Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion, because that belongs to Studio Khara and Gainax. If I did, people wouldn't like what I'd do with it.


HANDWARMERS

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Look at all of this!"

Despite her frequent abrasive attitude, Asuka Langley Soryu wasn't entirely immune to her moments of childlike glee. She mostly kept them restricted to within a certain unshaven man's presence, but at this moment she was justified.

All throughout the streets and sidewalks of Tokyo-3, snow carpeted every surface, and continued to float down from the sky. Japan was in the middle of its first winter since before Second Impact. From what meteorologists worldwide were able to tell, the Earth's seasonal cycle had been drastically lengthened, rather than paused, as they had thought before. What that meant was all the children born after Second Impact would have time to themselves to experience what snow was like and forget about the war being fought around them.

Asuka was managing to accomplish that quite well through the art of retail therapy and making Shinji carry everything.

As Asuka ooh-ed and ahh-ed at all the white, Shinji drew his rough wool scarf around his face. The winter clothing market had all but died after Second Impact, so all the warm clothing he and Asuka wore was borrowed from NERV's storage. The second they both laid eyes on their jackets, Asuka immediately made it her mission to go and replace the "dusty old tarps" with more comfortable, modern, stylish winter clothing.

As Shinji watched Asuka marvel at the descending flakes, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself a little. Unfortunately for his health, Asuka managed to hear him. She stopped and wheeled around to glare at him.

"Are you laughing at me?" Shinji felt a chill go through him, and it wasn't from the snow; more from the edge clearly detectable in her voice.

"No- no! It's just... I-I don't think I've ever seen you like this before."

"Like what?" Asuka pressed. The hole Shinji was digging was getting deeper.

"L-Like..." Shinji could feel sweat running down his neck. 'Happy? Joyful? Carefree? How do I tell her witho-'

"*gasp* I just had an idea!" Asuka suddenly lost the intimidating chill as a spark lit up her eyes.

"W-What?"

"Here, hold this!"

Asuka dashed past Shinji and pushed something into his chest, causing him to drop the bags he'd been holding for her as he rushed to catch it. She came to a stop next to a short little tree that someone had filled with lights.

"Quick! Get a picture of me for Kaji! He'll love this!"

Shinji looked at the item in his hands. NERV had recently perfected miniaturized camera tech down to a cellphone size for better portability during missions. Asuka marched down to NERV's R&D department and requested a unit for herself as soon as she heard it existed, as well as demanding they find a way to combine it with her cellphone.

Shinji took hold of the camera with numb fingers and started to point the camera at Asuka. She struck a pose reminiscent of some schoolgirls he'd seen in some anime: eyes closed, peace sign with one hand, one leg kicked behind her, a wide smile...

The smile across Asuka's face was as radiant as the lights in the tree next to her. Shinji had a brief moment of lament, since he knew that the smile would never be for him. Recently, he'd come to realize that he'd been developing some sort of feeling for the German redhead, but how do you bring that up with someone like Asuka? The way she would shut down any advances towards her, only wanting a "real man", as she put it... there's no way she'd ever consider someone like Shinji, he thought. And with that, Shinji brought the camera up to eye level and lined up Asuka in the viewfinder.

Now... what button was he supposed to press?

The rear of the camera was adorned with a dial with some hieroglyphics depicting... something? There were also several buttons which Shinji assumed were for setting different image parameters, but he didn't know how they worked. The fact that the cold was steadily stiffening Shinji's bare hands did not help one bit.

As Shinji tried to fiddle and fumble with the unfamiliar device, he didn't notice Asuka's smile slowly wither into a look of annoyed anger. Eventually she marched back over to Shinji and snatched it out of his grasp.

"Is this really that diffi- Hold on a second..." Asuka started to rant, but cut herself off as she seemed to feel something... not quite right.

Shinji's eyes were still wide from the surprise repossession of the camera. "Wha-"

Asuka removed her gloves and sandwiched Shinji's left hand in between both of her hands, immediately withdrawing with a short yelp. "Gott! Your fingers are freezing! Where the hell are your gloves, Third?!"

"Ah... I never... got any? I'm wearing everything Misato dug out of the storage for me."

"Hm... Nice to know that you're cold and a dummkopf. Come on! Can't have you piloting EVA with frostbite!"

"Asu- whoa!" In no time, Asuka seized Shinji's hand and started dragging him down one of the outdoor thoroughfares. Shinji nearly forgot to pick up Asuka's bags again.


Unfortunately, none of the clothing stores that Asuka liked to frequent had any real winter clothing stocked, since the snow had arrived with short notice. Eventually though, Asuka skidded to a stop in front of a less-frequented shop on the avenue. There was a small stall out in front loaded with warm jackets, scarves and winter accessories. And they had just what she was looking for.

"Hi there!" She spoke to the man running the stall. "I need help finding a pair of gloves for my friend here."

The shopkeeper pointed Asuka to the selection of gloves, eager to make a sale. Asuka looked over what was available and picked out one pair. She pulled Shinji a few steps closer by the hand and started putting on the gloves for him.

"Asuka, I-I can do that myself."

"You let your fingers get so cold, I'm surprised they haven't broken off. I'd be surprised if you could do anything for yourself, Third Child. Now give me your other hand!" Shinji obliged her very quickly as she slid the other glove on. "...How do those feel?"

Shinji flexed and curled his fingers inside the gloves. Already they were starting to warm back up. But the gloves were more like something that'd be worn for skiing, or an expedition to Siberia. A bit too much for everyday use.

"Um..."

"Okay, so not those." In one swift motion, Asuka whipped the gloves off of Shinji's hands and replaced them back where she took them from. Another few repetitions of this, and Shinji settled on a pair of gloves that allowed him enough movement that he felt comfortable, and also had enough padding that his fingers were kept warm. Shinji paid for his gloves and a scarf he liked, and the two were on their way.

Asuka started to gush more about the snow, and Kaji, and lamenting that they'd somehow lost her "perfect photo opportunity", blaming Shinji as per usual. Shinji was in a totally different headspace, fixating on the words she'd said when they arrived at the clothing stall.

'She said I was a friend...' It wasn't anything close to saying she might consider a date with him or anyone her age, but it was still huge for Shinji, what with his lack of self-confidence and self-worth, and how he felt about her despite their usual interactions. The memory of those words and Asuka's deft fingers running over his hands warmed him more than the gloves did.


A few days later, word was spread around Tokyo-3 that a winter festival was being organized; the citizens had all decided to commemorate the country's first winter in 15 years in style. A good part of the downtown area was set up with food vendors, game booths, and live entertainment. Misato caught wind of this, and immediately sent her two Children off to have fun and put their newly acquired winter clothing to use.

Shinji and Asuka both walked to the festival side-by-side, in total silence. Things had gotten... strange since the shopping trip. Asuka had stopped berating Shinji for every little thing he did, and had been much quieter, in general.

She'd never admit it to anyone, but helping Shinji try on the gloves had left her with a warm, fluttering feeling in her chest that she hadn't been able to squash. The only other person who gave her that feeling was... Kaji.

'Oh no. No. Why?! I'm practically a grown-up! I need a real, grown man like Kaji! ...Right?'

Asuka stole a glance at Shinji. To herself, she'd admit that he wasn't that bad looking, and loyal to a fault. Too loyal, even. The main issue she had with him was that he just accepted everything that was given to him, never stood up for himself, and never offered much in the way of meaningful human interaction. 'If he could show a bit of spine, take what he wants for a change, then- oh shit he's looking at me eyes forward!'

Asuka snapped her gaze back forward as they kept on walking. They rounded one more corner and found themselves in front of the entrance to the festival grounds. They stared in wide-eyed wonder at the lights and the people.

"It's... big." Shinji helpfully pointed out.

"Yeah. Hold on, I need to get my... where'd I put them?"

Shinji turned to see Asuka patting her new jacket all over, getting more frustrated as she moved from pocket to pocket.

"Is... everything okay?"

"Damn it! No it isn't!" Asuka snapped. "I left my stupid gloves back at the apartment!"

Shinji winced. The rail lines weren't built for the snow, so the passenger trains were out of commission throughout the city. They had walked a fair bit from the apartment just to get here, and walking back would mean more of the cold, which wasn't ideal.

Asuka seemed to be reaching that conclusion as well. "Damn it! Now I'm going to have to walk back all the way to the apartment to get them and then walk all the way back and miss out on all the good-"

Asuka froze in place when she felt something new happening. She looked down at her hands to see Shinji had taken hold of one of them. Almost instantly the cold abated in that hand and was replaced with an inexplicable warmth.

She looked up at Shinji to see a vulnerable, sheepish look written across his features, combined with the smallest perceptible smile. 'He took what he wanted, and... he's not backing down. And he hasn't apologized for every little thing in days. Is he...'

Shinji gave her hand a gentle squeeze. 'Okay... I'm not dead yet. That's a good sign.' The time he spent trying on the gloves with Asuka had somewhat cemented Shinji's feelings for Asuka. 'The way I felt after that... I don't think I've ever felt that happy or calm. I want to feel that way again... with you...'

The two children made eye contact. Cerulean met cobalt in the winter night. The warm fluttering resumed in Asuka's chest, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled up into a smile. That smile. The one Shinji thought would never be directed to him. The sight of it widened the smile across Shinji's face.

They laced their fingers together, and turned to enter the winter festival. As they continued inside, they had forgotten all about the cold.

THE END


This was something I wrote for the Asushin Discord's winter fic contest. I was wracking my brain for ideas, and then this idea popped in my head. The rest of the fic manifested in a few hours after that. This was my first attempt at writing romance of any kind, so I hope I did good!

Make sure to check out the other fics with "Asushin Winter" in the title!

Also, I want to thank everyone whose decided to read my fics this year. With the release of the final Rebuild movie earlier this year, and the resurgence of interest in the Eva fandom, I think I picked the perfect time to begin writing fanfiction. I've got plenty of ideas on the backburner, so I hope you'll all stay tuned for whatever comes in 2022! Happy New Year!

Tell me if it's good, or tell me if it's bad. Trolls will get their knees broken with a rusty pickaxe.