Disclaimer : I realize I never did a disclaimer! But I'm not all that witty with them so…Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to it's respective owners at Gainax (as well as any other group that has any sort of privileges over NGE). I am making no money off of this work of pure fiction and I have no authorized rights over any of this material besides the fact that I wrote the following. I do not and never will own Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor do I hope to steal/win the rights in any sort of gamble or card game with it's rightful owners. Thank you and enjoy!

BTW, I apologize beforehand on the short length of this chapter. I wanted to do a cliffhanger and involve the readers a bit. See my lengthy notes at the end of this story.

BONUS CHAPTER 1 : Now that we're together...

Shinji slowly moved his head back, breaking the kiss he and Asuka were sharing. They both slowly opened their eyes and stared into the eyes of the other. Asuka could barely breathe, much less think, and yet at the moment she was more calm and relaxed than she had ever been around Shinji before.

Okay, maybe she wasn't EXACTLY calm. She was excited as hell. Shinji had just KISSED her, after all, for god's sake! But it was the sort of excited that just took over your entire body and left you practically immobile, though instead of being afraid of it like she normally might have been, she embraced it like there was nothing else inside her besides that one emotion.

A smile was starting to spread on Shinji's face. He tried to keep it down but his face wouldn't obey. A minute later, he had a full blown grin on his face and started to chuckle. Asuka snapped out of her reverie quickly. "Hey! What are you laughing about, Shinji-kun!" She said, her voice sounding happy, but still harsh. Hey, just because he was her...boyfriend...now, it didn't mean he'd be getting away with more or anything!

Shinji chuckled again, the mirth showing in his eyes. Shinji was the sort of person easily uncomfortable and positive expressions rarely made the whole way up his face past his mouth. Asuka was sort of shocked and almost stumbled backwards. "I'm just happy, that's all, Asuka-chan." Shinji assured her.

Asuka blushed as a wide smile spread on her face. "Oh, Shin-kun!" She squealed before throwing herself on him in a hug. "You are the sweetest, greatest, most awesome person ALIVE!" She said joyously. She had been sort of afraid he was laughing at her kissing abilities. I mean, it's not like she had gone around practicing for this moment or something weird like that!

Shinji chuckled once more in response and patted her head that was nestled in his chest and ran his fingers through her hair. "So, what do you want to do now?"

Asuka stepped back. "Well..." she said, looking at a clock. "Well, it's only eleven or so..."

Shinji butted in. "Does that rule out going somewhere?"

Asuka looked thoughtful for a second. "Yeah, I don't really like going out in the morning. It reminds me of school too much." She was surprised at how comfortable they were with eachother. Once Hikari had told her that hearing another girl's story had given her a reality check on first kisses.

"Junko-chan said it was so awkward afterwards that she didn't think that the kiss itself--which she said was AWESOME (would you expect that from Takashi-kun?)--was even WORTH it! And that got me thinking...What if me and Touji kissed and he was all weird and silent afterwards? What if he just brushed it off or something?" Hikari had said to Asuka seriously. "But...then I thought..." She continued, a smile breaking. "...That the only reason that Tashi-kun rejected Jun-chan was that he so obviously is interested in boys! Of course, since he likes boys, kissing Jun-chan would be unpleasant!" She giggled. "So I really worked myself out of a fit there! Obviously Touji, who CLEARLY likes girls, will be pleased after a kiss from me (since I, CLEARLY, am a girl)!"

Asuka grinned at the memory. "Hey, just wondering, shouldn't we be calling all our friends and telling them our good news?"

Shinji smiled but shook his head. "Nah. You know that we wouldn't see eachother for hours after that and I just want to hang out with you and let this all totally soak in." He blushed a little. "And Touji and Kensuke would ask me all these weird questions about you, too..." He said quickly.

Asuka grimaced. "EW. Those guys are in love with me or something, I swear!" she half-joked. "They're obsessed with everything I do that even in the least involves you." She smiled sweetly at Shinji. "They must have KNOWN I liked you!"

Shinji blushed, surprised. "And they must have also known that I liked you!" He said as well. Asuka blushed too.

"So, um..." She said, turning her eyes to the floor shyly and tucking some hair behind her ear. "What do you want to do then?"

Shinji looked past her in thought. She loved Shinji's deep-in-thought face because it made him look intense. He is sooooo cute! Asuka squealed inside. And he's all mine, too! Wow...

"Well...now that we're together..." Shinji trailed off. "Now that we're together we can have the perks of a couple." He said, what Asuka thought of as kind of bravely.

"Which perks in particular are you talking about...?" Asuka asked with a sly grin. She had an inkling of what he meant. "Like, you paying for everything I want? You know, there's a dress that I like on sale down at—mmph!"

Asuka was cut off by a pair of lips against her own. Shinji didn't even wait for me to finish speaking! How...actually, she found it oddly attractive at the moment. Sure, it was rude when you're talking about something important, but this was WAY better than the dress she had wanted! She kissed back. Shinji is a REALLY good kisser, for someone so shy!

Shinji muttered against her lips after a moment. "You knew I meant this, Asuka-chan..." he said as if aggravated or annoyed, but she felt him smiling on her lips.

"Of course I knew, I'm not a baka..." She mumbled back with a smile of her own. He laughed a little and leaned back. He then crumpled to the floor, being the sort of person who looked rather delicate and even poised but was still quite clumsy. Asuka gently dropped down beside him while he stared at the television.

"That mecha anime should be coming on soon, y'know, the one with the giant fighting robots?" Shinji said distractedly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side. She smiled contentedly.

"Yeah, I like that show. But the purple robot is totally creeptastic!" She said and they began to watch it together like they usually did on weekends. Asuka vaguely realized that the kiss may have been one of the most life changing things she'd ever do in the long run, but for now it changed surprisingly little. Yet, as she leaned into him, something she never would have done before, she came to the conclusion that although the fact that they were best friends really stopped them from having some sort of tremendous relationship-growth-spurt, there were still all the little things to count. And a relationship is a sum of its parts, not just one sole thing. She looked up, her face tilting so she could kiss his jawbone, distracting him from the show.

Shinji looked down with a hint of surprise, probably not quite used to it yet, but tilted his own head so he could kiss her on the lips once again, forgetting about the anime and the flashing lights of a fight scene. He leaned into her more and more until he actually pushed her onto her back on the floor. As they broke to catch their breath before continuing, she giggled and he gave a short and happy laugh.

But things wouldn't be all fun and games in the Ikari household for much longer.

(((( Oooh, I know you guys wanted me to make another chapter, so here it goes! Now, I wrote this whole story starting at the end of last school year, and just a week ago on this very date in which I am typing this, another year in school officially ended. That means that there has been a whole year since I first started this story and I'm sure you all know how much you change in a year (unless you are but a newborn and you haven't reached 12 months old yet, and in which case, I don't think this fic is exactly APPROPRIATE for you to be "reading"—where's your mama and papa, eh?). Writing this even FEELS different now than it did a few months ago. I hope you find it more mature or something, but it's somewhat awkward for me to do very little with this particular part of the story (since, I hope you've gathered by now, I've been planning three parts) for so long and then come back with gusto and joy at continuing it. And, just so you are aware, I am really glad to be able to milk another chapter, maybe even two if I'm lucky, out of my first mature story. Before this I had been very idealistic about what I was writing and never so bold as to grasp life by the horns and go with it. But now I feel like a real writer and I've written possibly well over three hundred pages by now as a whole! That right there is a novel, my friends. Anyhow, the point is that I am acknowledging that the style may be different, and I'd really like to see from reviews how different you think it is! This is not a ploy to get you to review, either, folks! Though there happen to be a whole mass of you who are viewing but not reviewing. So extra thanks to all those reviews I got, because I truly find them heart warming and I gloated about them to my family for days after I got so many the first night of PtLoOF was uploaded!

Also, if you are pondering Shinji's strange OOC-ness (since I am inclined to say that my Shin-kun has been remarkably as IC as he can be when you subtract the angst) that is all planned out. He returns to fidgety in the second installment, though Asuka is SUPA attached to him like the top of a jam bottle that just wont come off no matter how hard you twist (good analogy, eh?). Shinji is just so sure of himself right now and proud and comfortable with who he is because he didn't even have to change anything about himself for the girls (the ones who count, at least) to be all over him! That's the fundamental important factor in a good relationship, too. So Shinji knows now that he can do whatever he wants because Asuka LURVES him for HIM and he could pick his nose or something and she'd still be absolutely infatuated with him. Not that he's going to. And not that he necessarily thinks Asuka is in love with him. He just knows that Asuka must be feeling something pretty strong for him if she is willing to push the limits of their friendship like that when this sort of thing irrevocably changes how you are around someone, and he absolutely trusts that she knows how important their friendship is. So now you see to the full extent what the title means, because I thought of a few others but this one worked for not only what Asuka was doing, but also for why Shinji accepted it so fast.

Ugh, it's 4:37 am right now and I am far from tired. I'm actually enjoying drawing out this cliffhanger as long as I can! What could possibly break their little love-nest-cuddling? Could it be:

a) Asuka's parents are wondering why she didn't just have Shinji come over to their house since they'd be there and suddenly realize it's because Shinji and Asuka are in some sort of illicit relationship! (Yeah, I BET you were wondering just what was up with Asuka's parents! They weren't at a convention this weekend!)

b) Rei is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder and is now apologetic for ratting on Shinji for looking at her panties. Of course, she catches them "in the act" and rats to the class on Monday about how they really ARE doing it! Or, as the dubbed version goes, "riding the baloney pony"...Eurgh, if there was one way to say having sex that turns you right off, THAT is it. "Oh, baby, I can't fight it any longer, I love you! Ride my baloney pony!" Come on, writer guys, that is DISGUSTING! I couldn't eat bologna sandwiches for weeks because I kept thinking of Shinji!

c) Misato is making out with Kaji in their doorway and mistaking it for her own (because...um...didn't I tell you? Misato and/or Kaji live right next door to the Ikaris! Um, yeah...) and they open the door to get inside and do another one of their infamous fan/pill/blanket/flailing limbs sex scenes but find Shinji and Asuka instead! How awkward!

d) Or maybe, by some odd chance, Kensuke's "COUPLE ALERT!" goes off and he rushes out to tape the two lovebird, just knowing that something is going on! And then Shinji has to knock out his friend and tape over whatever Kensuke catches with some sort of short flick by him and Asuka!

e) Gendo and Yui return early to find Shinji and Asuka making out on the floor and they are like "WHOA." And Shinji and Asuka are like "URM." And Yui laughs as she drags a fuming Gendo out and says something along the lines of "You can't get mad at them for taking advantage of the opportunity, since WE certainly did back at the hotel room!" to which Shinji's response it to promptly DIE.

Give me some feedback! I actually already am pretty sure of which one I will "re-interpret" for this fic but I plan on doing a collection of one shots on the unpicked options if you fans are positive about them! So now that this god-awful, pain-stakingly-annoying-to-write letter from me to you is over, REVIEW! And then the next update should come super fast. Put me on your author alert or you might miss out on some of the hot-from-the-press action! Gods, do I love you guys! You stuck through this note even though it was the same length as the chapter! ))))

Kenzie493