She hates it when he's being subtle.

"You're such a pain sometimes…"

"WHAAT!"

Like how hard he tries to let her be the first one to enter the classroom at morning, letting go of her hand seconds before they turn around the park.

"You're always late."

Or how the acted wrinkle of annoyance that forever mars his brow whenever she comes to wake him up, or get together on a school project acts as a buffer to the smile brimming in his eyes; how he pretends to be bored and annoyed by her, but how subtly he studies her face and her eyes, hanging on to her very presence like a drowning man to a lifeline.

"Just a little flash."

Their hands will brush against one another and to the everyone in the classroom it will looks like an accident, nothing more than two students handing their respective exercise books so they could be reviewed, but she knows better.

It's all planned, from her fingers gently, slipping against the knuckles on his hand, growing into him like ivy grows into a tree's bark, molding to his turns, to his hand's ways, almost like a silk sheet enveloping him, to him urgently pulling against her smaller, softer fingers, a brief ghost of a smile appearing briefly in his lips, before suddenly retreating into his face, his hand drawn back, the papers strewn around them.

"Look at what you did, Idiot!"

And he will take advantage of them both kneeling together to let his knees touch her knees, and his hands roam against her own hand, touching slightly fingers, his tips pressing against hers, as they pick the papers up.

"Look at the newlyweds going at it again!"

When they ask about the two of them, they both subtly make eye contact, the corner of their lips slowly, almost imperceptibly turning upwards.

And then both shake their heads.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!"

----- -----

She loves the pier by the lake.

She knows it sounds stupid, and if anybody asked, she will immediately deny it, but it's true.

She come here every summer, and ever since she's been 13, this has been her own private ritual of 2 weeks; she will pack a sundress (or 4 or 5, all assorted, all different with matching sandals and sun hats, and papa will grumble good-naturedly about how heavy her bag is when packing it in the car)

She will then as soon as they arrive unpack in a flurry, and head out in a hurry, running towards the pier by the bay.

"Asuka come back by dinner time!"

"Yes mama!"

And she will sit in the pier; reflecting on the dark blue water and it's secrets, letting the minutes and hours slowly pass her by, like the clouds up in the sky.

She feels the shadow passing over her face even with closed eyes, and she can't help but smile that dazzling smile of hers.

"Took you long enough idiot!" She will smile at him.

"Sorry, I came as soon as I finished unpacking."

Every summer it will be the same; her family will journey down to the lake and stay for a couple of weeks, and she will spend most of the daylight hours (and some of the starry nights) with him, talking or not, laughing or not, sometimes simply staring up the sky, sprawled on the pier facing opposite directions, but their faces next to one another.

Just smiling and being kids.

"Hey Shiji…you wanna kiss?"

and every time she comes back, she remembers her first, magical kiss by the shore of the lake, the fireworks illumination their inching faces, and the shallow breaths afterwards.

And she feels his shadow fall on her front.

"Hey idiot. Took you long enough."

And as she gets up and greets him with a kiss, she really has to admit it.

She loves the pier by the lake.

----- -----

AN: I remember when I had first began with this fic,and the unlikeliest of all persons became my first reviewer, I will be the first to admit that he has huge amounts of talent, and I could never, ever compare myself to him, or others as well.

However, one of my favorite hobbies, besides studying dead languages and collecting figurines, slowly feeling as every shred of humanity erodes to transform myself into an Otaku (only 200 lbs separate me from becoming the stereotypical one, y'know, like comicbook guy or the one from Paranoia Agent) is reading thru other authors fics; sometimes inspiration strikes from unlikely sources.

the hate part was brought forth by YamiPaladinofChaos's beautiful story "subtle" (Have you seen how eerily similar are Shinji and Naota? on the same note, Ninamori and Asuka have the same feeling of being stern, and secretly harboring a crush), while the love part came after seeing one of Sadamoto's illustration of Shinji and Asuka in summer clothing.

Hoped you liked.