass him, and of course...
Asuka, naked, exiting the bathroom. The silver stream of water droplets dripped from her drenched hair running down to her smooth back, down to her gluteal muscles, to her hind legs, down to the hollows behind her knees, down to the soleus muscles of her calf, down to her heels, and finally melted into the damp floor.
"Asuka ..."
Shinji whispered. He seemed unaware of what his hands are doing, He fully absorbed in a vision of her, where she kept to herself, as if treating him like air.
"Don't look back," he said, "don't look back at me."
Asuka hung her plugsuit on the drying pole and wrapped herself in a bath towel, leaving only a vague peek of her cleavage. Shinji stared at it.
"Why?" He said, "You're obviously prettier than anyone."
He held his head up to the shower sprinkler, the movement of his hands still not stopped. The water sprayed on his face, creating million tiny stimulations. His moans were buried in the clattering sound of splashing water.
After he called out her name one last time, there was a sudden chill behind him, as the bath room door being pushed open. He stiffened and let go of his hand.
"You're such a noisy slow-poke."
Shame crept up along his lower body. He didn't dare to move, just tightly bent together his knees.
"You heard all that?"
"I been waiting for you to finish."
Shinji's knees clenched even tighter. "I'll be quick." The air was hot as the water spraying over his head. It was impossible to tell if it was his own burning blush or the heat of the water.
"Do you ..." he heard her voice, piercing through the fragile curtain of water, "do you need my help?"
He almost couldn't steady himself. "What?"
"Rather than your dirty and unrealistic fantasies," Asuka stepped in closer, "it would be more efficient to leave the job to me." Shinji hoped the wall in front of him could suddenly come down, so he could run and hide far enough away where Asuka couldn't catch up.
Her hand reached for where his had been, and the water fell on her hand forming many transparent circles. Shinji gave a short yelp. "... Don't you hate me?"
"If I hate you, how would one punch be enough."
As she started jerking up "the thing", Shinji stared at her fingers, as if each one of them had a mind of its own. He was experiencing stimulation hundreds of times more exciting, He arched his back under waves of pleasure, and in doing so, naturally pressed against her breast. He drew in another breath, and his body tensed up. Asuka wrapped her arms around his chest. "Don't move, it's slippery." Instead, her hand kept pinching and tweaking his nipple. Shinji was breathing ever more heavily. He didn't know which her hand's craft he should admire, or whether he should let himself be immersed in this full-blown pleasure of being "helped" by her. Her breath also lapping against his earlobe, creating rhythmic waves of comfortable dizziness. He leaned almost completely against her, she didn't say a word, just silently concentrating on the job at hand. She was calmer than him on this sort of thing. She had no sexual desire (don't ask how he knew that), but she was surprisingly skilled at this, and he was curious to ask, but didn't want to spoil this precious intimate moment. She was giving him a gift, and the only thing he could do was to submit to her gratefully. But if he did exactly what she wanted, they would soon be done with this wonderful intimacy - the pleasure would be all and only his.
"How long do you need?" Asuka asked, "I think it's been long enough."
"Uh ... soon."
She was silent. After another minute ticked by, he finally ejaculated. He leaned back and let the water wash over his lower body. As Asuka released him, he raised his arm up and flung onto hers without a thought. "Don't."
"What ...?"
"Don't let go. I mean, please...please leave it there for a little while...stay, just a little longer."
"You are such a troublesome brat." As she said so, her hand steadily wrapped around him, the other hand went to his abdomen. He raised his elbow so she could lean up more and he could interlace her hand.
"Do you think I'm cold?" Asuka asked.
"It's okay."
"I can't tell my own body temperature sometimes." She said, "I'm not afraid of either cold or heat, of course I can feel the temperature all around me, I just ... can't feel my own."
"I think ... putting your hand on an ice cube, if it melts faster, that will show you are warm."
"Can you call it warm when it is warmer than ice?"
"What about ...," Shinji thought for a moment, "warmer than my heart?"
She froze.
The next thing he knew - if it is not an illusion - Asuka's arms tightened around him, and he could hear her pulse. Even with the 9th Angel inside of her, he believes she is still human. Because he is human, the throbbing he got from Asuka is real.
It was an argument full of logical flaws. Shinji just chose to believe it with all his heart.
"Why do you want me to do this?" Asuka paused for a moment, and asked, "Aren't you shy?"
"I'm scared."(The first character in kanji for "scared" and "shy" in Chinese is the same.)
"Oh, I forgot you're a timid little brat who sought warmth inside your mother's breast."
"No!" Shinji denied desperately, and grabbed Asuka's hand. "You should understand that I'm not afraid of those things anymore. Otherwise I wouldn't have come back."
"Then why..." She was aware of Shinji's hand gripping hers tightly, like she would dissipate into the humid air and become a formless, weightless cloud, another one of his phantom dreams.
She hesitated for a moment.
"Shinji, I... I'm scared, too."
After that, there was a long silence until the headlights of a coming jeep outside shone into the air vent. Some cicadas began to chirp.