A/N: Hey guys, Chad Commander again. I hope you are all good and healthy; I hope you are eating your veggies. Anyways, I present you all with my latest fic: A Bachelors Dilemma. A fic about Shinji going through college. I hope you enjoy it very much.

Chapter 1: New Faces

A hard thud sound filled the empty apartment room. "That's the last one," Shinji said as he placed his hands on his hips and looked around. The room was dark because the curtains were shut. He went over and opened them, revealing the bustling city. His apartment wasn't the best, but it was livable.

Shinji began to unpack his stuff, which he placed carefully in his room. He did this to leave space for his roommate, who had yet to arrive. Upon picking up a box, inside he noticed a document that was outside its folder. Upon further inspection, he saw it was his letter of admission.

Welcome to Gernhim University

He promptly ripped the letter apart. He looked in disgust as he broke it. His parents had forced him to get an education for an actual professional career; they didn't consider cooking or playing music as a career to live off; they viewed it as the best opportunity to starve and die. They wanted him to be an engineer or biochemist to get a job at his father's company: NERV. I'll show you two. I'll make it big.

Shinji's thoughts were interrupted by knocking. As he opened the front door ever so slightly, a burst of force opened the door, slamming into Shinji. He fell on his backside. "Oh, I am so sorry. Are you hurt?" A calm voice asked.

Shinji raised his gaze and saw a grey-haired, almost albino-like boy extending a hand. "Are you ok?" he asked again.

"Yeah, no worries," Shinji said as he accepted the stranger's hand, being pulled up.

"Sorry for the attack, the box I was carrying almost fell on me because of how heavy it was." The stranger said as he began to extract the box contents. Out of the box came an original Xbox, and Xbox 360, and Xbox One, and that was it. Even Shinji knew it was unrealistic even to own an Xbox Series X.

"Bit of an Xbox fan." Shinji asked, " I am more of a PC guy."

"Well, that's a relief. I think that's better than a Playstation fan," the grey-haired stranger said, "by the way, I never got your name."

"Shinji Ikari, and you are?"

"Kaworu Nagisa, a pleasure to meet you. Hey, do you think you could help me with some boxes I have outside?"

"Oh, sure." Shinji and Kaworu placed the boxes inside the apartment. There was now more box than the room.

"So this is my room, I guess," Kaworu asked as he pointed at one of the doors.

"Yeah, hope you don't mind, I choose the big one because well…" Shinji said as he glanced over his shoulders at the pile of boxes behind him.

Kaworu smiled and nodded. "Well, I'm going to start setting up everything in my room; I want to have everything ready before orientation tomorrow."

Shinji gave a confused look as Kaworu left. "Orientation? You're going too?"

"Yeah, no problem with that right?" he said from within his room, his voice a bit muffled.

"Oh no problem, just asking," Shinji said with a bit of shame. Shinji didn't care much about his studies. He wanted to explore campus and find something worth going to; nonetheless, orientation might provide some info on his search. "Kaworu, I was wondering, you mind carpooling tomorrow?"

"Jesus, I barely got any sleep," Kaworu exclaimed as he drove down the street, Shinji listening next to him, "I think I might need some coffee."

"Well, you did stay up till two A.M. playing Mass Effect," Shinji responded.

"Did you just say Halo is Mass Effect?" Kaworu responded a bit insulted.

"They all blend into the same in my eyes."

"I am going to pretend you didn't say that." Kaworu finished, calming himself down before he went on a rant.

"Well, seriously, what new thing do they bring to the table." Kaworu's anger kept rising. "I mean, Halo has no running, and it is very confusing level-wise; I mean, you could get lost for hours from what I heard since I haven't played them."

Kaworu stopped at a red light and began to look at Shinji slowly. "Let me get this straight, you got into my car and began insulting two of the best games ever, and you haven't even played them!"

Shinji looked terrified as she tried looking for anything else to divert the situation. "Uhm, well…"

BANG

A force made both men move forward. When they turned around, they saw the culprit. "Crap, we've been rear-ended," Shinji said.

Kaworu looked at Shinji with an annoyed look. No shit, captain, obvious. "Yeah, let me go check."

Shinji let out a deep sigh as he realized he didn't need to continue their conversation.

As Kaworu inspected the car, a man came out from the other vehicle. He had a black hoodie and wore black sweatpants. "Ah shit, sorry, man. I didn't look where I was going."

Kaworu smiled. "No worries, the damage wasn't that much, just a scratch."

"Still sorry for the damage. We should exchange insurance and that shit, to be sure."

"Sure," Kaworu took out a notebook from his bag, "what's your name?"

"I am Toji Suzuhara." He said as the grey-haired boy wrote the rest of the information. "Again, sorry for taking your time. Hopefully, I didn't take much time of your day."

"Oh, nonsense, we were just headed to Gernhim University."

Suzuhara looked surprised at the response. "Huh, that's the place we were heading, me and my friend Kensuke."

"Well then, I'll guess we'll see each other later." Kaworu extended his hand and shook Tojis as both men walked back to their cars.

'Well, how did it go?" Shinji asked as he checked his phone; Kaworu glanced and saw he was on Google searching up about Halo and Mass Effect.

"I think we will see them again." As Kaworu drove off, Shinji gave a very confusing look at what he meant by that.

The orientation went on for what felt like hours, as both roommates sat around hearing things about faculties, clubs, security, and a lot of other things Shinji didn't care about. An absolute waste of time. Both got up and left after finalizing the orientation, but Kaworu stopped, almost colliding with a blue-haired girl.

"Oh, I am sorry," he said, ceding the passage for her. The girl didn't respond; she just looked at him, gave a dry smile, and left. Kaworu was left stunned by her beauty, and he felt like she wouldn't leave his head. I hope to see her again, hopefully. As both men drove back to the apartment, Karl noted that Shinji was somewhat unfocused and looked outside the window. He had seen him only pay attention to those that spoke about music or extra courses. Other than that, he didn't care.

"Shinji, I think I know why you broke your letter." He said while looking at the road.

"Really, well, let's hear it, Sherlock; why did I break it?"

"Your parents made you study here; you don't want to be here, you want to become a musician or cook so that you may express yourself in other ways, in ways which your current degree can't. If you don't study, your parents stop giving you support and money, basically disowning you. So that's my conclusion."

Shinji's eyes were widened, and his mouth was opened. "If you don't close it, a bug will fly in."

"How did you figure it out? Must have taken you a while; I mean, we only known each other for a day."

"Oh, that? It only took some minutes; I thought about it now."

"Really, well damn. By the way, what are you studying, Kaworu?"

"Psychology. This explains why I can understand people so well; I would say it's a gift and a curse."

"No shit, you broke my code in only minutes. Well, Kaworu, you know what I will call you, Karl. How does that sound?"

Kaworu looked at Shinji as they both looked and laughed at the name. "I don't think it's a bad one, Karl it is."

"Great, what do you say we get some pizza, Karl."

"Sure." Both men stopped at a pizzeria and ate. Their day had been one filled with surprises, especially interactions. The next day would be their first day of college education, a new world of challenge and opportunity.