Chapter 28

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back, Shinji?!"

"And that you're goin' out with the Red-... with her?!"

"Class Rep said you got mangled, but you look fine to me. Has NERV been working on some new medical technology?"

Both Asuka and Shinji had been dragged to the roof of the school by their friends the moment the bell had rung for lunch, and Rei had vanished along the way. The moment the roof access door closed behind them, Shinji was assaulted by questions from his male friends. Hikari pulled Asuka aside with a despairing look at the boys... before starting her own, much more concentrated barrage.

"How long have you two been going out now? Have you two kissed yet? How did he ask? How did you respond?"

"Whoa, there, settle down!" Asuka exclaimed, patting the air in front of her. "Okay, first of all, we've been together since not long after the fourth attack, I'm not saying anything about what we do together, and what makes you think he asked me?"

Hikari retreated under the fire of the redhead's counterattack, before sticking her head up from behind her metaphorical cover and asking, "Isn't that how it normally goes? The guy asking the girl?"

The Second Child rolled her eyes. She had momentarily forgotten that Hikari still had such a... traditional mindset. "Fine, then how did Suzuhara ask you?"

A white flag waved frantically in the pigtailed girl's eyes. "...He, um... didn't. We just sort of... mutually got together when we came back after Third Impact."

Asuka crossed her arms and smirked. "And that's pretty much what happened between Shinji and I." She decided to at least give her poor friend something. "Although I will admit that after he almost... died, I realised I had to talk to him before I lost my chance."

Hikari smiled widely. "So you told him how you felt?!"

"Sure, let's go with that." There was no way Asuka was going to admit that she had accidentally blurted out her true feelings in the manner that she had. "I said something, and then Shinji told me that he felt the same way. Now we're together."

A high-pitched squeal from Hikari drew the attention of the boys over to them. Then a strange look passed over the class representative's face, and it took Asuka a moment to realise that Hikari was likely daydreaming about the situation.

"Hey! None of that!" she barked, bringing Hikari back to the present.

"Sorry, it's just so romantic! And it's about time, too!"

Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Asuka. There's a reason people kept calling you two 'the married couple'," Hikari replied. "Everybody could see it, we were just waiting to see how long it would take you to figure it out."

The redhead had no answer to that. At least, not one that wouldn't embarrass her further. She decided to become intensely interested in her lunch instead.

The boys rejoined them, and Asuka noticed the serious expression on Toji's face. The athlete at least had the decency to wait until they were done eating before speaking his mind.

"Okay. First off, sorry Class Rep, but I gotta say this," he began, before turning to Asuka. "Red, I dunno what the hell Shin-man sees in you, because I sure can't. Out of respect and friendship, I ain't gonna try and make him see the error of his ways. If you hurt him though... I don't care if you're a girl or an Eva pilot. You will get what's comin' to you."

Asuka glared right back at Toji, and was silently impressed that he did not so much as blink. "Stooge, let me make something clear," she replied. "Shinji and I have literally been through far worse things than you can possibly imagine." She grabbed Shinji's hand and clenched it tight. "Us two... we fix each other. That's incentive enough for me. I have no intention of doing anything to wreck what we have between us."

There was a long, uneasy silence. Hikari's eyes nervously darted between her best friend and her boyfriend as they both held their stares. She had been dreading a confrontation like this ever since realising that Shinji and Asuka were now together. Eventually, Toji blinked first, leaning back and chuckling.

"Heh, I think I actually believe that," he remarked. "Alright then. I've said my piece, so now I'll just sit back and watch."

"So anyway!" Kensuke loudly and awkwardly interjected. "Shinji, are you allowed to talk to us about what NERV did to get you back on your feet?"

Seemingly grateful for the deflection away from Asuka, Shinji replied, "Um... it's not like I had to sign something stating that I won't reveal secrets, but I guess being a pilot probably covers that already."

The blonde boy's face fell.

"Then again," Shinji continued. "it's not like these are hidden weapons or anything, and Misato already trusts you and your family enough to let you live in close proximity to us."

"That's true," Hikari remarked, before looking pointedly at Kensuke, "And don't forget, Aida, that it's practically guaranteed that NERV knows how nosy you used to be. Yet you strangely haven't been spirited away in the middle of the night to 'help them with their inquiries'."

Kensuke shivered involuntarily. "Y-yeah, right."

Turning back to Shinji, the class representative said, "Please tell us only what you know you can."

The Third Child chuckled slightly. "Probably more than you think," he said before delving into talking of his prosthetic limbs. At one point, Kensuke even put his ear to Shinji's right arm as it moved back and forth, claiming that he could barely hear a thing compared to Toji's replacement arm.

Asuka noted that Shinji had completely skipped over the battle that had actually caused his injuries, but knew that it was for a damn good reason. Even when the two of them were alone, he seemed reluctant to even think of his fight against the Fourth Revenant. And she didn't blame him one bit.

Eventually, the bell rang to signal the end of the lunch period, and the teenagers all headed to their next class. Asuka already almost regretted coming back to school. Despite the replacement of the old man who had nattered on about pre-Second Impact life, there was still nothing in the lessons to catch her interest.

Until she saw who the teacher in their next class was.

"Well, good afternoon," said Professor Fuyutsuki. "I certainly didn't expect to see you two in my class so soon."


By the time the final bell of the day rang, news of Asuka and Shinji's relationship had likely spread throughout the entire school, and possibly beyond. There were a few disappointed faces, both male and female, but the majority of the students were either happy for the new couple, happy that two of their saviours were back at school, or simply unconcerned about the whole thing.

Rei caught up to Asuka and Shinji when they were about halfway home. When asked about why she had disappeared at lunch, the bluenette replied that she had been talking with Professor Fuyutsuki about personal matters.

"Also," she added. "Misato recommended that I give Aida 'the cold shoulder' for what he did, so I have been spending as little time as possible around him."

"Well unfortunately I don't think Specks has really noticed," Asuka replied. "He was more interested in Shinji than his new girlfriend today anyway."

"Wait, Kensuke has a girlfriend?" Shinji asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you that already?"

"...No? Maybe?"

Asuka sighed good-naturedly. "Short version then. Kensuke tried to court your sister for a while, but she didn't realise. Some other girl came along and grabbed him by the... attention, and so he broke things off with Rei, who had to ask me what the hell happened."

"Oh," Shinji replied. "Um... do I need to do anything... 'brotherly' like punch him?"

"There is no need," said Rei. "Misato has instructed me on how to act towards Aida for the next couple of weeks, so that he learns his lesson. Soon, there shall be a rumour spread through the school."

"Ouch." Asuka winced a little. "I almost feel sorry for him."

"Sorry for who?"

Toji appeared behind them, but Hikari and Kensuke were nowhere to be seen.

"Never mind, Stooge. What's up?" Asuka inquired.

"Hikari wanted to know if you guys felt like hanging out with us at the mall for a little while," Toji replied. "We haven't exactly seen much of you recently, after all."

The three pilots looked at each other for a moment, before agreeing and following the athlete back to their friends. Sakura Suzuhara and Nozomi Horaki were also there, and Toji's little sister almost knocked Shinji over with her greeting hug. Only somebody like Asuka would have noticed the split-second flash of guilt on Shinji's face upon sighting the young girl. As the group set off towards the mall, the redhead pulled him back a bit.

"Remember, Shinji," Asuka whispered. "She doesn't blame you for what happened."

"Yeah, I know, but... I still feel sorry for her." Shinji rubbed the back of his head. "Spending half of last year in hospital, probably alone most of that time, because of-"

"What did I say about the past?" Asuka interrupted.

"Y-yeah, sorry..."

She let the apology slide, and grinned as she spoke. "Anyway, just look at how she worships you. Hell, if she were our age, Sakura would probably have tried to go out with you. I can see it in how she looks at you."

That got Shinji to laugh a little. "I'd hate to disappoint her, but there's only one person for me," he replied, staring directly into Asuka's eyes.

"Oi, lovebirds!" Toji called out. Asuka suddenly realised that the two of them had fallen further back than expected, and dragged Shinji along as she trotted back to the group.


Shinji heaved a despairing and exaggerated sigh as Asuka once again filched chips from his food court meal, and she smirked inwardly. They had both gotten the exact same thing, and her own serving of chips was completely open to him. She was just waiting for the boy to retaliate. Next to her, Rei was doing her level best to be as obvious as possible in her effort to pointedly ignore Kensuke.

"Sorry, what was that?" Asuka asked as Hikari got her attention.

"Have you two been on a date yet?" the pig-tailed girl repeated.

"Oh. Um." Asuka coughed nervously, and Shinji echoed her. "We... er... haven't exactly had the time for it, what with Shinji being in hospital for the last month."

"You need to get on that soon then, Shin-man!" Toji remarked. "Good thing you're a pilot; I doubt you're as constrained by fiscal woes as us lowly students."

The entire table stopped and stared at the athlete.

"What?"

"Did... Toji just use fancy words..." Asuka began.

And Shinji finished the question. "Correctly?"

"Hey!"

Kensuke leaned in. "He's right though. I'm pretty sure that, at minimum, Shinji gets a hundred and fifty thousand yen a month. That's the average wage for a JASDF pilot, and you three certainly have a far more important job."

"That... doesn't seem like much though," Asuka remarked. "And I'm pretty damn sure I'm getting paid more than that."

"Well that's just the base wage," the blonde boy replied. A pen was produced and he began to write on a napkin. "Hundred and fifty thousand a month, plus up to another hundred and fifty for flight pay. Or... whatever NERV calls it. Deployment pay? Anyway, there's also pay for being deployed to dangerous zones."

"If Angel attacks doesn't count as dangerous, there's something wrong," Toji mused.

"Exactly. Of course, you wouldn't be deployed all day every day." Kensuke wrote some more. "Twenty workdays a month, minus weekends, at sixteen hundred and twenty yen..."

Asuka thought faster. "Three hundred and eighty-eight thousand, eight hundred a month for hazard pay." Shinji looked at her in astonishment, and she added, "Genius, remember?"

Kensuke looked at the numbers so far. "Hmm. This still seems pretty low for a saviour of humanity."

"There are probably other supplements, like overtime," Hikari said.

"What about the big one you all seem to have forgotten?" Toji asked. As everybody looked at him in confusion, he continued. "Uh... injury compensation?"

Kensuke's eyes shot wide open behind his glasses. "That, and... Oh! Plus..." he mumbled as he scribbled some more. After a few minutes, he finally put the pen down. "Okay, got a rough number for an annual wage."

He held the napkin up, and Asuka and Shinji leaned forward to see. The final number circled at the bottom was just over ¥4,750,000.

"That much?!" Shinji exclaimed.

"That little?!" was Asuka's synchronised response. "I mean, you'd probably be able to buy a decent car after a year, but we're freaking Eva pilots!"

"Pilots who aren't constantly buying extravagant things," Kensuke corrected. "At least I hope not. But this is just the numbers for a normal air force pilot. If I were employing you three, I'd be adding a sizeable percentage onto that."

"I suppose," Asuka muttered.

There was a quiet cough from Rei. "Assuming that Shinji has not bought anything 'extravagant' like I did when I practically gave him a whole new kitchen..." She thought to herself for a moment. "Shinji would have somewhere in excess of ten million yen in his bank account at this point."

A stunned silence gripped the table. Whether it was due to the amount or how quickly Rei had calculated the figure was anybody's guess.

"Wow," Asuka finally remarked. "That's much more reasonable."

"And he's gonna be spending a chunk of that soon," Toji replied. "Getting back to what I was trying to say before this nerd," he lightly slapped the back of Kensuke's head, "got us off track, Shinji can afford to take you out on a proper date, Red. The best I can do for my girlfriend without saving up for ages is a ramen stand and a night at home with a rented movie."

Hikari grabbed his hand with both of hers. "I don't care about how much money you have, Toji. The fact that it's you I'm with is all that matters." Toji turned bright red and mumbled a thank you. She smiled at him before turning to Asuka and Shinji. "The same is true for you two. Don't worry about going to the most expensive restaurant in Japan. Love isn't about throwing money around."

"In that case," said Toji. "I'm gonna just borrow Shinji for a minute."

Before the Third Child could respond, the athlete dragged him away from his seat and several meters away from the table. The rest of the teenagers looked on in curiosity as Toji began speaking to Shinji, making various gestures, and at one point placing both hands on Shinji's shoulders. Finally, Toji pointed towards Asuka, Shinji nodded, and the two boys returned to the table. Asuka noticed a certain light in the eyes of her boyfriend that had not been there before.

"Let's give them a moment alone, guys," Toji ordered, in a tone that dared anybody to refuse. Shinji watched them leave, before turning his full attention on Asuka.

"Um... ah..."

And promptly fumbling whatever he was about to say.

Asuka put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "Whatever it is you're about to say, just take a deep breath. No rush."

Shinji nodded, slowly inhaling and exhaling several times with his eyes closed. He opened them again.

"Asuka, would you please do me the honour of accompanying me to dinner and a movie tomorrow night?" he said, slowly and clearly.

The redhead rocked back slightly in her seat at the request. She had known that the request was incoming, but it wasn't quite what she had in mind for an enjoyable date.

"No," she replied. As Shinji sputtered in confusion, she clarified. "Relax, I'm all for having a date but I have a slightly better idea."

She told him her plan, and Shinji's hurt look morphed into a smile. "I'd be happy to do that instead, Asuka."

"Then it's settled." Asuka beckoned their friends back to the table. "Shinji and I are going on a date tomorrow night," she announced. "But it won't be dinner and a movie."

"What?!" Toji exclaimed. "But that's like... the classic date! How can you turn that down, Red?!"

"Well for starters, it's smarter to do the movie first, then dinner," Asuka replied. "That way you're guaranteed to have something to talk about while eating. Secondly, I don't need to go to a restaurant for a great meal." She wrapped an arm around Shinji. "I've got a top chef right here!"

"Oooh!" Hikari squealed. "A meal lovingly prepared at home! Toji, that's what we did on... what was it? Fourth or fifth date?"

"Fourth," Toji replied. "Your big sister had finally stopped harassing me by then, so you decided to make the next date at your place."

"Nice boyfriend memory, Stooge," Asuka said with grudging admiration. "You shouldn't have to worry about forgetting anniversaries. Anyway," she let go of Shinji and stretched her arms upward. "We should probably get going soon."

As the group got up to leave, Asuka put her hand into her bowl of chips to grab the last-

Into her empty bowl of chips. She glared at Shinji, who looked innocently back at her and said, "What?"

A delicate hand flashed up, and a thumb rubbed at the side of Shinji's mouth.

"Well done, Third," Asuka remarked, licking the chip salt off her thumb before grinning. "There's hope for you yet."


When the teenagers returned to the apartment complex, Shinji got off the elevator at the sixth floor with their friends, while Asuka went up a floor and into the Katsuragi apartment to tell Misato the news.

Now she just had to deal with the repercussions.

"Misato, please stop that."

The woman refused.

"Seriously, stop it. You're starting to creep me out now."

The woman refused. Her grin grew even larger.

Asuka growled in frustration as she shoved herself away from the table. She was about to stomp off towards her bedroom when Misato finally deigned to speak.

"Alright, alright. Sorry, Asuka, but I'm just so happy for you two!"

The girl turned around to see a much more reasonable look on her former guardian's face.

"But I can't help wondering why you came to me as opposed to, I don't know... your own mother?" Misato inquired.

"Well... no offence to Mama, but I feel like you'd be easier to talk to about this," Asuka replied. "I mean, I'm going on a date! With somebody I actually care about this time!"

"But you are going to tell her about the date, right?"

"Of course I will!" the redhead exclaimed. "The moment I'm done here I'm gonna head next door and-"

"Turn right back around because your mother's already here."

Misato grinned, and Asuka's head twisted towards the lounge room. Kyoko was leaning on the door frame, arms crossed and mirroring the other adult's expression.

"M-Mama!"

"Relax, darling," Kyoko said, before moving towards the table and sitting down next to Misato. "I'm a grown woman; I can admit that I might not have the best advice for you, considering my track record."

"I could say the same thing," Misato chimed in. "Maybe between the two of us we can give one whole woman's worth of decent advice."

Asuka groaned. She had the feeling this was going to be embarrassing.

"Do you even know how long I've been waiting for a moment like this?" Misato continued. "To see you two kids not just be friends, but actually go out with each other?"

"...What," the Second Child flatly replied.

Misato blushed slightly. "Okay, I'll admit it. I did just want you two to get closer and become friends because of your shared... you know..." She paused for a moment, proceeding only once Asuka nodded. "But eventually I began to imagine you two getting to know each other better. Coming together and patching up each other's wounds."

"And instead I treated Shinji like crap," Asuka muttered. "Bet that tore a hole through your hopes."

Misato raised an eyebrow at that, before donning half of her teasing smile.

"Well... They were certainly listing heavily, but refused to sink for a long time."

The girl threw a perplexed look towards the older woman, uncertain about how to digest Misato's words. Asuka's expression remained frozen like that for a few seconds of silence, until the last woman in the room spoke up encouragingly.

"You should take your own advice about forgetting, dear," Kyoko suggested, her daughter's eyes jumping straight towards her. "Enough about the past; focus on the future you two can now have."

Talk of a future with Shinji sparked thoughts in Asuka's mind, and only a few seconds later she found herself blushing madly. More dates with him. Graduating together and moving on to college; again in her case, but she would gladly take more courses just to be with Shinji and aid him. At least they would be moderately challenging.

Directly in front of Asuka but unseen as she thought ahead, the two women looked at each other, and matching grins once again grew on their faces.

'The whole 'meeting the parents' thing is going to be a bit awkward,' Asuka thought to herself. 'Would Shinji have to take me to the Eva cages and formally introduce me to Unit-01? We still haven't found out if Yui's in there...'

"Alright, dear," Kyoko said, her voice cutting through her daughter's musing. "Let's go over how to properly grab Shinji by the attention on your date..."


Hikari, Rei, and the three teenage boys were all at the Horaki apartment, ostensibly to do homework together, but Toji's attention was most definitely not focused on the book spread out on the table in front of him. Rei was still trying to ignore Kensuke, but she couldn't help but listen in as the boys talked about Shinji's upcoming date.

Purely out of mere curiosity, of course.

"Gettin' any jitters yet, Shin-man?" the jock asked.

"Um... not yet I think," Shinji replied. "It is just us two going to the cinema though, so I guess I won't be stressing out much."

Toji nodded. "True. But dates ain't all just films and food. You will eventually do something more romantic."

"Like that picnic we had near Lake Ashi?" Hikari abruptly piped up, slightly startling Rei.

"Yeah. Shame we couldn't go to the hot springs as well though."

"I don't think I'd ever be going there either," Shinji murmured, before shivering slightly. At the confused looks of his fellow teenagers, he added, "It's... complicated."

"Something to do with the Evas or the Angels?" Kensuke asked, and Shinji nodded.

"Too bad," Toji sympathetically remarked. "Anyway, have you decided what film to see?"

Before heading home, Toji had ducked off to the cinema and grabbed a list of the films that would be playing the next night, and that list was now sitting on top of Shinji's homework. While most of the films were purely Japanese productions, there were also a few translated Western ones sprinkled in.

Those few were what currently held Shinji's notice. Asuka's general disdain for many things Japanese was well-known among their circle of friends, but nobody knew if it extended to the film industry as well.

Shinji sighed. "No. I think I'm going to have to let her decide."

"Mm," Kensuke hummed. "A good idea, but at the same time, not a great one."

"Yep," Toji added with a sage nod. "Getting the girl involved in date decisions is fine, but not if she ends up thinking you're doing it purely to satisfy her. Is there something that you want to see?"

The Third Child looked at the list for a few more seconds before saying, "Yes."

"Is that also something you believe she would like? You've spent enough time with Soryu, so you should be able to get at least a little into her head."

"...Yes." Shinji thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "We'll end up getting home a bit after dinner time, so I'll have to cook something up for Misato, Rei and Asuka's mother before we leave."

"You may leave that task to me, brother."

Shinji looked up at his sister. "You don't have to, Rei. I don't mind cooking early."

"I will not mind the task either," Rei replied. "You should be taking the time before your first date to prepare."

"He is a guy," Toji remarked. "All he really has to do is shower and get dressed."

"She means mentally," Hikari clarified, and the bluenette nodded assent. "And if Misato or Ms. Soryu are around, they may wish to talk to him beforehand."

Shinji cringed slightly. "Great. One of them would tease me, while the other would promise death if anything happens to Asuka."

Toji grinned. "No pressure, right?"


Their second day of school zoomed by, to Asuka and Shinji's anxiety-tempered relief. They immediately headed home and separated to get changed... before remembering that they both had their clothes in the same room.

And Pen-pen was currently monopolising the bathroom. Fortunately they had both managed to shower that morning, and there had been no physical activity lessons at school.

"Rei's still in her bedroom," Shinji reported. "And... it feels weird to ask her to leave just so I can get changed."

"And it'll be too awkward for either of us to get changed anywhere else," Asuka muttered, to which Shinji silently agreed. A solution swiftly came to mind, however.

A minute's work with a long length of string between one end of the curtain rod and the clothes rail in her closet, along with the sheet off their bed, formed an effective temporary barrier between them.

"Smart thinking," Shinji complimented.

"Duh, look who thought of it," Asuka replied. She didn't need to see anything to know that there was a smile on the boy's face at that comment.

It had been the opinion of both her mother and Misato that she shouldn't bother dressing with the intent to floor Shinji. The boy was already clearly infatuated with her, so such an attempt would be overkill. Instead, Asuka was now changing into clothes that the boy had yet to see her in. Which, given that she had not had much real desire to expand her wardrobe, meant there was only a couple of items that she had been saving for something special. Their first date certainly seemed appropriate.

A mint-green cardigan went over a darker green blouse; the colours chosen to complement both her hair and each other. For a moment she was torn between a sunflower-yellow skirt and denim cut-off shorts, before she decided to be daring by picking the shorts to better show off legs sculpted by a decade of pilot training.

As she began to work her hair into a ponytail, Shinji's voice called out behind her.

"Um, Asuka? Do you have some scissors over there? I forgot to get rid of a store tag."

The redhead located a small pair of scissors and held them out past the end of the blanket, where they were accepted with a quiet word of thanks. She heard the snipping of the metal blades, and waited for Shinji to offer them back. When a hand failed to materialise after several long seconds, Asuka shrugged and turned back to her mirror. Evidently he had decided not to bother her with such a trivial thing.

After applying just enough make-up to subtly alter the look of her face, she turned towards the blanket and announced, "Okay, I'm ready."

"Me too," came the response from the other side, followed by, "Oh wait. One moment..."

Asuka raised an eyebrow, but before she could give a gentle admonishment, there was a strange noise from Shinji's side which caused her eyes to widen. It sounded like...

A person's horrendous attempt at playing a trumpet with no instrument.

The sheer shock of Shinji making such a spectacle meant that Asuka didn't hear the scissors snip a second time. The string and blanket collapsed, revealing the Third Child standing with a hand to his mouth making the incredibly vague shape of a trumpet.

She couldn't help herself. Asuka burst out laughing at the scene.

Shinji's hand dropped to his side, fully revealing the redness of his face. Asuka staggered over and leaned on him for support. It took a minute for the laughter to diminish to stifled chortles, and she then stood up straight and wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"M-Mein Gott," she said, barely holding back a snicker. "Warn me next time you're gonna do something like that, Joshua. I could have ruptured something."

The mortified boy huffed as he crossed his arms and turned away. "After all that effort I made to finally learn about Jericho," he muttered.

Still chuckling, Asuka placed a hand on his shoulder and spun him back around, giving her a good look at what Shinji was now wearing.

The difference between Shinji wearing a school uniform and something 'normal' was astonishing. Now that he was clad in a powder blue poly-blend button-up shirt and denim jeans, he actually looked... hot. If Asuka hadn't still been reeling from his actions, she would have been too busy devouring him with her eyes.

Had it been their synchronisation that led to both of them picking denim? The redhead decided she didn't care.

Seeing that Shinji was still apparently upset at her reaction, Asuka sobered up as best as she could and stared him down.

"I'm not laughing at you, dummy," she said placatingly. "I'm really impressed at what you did. I just imagined you standing at the real Wall of Jericho and making that sound as it tumbled down."

The disease spread from Patient Zero to its only other victim, causing Shinji to first chuckle, and then join Asuka in laughter as his reaction set her off once more.


Asuka felt Shinji's eyes roving over her body for almost the entire journey to the cinema, mostly lingering on her legs like she expected, and she made sure to subtly show herself off as much as she dared while they were on public transport. If it hadn't been for their linked hands, Shinji would have likely been mistaken for a pervert. The only reason Asuka was 'letting him get away with it' was because she herself was trying not to stare at him.

It was a good thing the two of them were going to be sitting in a dark theatre, otherwise Shinji would probably miss the entire film.

The cinema was moderately busy when the two teenagers arrived. Shinji's film suggestion was immediately accepted by Asuka, and she noticed how relieved he looked at that. While the girl would have obviously preferred to see it dubbed in German or at least English, at least she would be able to understand the dubbed Japanese film.

To a newcomer like Shinji, it seemed like four separate franchises had come together for a massive crossover, until Asuka informed him that they were all in the same universe. The movie they were about to see drew upon events from those previous films while being self-contained enough to not leave people scratching their heads too much. Asuka still decided to fill Shinji in as best as she could while they waited to buy tickets and snacks.

They soon reached the front of the line. The couple had come to an agreement on payment: As Shinji had asked Asuka out on this date, he would pay. But their next date would be instigated and paid for by her, no matter what it was. Knowing it was folly to argue, Shinji had simply agreed.

And had probably begun to plan their third date, if the look that had crossed his face had been any indication.

After arming themselves with tickets, popcorn, and two cups of soda with more sugar content than the entire Katsuragi apartment kitchen, Asuka and Shinji went to the assigned theatre, choosing a spot in the middle of the sea of seats that gave them plenty of leg room. Before them, the giant screen was showing ads for local businesses and trailers for upcoming films.

Soon, the theatre lights began to dim, and Asuka and Shinji relaxed into their seats and began to enjoy The Avengers.


An amazed Asuka stepped out of the theatre, depositing her trash in the bin nearby.

"Holy. Crap."

Right on her heels, Shinji got rid of his own rubbish and said, "That was far better than I expected."

Asuka grinned as they linked hands and headed out of the cinema. "Wasn't it? Damn, I need to fight this urge I suddenly have to get Unit-02 repainted to match that power armour."

"Imagine that reactor technology powering an Eva," Shinji commented. "Sure it probably wouldn't be as powerful as an S2 engine, but it'd be a lot safer while still giving us better operating time. And that American guy's shield! All that stuff he did with it! Is it really indestructible?"

"Close enough to indestructible that it wouldn't matter to mere mortals," Asuka replied.

"It was so satisfying to see Loki get what he deserved."

"'Puny god'," Asuka said in a deep voice, causing both teens to chuckle. Her hand shot to her pocket. "Oh, right. Phones off silent now," she added as she took out her phone and adjusted its sound settings. Whatever deity still existed, she thanked it for not letting a Revenant attack that day.

In fact, the entire date would have been perfect had it not been for a bump in the road while they waited for the bus.

"Hey! Soryu!"

An annoying, loud and somewhat familiar bump and his three cronies. It took Asuka a few seconds to work out why this newcomer made her fists itch.

"Kitamura," she growled. "Here to get your ass kicked again?"

"Hardly," Hiro Kitamura retorted. "Suzuhara's not around to save you." He stepped closer and glanced at Shinji. "Looks like the rumours are true. You really are going out with this sorry sack of shit."

"He's more man than you'll ever be."

The four delinquents burst out laughing, and Hiro exclaimed, "Him?! He's a scrawny little boy! I feel bad for you, having to settle for this runt, so I'm gonna do something I've never done before: give you a second chance. Drop him and come with me. You won't regret it."

"If you value your life, piss off back to your hole and take your hobgoblins with you," Asuka growled, before turning away. "Come on, Shinji. Let's get out of here."

She only got a few steps away before she heard, "I don't give third chances, bitch," as a heavy hand grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. Asuka twisted around, readying a fist to shut Hiro up, but she was forced to raise an arm to block him as he tried to backhand her across the face.

But something else was there to block the attack before it reached the redhead. Something that was now making her attacker scream in pain.

Shinji had Hiro's hand in a crushing grip, and Asuka watched as the Third Child's prosthetic fingers continued to slowly clench harder. Hiro sank to one knee, his other hand scrabbling at Shinji's unyielding grip, and called out to his friends. But they had half a dozen problems of their own.

Problems that were wearing black suits.

"Oh shit," one of them moaned. "These guys have freakin' bodyguards."

Asuka turned to speak to Shinji, but was taken aback at the look on his face; an expression normally only seen when Unit-01 was fighting. She quickly found her voice again and spoke.

"You can let him go now, Shinji."

The boy held his grip a little longer, before almost contemptuously letting go as a couple of Section Two agents approached the pilots.

One of them dragged Hiro off, while the other said to them, "Would you like to be taken home?"

"Yeah... fine," Asuka replied, glaring daggers into the backs of the delinquents as they were taken away.

The two teens got into the black sedan that pulled up next to them. As soon as the car doors were closed, it pulled away from the curb and headed off down the quiet street.

"You okay, Asuka?" Shinji murmured after a few minutes. Since getting into the car, his look of hatred had been replaced by one of shame.

The redhead sighed, before looping an arm around Shinji and pulling him closer. "I'm fine," she replied. "What about you?"

There was no reply for a minute. Eventually, the boy exhaled deeply and said, "I could have effortlessly destroyed that guy's hand. As it was I'm pretty sure I heard something break."

"Why are you getting down about that asshole? He deserved it anyway." Asuka quickly related to Shinji some of the various misdeeds attributed to Hiro Kitamura and his small gang that she had heard about from their friends.

"All I was trying to do was stop him from hitting you." Shinji stared at his fist, slowly clenching and unclenching it. "My therapy's done. I know how not to accidentally break something with this hand that I can't feel anything with. And yet... I didn't bother to hold back against that guy."

Asuka shifted her grip on the boy, moving her hand up his right arm to a point that was still flesh and blood, and gently patted that spot. "If anything, you probably saved him from more pain. If he had actually hit me... I'd have shredded the bastard."

"Heh." Shinji chuckled, looking up from his hand at her. "Well, you are the best pilot when it comes to melee combat."

"And you're the second best."

"Um... I don't think that kind of thing matters when there's only three of us."

Asuka rolled her eyes. At least she'd managed to get his mind onto a better subject. "Just accept the compliment, Dödel."

"Yes, Asuka." Shinji paused for a moment. "Wait... Dödel? Is that going to be a pet name for me or something?"

The redhead grinned. "Well now you've just given me that idea, Dödel. Got a problem with that, Dödel?"

She had completely stopped using 'stupid' or 'idiot' to describe Shinji, especially since they were most definitely not true of him, but the boy certainly didn't seem to mind the far less harsh terms Asuka used in their stead, even when she spoke in German.

It was probably the affectionate tone she put into them.

"It probably makes me kind of a masochist, but I think I like that word."

Yeah, definitely the tone of voice.


Upon their arrival at the Katsuragi apartment, Rei quietly greeted them and stated that Misato had gone to bed early and Kyoko had returned to her own apartment. She was rather shocked to hear of their altercation with the delinquents, but quickly calmed down once she knew that neither of them had been harmed. She then excused herself and left for her bedroom.

After what had just happened, Asuka had almost forgotten about the second part of their date until Shinji went straight to the fridge and began laying out ingredients. Asuka couldn't help but sit at the table and simply watch as Shinji swiftly got to work on preparing the meal.

Time passed in a flash, and soon there was a plate of Kassler pork chops, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes sitting in front of Asuka. She just barely managed to refrain from digging in until Shinji sat down with his own serving, and then they both began to eat.

As the food slowly disappeared from their plates, the couple talked more about the film they had just seen. Asuka mentioned that there were many more stories in that universe that would be released in the coming years, and hinted that she would like to go out to see them as well.

Even though Shinji kept his face looking cheerful, Asuka would occasionally catch him glancing at his right hand throughout the meal. She wanted to reassure him with some physical contact, but the table was a bit too wide to comfortably lean across, and she was enjoying the food he had lovingly prepared too much.

Soon, both plates were empty and Asuka leaned back in her chair with a satisfied noise.

"Man that was great, Shinji," she commented. "Thank you for such a wonderful meal."

The smile that bloomed on the boy's face said it all, and the redhead was somewhat disappointed when Shinji got up and turned away to put the dishes in the sink, because that meant she couldn't see the smile. Before he could get started on washing up, Asuka began to drag him out of the kitchen.

"Leave it for later," she gently ordered. "It's time to relax."

To her relief, Shinji readily agreed. In their bedroom, the sheet went back up again as the two teenagers changed into more comfortable clothing. This time, however, there was no fanfare when they were done, but that didn't stop a smirk from crossing Asuka's face as she remembered the first time.

The redhead collapsed onto their bed, before realising that she had left her socks on.

"Ugh," she groaned, lazily reaching towards her feet and coming well short. "I don't feel like getting back up now."

Asuka almost leapt out of the bed when she felt a pair of hands on her feet. She sat up slightly to see Shinji kneeling at the edge of the bed, slowly and gently pulling her socks off, and she shivered a little as his left hand lingered on her right leg, gently stroking up and down her shin as he stared absent-mindedly at his own hand. Asuka just barely caught the quiet disappointed sigh Shinji emitted as he brought his right hand up to join his left.

"Shinji?" she quietly called.

The boy jerked out of his reverie. "Huh? O-oh, sorry Asuka!" he stammered, instantly letting go of her leg like it was burning him.

"I didn't say stop, Dödel."

Shinji stared dumbfounded at her for a moment, until Asuka sighed exasperatedly and shifted her leg so that it was resting on his shoulder.

"It felt... nice," she clarified. "I was just concerned about you. You were staring at your hand again."

"Y-yeah," Shinji replied as he began to stroke her leg again with his left hand, while staring at his right. "But not because of what happened today... well, mostly. It's just that... like I said before, I have no feeling in this arm. The doctors say it's something they can't feasibly do yet, but that I'd be the first person to get an upgrade once they make that breakthrough. In the meantime though..."

"In the meantime, I don't want you to worry too much about it," Asuka replied. She sat up on the edge of the bed and laced her fingers with both of Shinji's hands. "In cases like this," she raised their linked hands for emphasis, "it's not like one hand is going to feel something vastly different to the other, so you won't really be missing out on much unless..." She was forced to stop talking as a thought came to mind that made her blush. "Er... never mind!"

Though Shinji gave her a puzzled look, she refused to speak further. Instead she chose to resume her previous position, returning her leg to Shinji's shoulder. Once more, he resumed stroking the leg, and Asuka was amazed by the gentleness in both of his hands.

"Nnnggh." And then she let out an involuntary groan as Shinji's hands moved down her leg and his thumbs began to knead the bottom of her foot.

She definitely didn't want to get up now. After several long, delicious minutes, Shinji's hands moved to her other foot and the pleasure returned anew. She wanted to stay like that forever. But it was a school night, and their date had to officially end sooner or later. Eventually Shinji let go and climbed onto the bed next to her.

"For a first date, you did a damn good job," she complimented him as they got comfortable.

"Thank you, Asuka," Shinji replied with a smile Asuka couldn't stop herself from matching.

"You also set the bar pretty high for my date plans."

"U-um..."

"That's a good thing."


The next morning, the pilot couple got up and began their morning preparations for school. While Asuka had the first shower, Shinji began cooking breakfast. When the redhead got out of the bathroom, it was to the sight of her boyfriend being almost menaced by Misato, his back pressed against the counter.

"Come on, Shinji! Tell me how it went!" the woman begged.

"I already told you, it went really well!" Shinji replied.

"I need more than that! I'm an inquisitive woman!"

"More like nosy," Asuka remarked as she sat down at the table. "Let him go, Misato. It's too early in the morning to be harassing people. Save it for your subordinates."

Shinji shot her a grateful look as he escaped into the bathroom.

"And here I was thinking you two were my subordinates," said Misato as she joined Asuka at the table.

"You know what I mean."

With a deep sigh, dreading what she was sure was going to happen, the redhead told her former guardian about last night.

A freshly washed and changed Shinji exited the bathroom a few minutes later, but froze in the doorway once he saw the massive grin on Misato's face directed right at him.

"Um..."

Asuka's head swivelled when she heard him. "Shinji! Good! Let's go, we're late for school!" She got up and threw his school bag to him.

"No we're not," Shinji replied, just barely catching it. "There's still fifteen minuuuutttteeeess!"

The front door almost didn't open fast enough for the couple as they fled from the apartment, Asuka dragging Shinji by the hand, like they were being chased. But they weren't quick enough to escape Misato's parting words.

"Shinji! I'm going to have to get Kaji to ask you for tips!"

"Well, at least she didn't try to get a massage from you," Asuka commented as the elevator doors closed.

Shinji wisely kept his mouth shut.