Neon Genesis Evangelion
Pilot's Table
By D.A.

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Title: Trust Me To Trust You
Prompt: Set 1 / Prompt 29 (Home)
Word Count: 2500+
Rating: T
Summary: Asuka and Touji, supported by Kensuke and Shinji, must decide what to do next as the Angels make their appearance and Third Impact marches closer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion

Notes: Well, still marchin on. Comments at end.

Part 2 of the "Not What You Bargained For" story.

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"Touji! Asuka! Shinji!"

Kensuke's yell as they walked to school drew the trio's attention as the teen ran up to them and caught his breath.

"Hey guys." Kensuke grinned, "This gonna be our new thing? All we're missing is Hikari and Rei, and we'll have a group straight out of an anime!"

"An anime where two of the teens are married?" Shinji asked, one eyebrow raised while Touji laughed at his otaku friend and Asuka rolled her eyes.

"Well-uh...no...?" shaking off his confusion, Kensuke grabbed Shinji by the shoulders, "How did you figure it out? I had to go all 'Major Kusanagi with Optic-camoflage' to find out!"

"I saw Asuka and Touji say goodnight when she got home last night." Shinji admitted with a blush, ducking away from Kensuke and leading everyone towards the school, "So are you two gonna hide you relationship, or some of it?"

"I'll see how the day goes," Asuka replied airily, waving her hand as they walked before smirking, "how about you and Hikari?"

At Shinji's sputtering and blush the others laughed good-naturedly. It feels good to tease him, Asuka mused, guess I missed him after all.

"Relax Shin-man," Touji slapped him on the back, chuckling, "I'll follow the Great Asuka Langely Suzuhara's lead like always, and you'll just get dragged along for the ride."

"Wait..." Ken blinked at Shinji, then Asuka and Touji, as he mentally rewound part of the conversation, "Asuka is staying with Shinji?"

"We'll talk about this after school." tone commanding, Asuka put a stop to further questions, and they continued on to school.

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Arriving at school, they began yet another boring day, but this time over lunch was much like it had been the first go-round. The 'Three Stooges', as Asuka fondly called them, had lunch under one tree, while Asuka and Hikari had lunch under another not far away. They spoke of normal things, unimportant things, before finishing the day of classes the way it had begun. The whole day Asuka and Touji spent sending looks at each other, pretending that they were trying to be subtle and failing, laying the ground work for being able to act like a couple.

It was only half an hour after lunch that the Angel alarms sounded, Asuka and Shinji getting messages on their NERV mobile phone to report in. With a hurried goodbye, and stolen kiss between Touji and Asuka while Shinji distracted Hikari, the Pilots made their way to the Geofront.

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Only to discover it was a false alarm. One of the sensors in the bay area had shorted out, triggering a false Pattern Blue alert. Asuka grumbled about crappy maintainance until they stepped outside, then sighed, sending Shinji a shaky grin.

"I'm not looking forward to the next one, to be honest."

"Why not?" Shinji blinked, nervous, "Didn't you beat all of them last time?"

"This one kicked our butts the first fight, and it took a week of synch-training to fight and win the second time." she admitted, turning a corner and heading in the direction of the park, "When I faced it again in the second life, I had Touji backing me up. He's a straight-forward fighter and I didn't have trouble synching with him."

"But you have trouble with me?" he deflated, "What are we gonna do?"

"Simple, you and Touji will practice on some evenings," Asuka ticked off one finger, "Then you and I will practice on others," she held up a second finger, then a third, "And weekends we'll all practice."

"How will we explain it to Misato? And what are we practicing?"

"Boxing from Touji, martial arts with me, and teamwork with both of us." Asuka gave him her trademark grin, "Don't you worry, Third, we'll be unstoppable. And leave the explaining to me."

Shinji bobbed his head once, acknowledging her. They reached the park a few minutes later, and just as Shinji noticed the focused look on her face and was deciding if he should ask why they had gone there instead of back to the apartment he caught sight of Touji. The other teen was sitting on a bench -the same one he and Asuka shared when talking to Kensuke the day before- and suddenly snapped his gaze around and straight to Asuka, startling Shinji.

"Guess dat answers dat," Touji deadpans, standing as they approach and giving Asuka a quick kiss, "You're-"

"Hush, Stooge." the redhead stopped him, then mimicked his lop-sided smile, "Later, when I've had time to think on it."

"Ok, Red." Touji eyed her for a second, then grinned at Shinji, "Well, Shin-man, with school off for the rest of the day, wanna grab Ken and hit the Arcade? I haven't been in forever."

"Um... sure. Asuka?"

"Go hang out, Shinji-kun. Unlike last time I lived this, I'm an accomplished cook, so don't worry about dinner." Asuka waved them off, "Besides, Touji's missed his best friends, so enjoy it."

"Ok."

"Thanks hun," Touji give Asuka another kiss, the two of them smiling as they part ways for the afternoon.

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Asuka stepped into the apartment, flicking on lights and digging around for Shinji's cookbooks so she could start dinner. While she knew how to cook, she also knew in this life she had never exercised that skill and it would be suspicious if she suddenly was as good as Shinji. It would be a jump Misato wouldn't be able to miss, as the woman had been her guardian for a couple of years before transferring to Tokyo-3 and leaving Asuka in Kaji's care. She also hadn't been cooking very many Japanese meals the last few years in their last life, and wanted to make sure she didn't ruin the first meal she made since coming back.

I'll have to remember to make lunch for Touji too... she told herself, then set about gathering what she'd need as she set the now open book in the table. A few minutes later found the one time mother in her zone, moving easily about the kitchen, pausing only when an item was not where she would have kept it had it been her kitchen.

It was soothing, falling in to old rhythms and humming an old tune she no longer knew the origin of. It should have been her first warning, but she stubbornly pushed the itch to the back corner, choosing to ignore it and sink deeper in memories and habits. She knew, that corner of her mind that was always active and watching, that she needed to stay in the present, but... she couldn't.

It wasn't until she was setting the table, placing the vegetable heavy dishes where she and Touji could reach them to be able to serve Mana and Kyo, that it hit her. The realization brought her to her knees, and she found she couldn't stop the tears. And by chance or some subconscious link, Touji and Shinji stepped into the kitchen a moment later. She hadn't even heard the door, lost in the sudden awareness of what she was doing, and no sooner had she noticed the two boys when she found herself in Touji's arms.

"Asuka!" he whispered, holding her tightly to himself, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I-I was, I was setting the table, li-like always," she started to softly cry, and she could feel the sobs just below the surface but she refused to let them out, "For you a-and me, and the...the kids."

"Ssshhh," he breathed, "It's ok, Asuka, it's fine."

"No it's not fine!" she cried, tears pouring down her face, both of them forgetting Shinji, who stood at the entrance wide-eyed with an unnoticed Kensuke behind him, "I just-I just forgot they aren't here, and when I-I remembered, it hurt, Touji! I can't-"

She sobbed, and Touji held her tighter as his own tears began to flow. Neither was aware of how long they knelt that way, letting the hurt flow with their tears as they soaked in each others warmth, before they felt two more sets of arms wrap around them. Shinji and Kensuke were hesitant at first, neither of them sure if they really dared to add their comfort to the couple, but they strengthed their grip when Asuka and Touji made no protest. More time passed before they slowly pulled apart, standing up and moving to stand around the small kitchen. Asuka pulled away from Touji only long enough to grab a towel so the two of them coud brush clean their faces.

"Thanks, Shinji-kun," Asuka said, grateful, looking at him and Kensuke, "Thank you Ken-kun. You're good kids."

"You're good friends." Touji added.

"No problem," Kensuke shuffled slightly, blushing, while Shinji murmured the same, "Anything for my best friend and his girl."

"Well, waterworks are done." the redhead took a steadying breath, then smiled, "How about dinner? Hope you don't mind I borrowed your cookbooks Shinji."

"That's ok."

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Part way through dinner Misato walked in and froze at the sight of the four teens laughing and eating, at ease and unaware of her presence. She watched them for a moment, seeing Shinji possibly happier than he'd been since the whole mess started and Asuka seemed to honestly enjoy the company of the three boys.

"Well, started the party without me did you?" she teased, then laughed when they jumped and turned to stare at her, "Don't stop on account of me. Let me grab a beer and join you."

Suiting actions to words she dumped her coat in her room, grabbed a beer, and perched precariously on the counter closest to the table. Shinji served up a plate and handed it to her, and the group of teens quickly fell back into laughing over some story Kensuke and Shinji were telling about their afternoon at the arcades. The rest of dinner and part of the evening was filled with chatter and laughter, and Misato honestly couldn't recall being so relaxed. Before too long Shinji had started on the dishes and she was shooing the other two boys out while Asuka disappeared to either the bathroom or her bedroom, and the raven-haired woman followed her charge's lead and went to bed.

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Asuka stepped out of her room, making her way down the hall and back into the kitchen. Finding Shinji doing the last few dishes, she picked up a towel and began drying and putting away the items they wouldn't need for breakfast in the morning, a habit she'd started so Touji wouldn't be digging around the cabinets on the weekends when he made breakfast before she'd decided to get up. They worked in silence for several minutes, soon finished but remaining quietly in the kitchen.

"Tea?" Shinji spoke up, quiet and already moving to prepare it.

"Please."

Asuka sat in a chair, watching him start the water before he moved to sit opposite her. He looked like he wanted to speak, but wasn't sure how to start, so she decided to begin.

"What's on your mind?"

"...I..." he paused, seeming to gather himself before he continued, "What the next Angel?"

"Israfel, the Twin Angel." she answered, "We'll have to work in synch to beat it. That's why I said we'll be doing teamwork practice this weekend."

"You think we can beat it first try?"

"I believe so. I don't wanna suffer a lost to it for a third time." she chuckled, "Not that it'll hurt my pride too badly, but all the same."

"Yeah."

"Go to bed after we have the tea, I'm gonna call Touji before I go to sleep."

"Is it... hard, not having him here?"

"...A little..." Asuka admitted, sighing, "It's not that I don't appreciate your company, Shinji-kun, but he's my husband. I'm not used to him being in town and not at home too."

"He left town?"

"He became the high school coach, and the soccer team would go out of town for games, so yeah."

"That's why you call him?" Shinji watched her, expression open and curious.

"Yeah."

They lapsed into comfortable silence, waiting for the water to boil. Once the tea was ready, Asuka called Touji to say their good-nights and I-love-you's, and they drank their tea. Finished, Shinji washed the two cups while Asuka went to bed, neither aware of Misato's door sliding closed softly.

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A/N: Hoping Asuka doesn't seem too out of character, same for Touji. Do recall, however, that they lived into their late-twenties/early-thirties and had two children before they came back. Still a work in progress.

I'm running on memory of the series, maybe a bit of ReBuild mixed in, and just going with my muse to fill in any blanks I come to. And I'm sure inspiration from dozens, hundreds, of other NGE fanfiction is bleeding through and coloring the story too. lol

In answer to Gemini011's question: the cast are a roughly four years older because it feels more natural to have Asuka and the others acting like older teens. Essentially "because I can". Not, as you implied much to my amusement and embarrassment, so they could act married without worrying about "age of consent" and such. Though that would have made for some funny scenes with Misato and even Hikari. lol
Honestly, I don't write lemons, and I'm even uncomfortable writing make-out scenes, so my stories only have "publicly acceptable" displays of affection. I may, should I ever write a wedding scene, imply they make love that night, but I'll never actually write any details. It's a personal preference, originating in my belief that such private moments are private and not for public display. I honestly hate news agencies that thinks it's absolutely needed to put the love lives of celebs all over the news, and dislike authors who find it necessary to write sex and make-out scenes in detail as either the primary or secondary focus of the story.
Maybe I'm just old-fashioned. -shrug- I don't mind the "private conversations" where they talk over their history and show love and such. But physical intimacy shouldn't be blasted where everyone and their cousin can see/read it.

So sorry it took so long for this update, RL has twisted me in knots, but I'm glad I'm back and hope to update a little more often.