This chapter pushes a hard T due to a clear but non-descriptive mention of sex. AN is at the bottom.
The pair lay in bed, exhausted but content. Wrapped in each other's arms, Shinji ran his fingers through Rei's hair as she rested her head against his chest. She'd occasionally run a finger up his side, just to hear his heart flutter – both of them completely satisfied in each other's company.
Once they'd gotten in the door, Shinji and Rei had picked up where they'd left off that morning – roughly feeling each other up and kissing forcefully. It wasn't too long until they took everything to the bedroom. Late afternoon soon turned into humid night, the heavy air enveloping the pair in a persistent, lazy heat.
Wrapped in each other's arms, gently falling asleep in the humid night air – for them both, the situation felt like paradise.
June 14, 2015.
Shinji Ikari stepped off the train into a new world.
A shy, sheltered 14 year old boy, Shinji had travelled a great distance from his home of 11 years to meet with his father – Gendo Ikari. He was a man who Shinji disliked a great deal, but who he'd followed to Tokyo-3 regardless, miles and miles away from where he lived.
The pair had been more or less separated for the last decade - several attempts to make contact had been made over the years, but they were very sporadic and indifferent. Gendo had begun calling his son occasionally around the time that he turned 5, and he even visited once when he was 7. The last time they'd talked was over the phone, when Shinji was 12.
Gendo's attempts to connect with his son rarely worked - Shinji knew that other children his age lived with their parents, and he harbored a deep resentment of his father for his absence. Gendo had never told Shinji why he was absent, and he would only discuss subjects that were topical when they did talk.
Despite his mixed feelings regarding his upbringing, Shinji couldn't say that he disliked living with his aunt and uncle. They were very kind, and he never went without necessities or love – it was just that he couldn't help but feel that his life was lacking something. He had no mother, and his father seemed like he wanted nothing to do with him - combined with a lack of friends from an early age, the boy grew up feeling extremely lonely.
Although he felt strongly about his father, he couldn't say that he wasn't happy when Gendo had summoned him to Tokyo-3. He hoped that they could connect more as father and son, that they could have some things in common - and he hoped most of all that the loneliness bred by his absence would be filled, and that he'd know what it was like to have a family.
Things never had a knack for turning out in Shinji's life, though.
It was 5 PM when he arrived in Tokyo-3, and the sun had begun to set. Expecting to see his father, he was instead greeted at the station by a professional-looking woman in a red jacket and plum-colored dress. Her hair was dyed a dark shade of purple, and she wore light, professional traces of make-up. Her smile looked warm from a glance, but upon closer inspection it looked fake.
"Shinji Ikari?"
He was surprised to hear the stranger say his name, but he responded with a nod. Her grin widening, she extended her hand for Shinji to shake. Confused, he shook it.
"Hi, I'm Misato! Your father sent me to pick you up."
"O-oh. Hello." He fumbled over his words, unprepared for the situation at hand. Misato frowned slightly at his reaction.
"Your dad didn't tell you? He ran into a ton of paperwork and had to stay behind at work. It was a sudden thing, so he sent me to pick you up."
"Oh, okay." He was visibly relieved.
"…What, didn't he let you know in advance or something?"
Shinji shook his head, smiling slightly. "I don't have a phone, so he couldn't have reached me. This is all kind of a shock."
Seeing him warm up a bit, Misato began running him through the situation as she walked him to her car.
"Your dad told me to take you to his place, so you can wait there in comfort. He said he'd be done by 8, and you're free to help yourself to whatever you like when you arrive - drinks, food, whatever."
Loading his meagre 1 bag of luggage into the back as she talked, Shinji nodded to show that he understood. As he climbed into the passenger seat, Misato put on her cheeriest voice - eager to have some fun.
"Can you talk at all, or do you just nod all the time?"
Her words came out much harsher than she'd intended, and Shinji flinched. He lowered his gaze to the floor.
"...Sorry."
Upon seeing his reaction, a wave of disappointment washed over Misato.
Well, that went over well. The kid probably hates me now.
Giving a short sigh, Misato started the car as she berated herself in her head.
Along the way, Shinji's stare didn't leave the floor of her car. Feeling increasingly terrible about her slip-up earlier, Misato tried to get him talking.
"So, do you see your father often?"
Shinji looked up at her, but quickly darted his eyes away. He hugged his knees slightly.
"Not really. He visited once when I was 7, but other than that I haven't really seen him since I was 3."
His voice hardened slightly near the end, the last words coming out of his mouth like poison.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize." She was sincere, but Shinji kept staring downwards.
"It's okay. I know it's a weird situation."
Shinji's comment hit a nerve within Misato. Slightly seething, she spoke firmly.
"...Hey. Don't talk about being in a weird situation."
Misato's comment roused Shinji's attention, and for the first time during their trip, he turned to look at her. It wasn't a positive look – a fact Misato knew almost instantly - but she continued speaking anyway.
"Kids should never have to think that their childhood is weird. You didn't have a complete family – that sucks, but you still had a family to fall back on. All things considered, you got off pretty lightly – and really, kids come from all sorts of backgrounds. Nothing weird about it."
Shinji's eyes filled with tears, and he balled his fists.
"You don't know a damn thing about me, you know! How can you talk about how I feel when you don't know how I've lived so far in my life?"
Confronted by the mess that she'd created, Misato cooled her uprising anger to a simmer. As much as she'd enjoy a good yelling match, she knew that she was not in the right place to be having one.
Before delivering Shinji, Misato had to fix the situation between them.
"… Look, I can't say I understand your exact situation, but both of my parents died when I was 6."
Confronted with this new information, Shinji froze in his spot. Misato continued.
"I guess it's wrong of me to tell you how to feel, but feeling like you've been dealt a bad hand for not having the "standard" childhood is just counter-productive. Call me presumptuous, but if you didn't have a bad upbringing, then it isn't useful to be worrying about how things could have been."
"...Yeah." Shinji's voice was saturated with guilt and restraint. After a few awkward moments of silence, he looked like he was going to say something else - but he caught himself and began staring down again.
Misato noticed.
"…If you have anything you wanna ask me, you can ask. I won't mind."
The same woman who had been steaming with rage just a moment ago had seemingly cooled off completely, and was prompting him for questions. Shinji felt wary about the situation he found himself in, but he was curious about her regardless.
"Okay... uhh…"
Despite his curiosity, Shinji couldn't think of a single question to ask. Misato, noticing the hesitation, gently rushed him.
"What is it?"
Shinji blushed as he came across a suitable question.
"Please excuse me for asking, but... a-are you my father's wife?"
"Woah, no way!" Nearly flying off the road as she jerked in surprise, Misato yelled much louder than she had intended. "I was just ahead of my work, and he needed someone to pick you up!"
Her sudden reaction frightened Shinji, and he withdrew into his seat.
"Sorry for asking, it's just... something he wouldn't have told me."
After seeing what shape Shinji was in, his words sounded very plausible. Nodding to show that she understood, Misato resumed driving regularly.
They soon showed up to a sizable house, with an oddly angular design – the roof dipped sharply in the middle, and the walls sloped inwards towards the ground. It looked more like an artpiece than a house. Misato got Shinji's bag out of her car, and unlocked the front door for him.
"Well, this is it I guess." She gave him the house-keys, and placed his bag by the door.
"Do you really have to go?"
She smiled.
"Yeah. Your dad only wanted me to drive you here – you've got food and water in there, and you can grab whatever you like according to him."
Seeing him in, Misato said a simple goodbye before she began to walk away.
After thinking about the talk they'd had on the way, though, she stopped.
Shinji had begun walking inside when he heard a knock at the door. Thinking Misato had forgotten to tell him something important, he opened the door to see her leaning on the doorway, furiously scribbling something onto a piece of paper.
She passed it to him, and he realized that it was her phone number.
"Don't get the wrong idea," she chirped playfully, "I'm not giving you this to hit on you!"
Shinji blushed at her, and she giggled. It was just a bit of harmless fun on her part, and he actually looked kind of cute when he was embarrassed.
After getting her fill, she assumed her regular posture - albeit with a much more genuine smile than before - and continued talking.
"Look, I feel bad about giving you a hard time on the way. I think you're an alright kid - if you get lonely or need someone to talk to, you can give me a call. I got let out early today, so you won't be bothering me if you need to chat."
Though the gesture was confusing, Shinji nodded.
"Thank you, I will."
As he thanked her, Misato saw a small smile tugging at the corner of Shinji's mouth. It was miniscule, but it made Misato feel much better.
"Well, I should get going." With a smile, she turned around and began walking away. She was halfway down the walkway when Shinji's voice rang out from the doorstep.
"W-wait!"
Misato turned around to face him. His voice had a trace of desperation in it, and she could see that he was having trouble saying something. He finally managed to say what he wanted to say, half-shouting it from where he stood;
"...Thank you for picking me up from the station! It was nice to meet you!"
He hadn't looked directly at her as he said it, but Misato could tell he really meant what he said. It looked like he'd strained himself to say as much as he had, and for Misato that was more than enough.
With a wide grin on her face, she waved at him.
"You too, Shinji! I'll see you around, okay?"
"O-okay!" His mood increased dramatically, and as Misato turned and continued walking to her car, her smile softened.
See you around, kid.
Shinji's eyes fluttered open, and he looked around groggily. He spied the alarm clock on Rei's side of the bed, and saw that it was 11:06 - presumably at night, considering the darkness and the air temperature.
It had gotten colder during his sleep, and he felt goosebumps all around his body. All except for his left side - which, upon closer inspection, was due to Rei's presence there, her head on his chest and her eyes closed.
His eyes brushed along her naked shoulders, and he noticed that she was shivering in her sleep - her back being almost totally exposed to the chilly night air. Being careful not to stir too much, he took the blanket which was lying across their lower halves, and brought it up over them more - covering his chest and draping it over Rei's shoulders.
Upon feeling the added warmth, Rei moved closer to Shinji. He put his other arm around her and hugged her tight. This seemed to comfort her, because she relaxed and began breathing evenly into his chest.
Seeing that all was right with the world, Shinji put his head back down and drifted back to sleep.
But before he fell completely, he remembered the dream he'd had - a reminiscence of his first moments in Tokyo-3. The day when his life had begun to change for the better.
And despite its ups and downs, he wouldn't have redone it any other way.
AN: This was just a nice breather chapter, to read and to write. I wanted to make it longer, but after the length of the other chapters I decided the story needed a shift-up – a little break from the long, towering chapters that preceded it.
This is the first chapter in a line of flashback chapters. The story began with Shinji and Rei living together, engaged and with stable jobs - their pasts explained away in a paragraph. I envisioned this story as a here-and-now deal, but I'm beginning to really get into this story's past. It's no secret that this story is an AU just so I can write them all different and happy in the real world, but I'm thinking about how different things have turned out, how everyone met etc. Also, I really want to imagine how Shinji and Rei grew closer, and how Shinji proposed.
Next chapter: Fuyutsuki's offer, sandwiches and a cranky Shinji.
Edited 23/01/15