AN: Better late than never?...ok, just jump to the chapter.
Things were quiet for once in the household, everyone was sitting down at the table, things were quiet, no world-ending threats, no scheming secret organizations, no...
"WAAH?! I can't go on the trip?!"And just like that, a perfectly good can of tea suffered Shinji's silent wrath..may it rest in peace, may it rest in peace indeed. "Why?!"
"Because you're on standby for combat duty" As expected, we really can't have nice things, can we? Thought the young man as he cleaned away the mess he'd made without either of the two others noticing.
"You never told me something like that!"
"I just did."Okay, he had to admit, asshole move.
"Who the Hell decided that!"Misato herself he'd guess, she was in charge after all.
"Me, the Operations planning manager."Yup, he hated when he was right. Asuka straightens herself and looks at him, turns out staying still doesn't make one invisible.
"And you, stop standing there and say something, be a man!"He sighs, what exactly was he supposed to say 'hey Misato, yer being a cunt' yeah, for some reason he thought that wouldn't go over well.
"Well, I expected this to be honest."
"And so you're just going to give up."
"Yeah, nothing I can do so I guess I'll just lay down and die...shit that's depressing now that I think about it."Depressive indeed. I need a drink...or fifty.
"Anyway."Misato continued. "You can take the time to study, or do you think I didn't know about these"To be honest I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out. It wasn't that he was bad at school, it was that he couldn't give a damn, his schedule was bad enough without the added weight of bothering to study for things he'd learned years ago.
"Well, it's not like these old school grading systems mean anything to me!"Preach it, sister.he would have said it out loud but technically and legally speaking he didn't have the same education she had.
"You know what they say when in Rome do as the Romans do."He did suppose Misato had somewhat of a point, even if it was a pain to have to study, at least with the 2 others in vacation he wouldn't have to train them as well as everything else.
Physics, ah his old enemy struck yet again, this was theoretically easy, but theory often proved disappointing in reality and as such Shinji simply threw his head back and groaned. Fuck physics. Which was ironically enough what he did every time he got into an Evangelion.
"What are you doing, Shinji-Kun?"He looks at her.
"Wondering what the most effective method to kill oneself is and studying physics,but mostly the first."He replied jokingly, mostly at least.
"So, big shot student has some difficulties after all"He sighed.
"Well, it's not lik-"as he pulled his head back to its normal position he was meet with the image of Asuka in a swimsuit,Shinji thought it was a pleasant image, indeed a very pleasant image.
"Ta-da, since I can't go scuba diving in Okinawa I'll do it here!"She says excitedly.
"Really now?"He asks, She nods.
"What are you working on? Let me see" She leans in, he had a very good view of her...assets, but as the gentleman, he was or at least attempted to be he manages to pry his eyes away and onto the screen. He was astounded, to say the least at the ease through which she did the problems on it. "You can't solve such an easy problem as this? There, here you go"
"Wow, impressive, how did you solve something like this."He knew of course of her education, even still with the same if not a better one Shinji had difficulties doing the same thing, leading to believe he was simply stupider.
"Well, I've already gone to college!"She sounded so proud that he couldn't really do anything but fake surprise.
"College, that's amazing!"She gave a proud grin puffed out her chest and gave it a small punch. "But I do have to ask, why are your grades so bad if that is the case?"
"That's because I can't understand the questions, I still don't know all the Kanji."She says
"Well, I can help you with that."It was only fair really, she'd helped him and he'd help her, he also enjoyed spending time with her, even if she liked to call him an idiot on a constant basis.
"Really?"The look on her face made her suspicion clear. "What's the catch,baka-kun?"He laughed at the 'nickname' she gave him.
"No catch, I promise."She continues eyeing him suspiciously for a few more seconds before making a soft 'hmm' and pointing at the screen.
"What does this one say?"He looked at the screen before looking back at her with a response.
"Something about thermal expansion, never my strong suit."He replied truthfully
"Eh? Thermal Expansion, that's kid's stuff"He really would like to know what she considered 'adult stuff'..that sounded kind of perverted now that he thought about it. "Simply putting it things expand when they get hot and shrink when they get cold."
"Okay know for a fact your oversimplification, but sounds easy in theory"But you know what they say about theory.
"If I were to warm up my breasts do you think they'd grow bigger?"Was she teasing him...she was.
"I'd say their already right about the best size."She looked away from him with a slight blush.
"Perverted baka..."And with this, she goes swimming. "Watch this, Shinji!"He looks at her. "Backroll entry!"He just smiles and starts unbuttoning his shirt, studying could wait an hour or two.
"Wait for me!"And soon after he splashes after her.
Shinji had a bad feeling about this, an offensive,they didn't do offensives,that's just not what NERV was designed to do on a conceptual level,he would rather wait it out,let them come to them and blast them apart with the advantage of both time to prepare and of having whatever weapons he could need only a moment's notice away.
"That's the angel then?"Making questions helped keep his mind off the fact that this assault was a terrible fucking idea.
"Indeed,the angel has yet to reach its adult phase and as such the main objective of this operation is to capture it."
"If we fail?" looked at him.
"You kill it or die. Understood?"Ah, cheerful as ever I see
"Aye!"The 3 responded in Unison
"The designated pilot for the operation is..."And that is when she was rudely interrupted by an overeager redhead.
"Me please let it be me!"Shinji just looks to the side and rolls his eyes.
"Asuka, you will sortie with unit-02" Asuka seems a bit too pleased at the idea, Shinji for his part just sighed and hoped to god things would work out okay.
Tap tip tap tip, why was it taking so long? Surely it couldn't take that long to lower a 160,000 Ton giant biomechanical death robot into the depths of a volcano...ok, maybe it could and maybe it did but still, the feeling in his gut that something bad was going to happen was only getting worse and worse. A sudden glint in Shinji's vision distracts him from his internal issues for a second.
"The JASSDF is here?"He questioned.
"Yes, both they and the UN are on standby alert."He immediately knew what that meant.
"Will the help us?"Asuka chirped in.
"No..i reckon they're here for clean up if we screw things up. And by clean up I mean to make this place look like Hiroshima in 1945 if we fail."Shinji stated, everyone was silent for a moment. "what, oh come on, you all know it's true!"
"Lets...start the operation."Wow, he'd managed to make speechless, he was getting better at badly timed comedic quips. Soon the Unit was lowering itself into the lava and Shinji's uneasiness only seemed to grow.
"Hey Shinji, watch this!"His eyes lift to the screen showing the unit. "giant stroke entry!"He smiles at her antics and keeps his eyes glued on the screen. don't die here Asuka.
And so he waited and waited, and really he was starting to get tired of waiting when the first coolant pipe broke.
"Misato, this isn't safe..."His teeth clench together.
"Its necessary"That would be easier to buy if you believed it yourself.
And shortly after the second one, his Evangelion takes a step forward. "Shinji, hold, that's an order!"He exhales heavily and wills the beast to a stop.
This entire operation was stupid, it was unnecessary, a gamble, and when you're dealing with the fate of the entire world you don't gamble, Shinji's hands clenched and unclenched as he watched the Progressive knife dislodge itself from Unit-02's arm.
And then...success, he breathed a sigh of relief, the angel was captured and everything was, for once, fine.
"Are you alright Asuka?"
"Of course Baka Shinji, if anything this suit is the worse part of it."He laughs at her response, things are well when..an alarm rings.
"Fuck."And this was one of the many reasons he trusted his gut.
"Shinji, your Knife, throw into the volcano, now!"He nodded.
"You don't need to tell me twice!"With this, he grabs it and with an AT enhanced boost throws it in. Soon the Angel is dead, at the cost of the last of the pipes holding the Unit up promptly decided to ignore orders and with a shout(In part to lessen his fear of jumping into literal lava)he descends to grab onto the cables.
"Shinji?"She seemed surprised, he just smiled. "Idiot...always showing off"They both knew she didn't mean it.
Things were for once relaxed, the hot water seemed to boil away his frustrations, fears, and worries, he would give anything for these precious few moments of silen-
"Shinji-kun!"Misato..of course, he just had to go and jinx himself, didn't he?
"Yes, Misato?"He didn't let his annoyance show, he wouldn't allow it to, this was a good moment, deep breaths.
"Would you throw me some shampoo?"Then another voice butts in, Asuka's
"We ran out of ours."
"Got it, catch!"And with that, he throws.
"Ouch, watch were your throwing"He grins.
"I mean, I can't exactly see through these walls..unless you want me to that is."He says, taking far too much pleasure from pleasing her.
"OI!PERVERT!"Both he and Misato laugh at her outburst, good times, good times indeed.
And with that is it, you can expect MUCH more frequent updates, especially since I've got 3 more chapters ready to go soon enough,See you all in the next chapter