The sun was now out and the rain had stopped falling due to the Lance of Longinus' parting of the clouds from its immense speed.
In the streets were retrieval crews preparing Unit-02 for transfer to the Eva cages. The machinery and alarms nearly drowned out the everlasting buzz of the cicadas.
On a rooftop near the Eva, Shinji stood behind a long piece of yellow and red caution tape, separating him from Asuka.
He looked at her form, she was small, like trying to disappear from the world. It was a night and day difference from how she used to be, standing tall and proud letting the world know she existed.
He'd been there for a few minutes, trying to think of what to say. Though he'd heard her cries over the comm channel he still had no idea what he could say to her.
One of his first thoughts was 'I'm glad you're okay.' but then he thought that sounded stupid, she couldn't be okay.
A high pitched alarm sounded and Shinji could hear men shouting down below. Shortly after, Unit-02's body began sinking into the ground.
'Now or never,' he thought.
Taking a few glances around for any Section Two agents, Shinji took a tentative step over the tape. His foot dropped into a puddle, making a quiet splash. He continued on until he was next to Asuka.
Ahead of them the chest of Unit-02 began passing by.
He still hadn't thought of anything meaningful to say. A few seconds that felt like eternity passed, still nothing. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, still nothing.
'Just say something, anything'
"...hey."
Asuka gave no response other than a slight movement of her head to acknowledge his presence.
The head of Unit-02 was now dropping by their rooftop. It gave him an idea.
"It's kinda weird seeing the real thing up close after we built that model," he looked down at her, she still had her head buried in her knees.
"Makes it feel like the Eva isn't so big," she still made no notion of replying so he continued.
"Also makes the Eva feel more like a toy, even though I know it's not."
"Why are you here?" Her voice was muffled but it made no difference.
"What?" He certainly wasn't expecting her to ask that.
"Why are you still here," she turned to look him in the eyes, he met her gaze
"Why wouldn't I be?"
She looked away, pain in her face that she didn't want him see.
"Just go away, it'll be better if you do."
He sighed, and sat down next to her.
"Mr. Kaji told me once, that I have to make a decision, so that I'll have no regrets later," he turned to give her his full attention, she looked towards him in return.
"I'm deciding that I'm not leaving you alone Asuka."
She looked away and mumbled her first thoughts.
"Just sitting there won't make me feel less alone."
"What?" Shinji heard, but pretended he didn't.
"Why? All I've ever done is be rude to you, yet you only respond with kindness. Why? Why do you still care about me?"
He took only a second to think of what he needed to do.
"I... I don't know Asuka, but." he put his arm around her, giving a half hug. "I don't want you to suffer alone. You matter to me. I... like you." She stiffened at both his touch and his words.
After a moment her body began being wracked by quiet sobs. Her tears falling onto the concrete of the roof.
"Thank you, idiot." Her voice was small, but it held genuine appreciation, and none of the malice that she would usually force into her words.
Shinji tightened his hold on her.
"You're welcome," he paused, and smiled at his next words. "And you're welcome for your gift too, I'm glad it meant a lot."
A few short laughs broke her sobs.
"Jerk." She smiled and leaned into his embrace.
Decided this could use a really short second part that shows how a kind gesture would affect Asuka's reactions in post arael.
A huge thanks to hydrationstation he helped me a ton with pacing and details, aswell as sheriffjohnstone for beta reading.