After a break day for both of them on Monday, and a surprising visit from an old face on Tuesday, Shinji and Rei worked throughout the week at their regular pace. They'd discussed Mr. Fuyutsuki's wedding gift between themselves throughout the next two days, but otherwise nothing else had really changed. They were back to their normal routine - wake up, work, sleep.
On Friday morning, Shinji woke up at 6:30 to a soft rapping at the door. He untangled himself from Rei's sleeping form, accidentally waking her in the process, and went to see who was there.
When he answered the door, he found Fuyutsuki standing outside. He had a heavy brown coat over his shoulders and what looked like an oakwood cane in his right hand. On his head was a felt bowler hat.
Shinji welcomed him in quietly.
"Mr Fuyutsuki, sir. What brings you here at this hour?"
"I appear to have woken you, Shinji. I apologize." Fuyutsuki turned towards him quickly. "I'm going out of town with your father for a business convention."
"Oh, I see." Shinji couldn't really say much else - the situation had put him on the spot, and he hadn't woken up properly yet.
"...But aren't you retired, sir?"
Shinji and Fuyutsuki turned around to see Rei, haphazardly dressed in some dirty clothes, but in a decent state.
He greeted her cheerfully. "Yes, I am retired, but I still get the old worker's itch from time to time. Gendo invites me to these conventions every now and again, and I take the chance to keep myself active."
"Ahh, I see." Rei bowed politely as she slipped past into the kitchen to put some coffee on.
"We'll be gone until Sunday, which is why I wanted to see you kids before we went." Fuyutsuki half-shuffled in place to keep the warmth going through his body. "I hate to rush you both, but I would really like an answer to my proposition before we leave."
As the water boiled, Rei offered him a cup of coffee. He refused.
"I'm sorry, dear, but I'm on a tight schedule this morning. Gendo's actually waiting for me out in the car."
Shinji imagined his father waiting on someone in a car, and the thought amused him. He'd never seen a part of his father who was willing to wait for others - he was probably frowning.
He focused back on the topic at hand, though - Mr. Fuyutsuki needed an answer.
"Sir, your gift is a very kind gesture, and we would love to accept your offer. Thank you very much for your generosity." Shinji bowed formally, and Fuyutsuki's face lit up.
"That's great to know! I'm glad you came around in the end."
Rei went to Shinji's side quickly, and bowed alongside him. Before Fuyutsuki could say his goodbyes, however, she caught his attention.
"We would like to thank you for such a gift - we couldn't possibly accept it empty-handed. When we have our ceremony and reception, we would be honored if you could attend as a guest of honor."
Fuyutsuki took her hands. "Of course I'll accept. As long as I'm there to see you both tie the knot, I don't care how I'm treated. Just treat me as a regular guest."
Everybody smiled, glad in their own way that the situation had been sorted out.
Once Fuyutsuki had finished shaking the pair's hands, he straightened out his back, giving him a semblence of the authority he once commanded as their superior. He barely looked like he needed the cane.
"Alright, how do I look?"
"Very sharp, sir." Shinji softly patted the older man on the shoulder. Fuyutsuki grinned.
"Good to know I still have the old charm." Fuyutsuki began going for the door, saying his leave.
"Hold on, sir." Shinji quickly stopped him. "Do you know who's taking my father's place until you get back?"
"Ah yes, Gendo did mention that." Fuyutsuki rubbed his chin as he tried to remember. He soon had the answer:
"I believe he said something about Ms. Katsuragi."
"Okay, that's good to know." Shinji smiled, but inside he felt slightly afraid. Misato was a capable replacement, but no doubt she'd use her position to make fun at Shinji's expense.
"Goodbye Mr. Fuyutsuki, sir." Rei bowed again, and Shinji followed suit. The older man tipped his bowler hat, and was out the door.
After their surprise morning visitor, the pair began their day. Shinji showered first, and he noticed the state the bathroom was in - their tub had collected dust and needed a clean, and the shower booth was almost completely opaque at the bottom due to soap stains. One day soon, I'm going to clean this place like I promised, he thought.
Once he was out, he saw that Rei had begun cooking things for both breakfast and lunch. She left the kitchen in his hands while she had her shower, and by the time she was out and dressed both their meals were ready. They ate quickly that morning - they were still slightly sluggish from their unexpected awakening, and were beginning to run overtime.
The drive to work was faster than usual, and the pair made it to NERV with minutes to spare. Like always, they parted at the logbook and headed in their separate directions.
When Shinji entered his department, he noticed a card on his desk. It was written in Misato's handwriting - it would seem that the shenanigans were about to begin.
"Shinji - come to my office right away. Your future employment with NERV is hanging in the balance. - Misato."
Shinji looked at his "In" pile, only to find the tray empty.
It seemed like she had covered as many bases as she could. He'd just have to play along if he wanted to get any work done.
With no other choice available, Shinji trudged to his father's office - now under the command of Misato Katsuragi.
He opened the door, not even bothering to knock - to find Misato in his father's chair with Kaji in her lap, the pair of them fully clothed (thankfully) but making out like there was no tomorrow. Misato turned and saw Shinji, and dropped Kaji on the floor like a pile of bricks.
"M-Mr. Ikari!" She was flustered for a moment, likely due to the heavy petting. "Knock next time, or I'll dock your paycheck!"
Shinji sighed in frustration. He was tired from his early waking - his tolerance for shenanigans was practically non-existent.
"Give me my paperwork, Misato."
"That's Ms. Katsuragi to you, Mr. Ikari~"
For someone who had just been caught making out with someone in her boss's office, by the boss's son no less, she had recovered fairly quickly.
Shinji rubbed his temples in irritation. "Please don't be like this."
Kaji stood up, rubbing the back of his head. "If you think she's being hard to deal with, then you haven't met the floor yet."
Shinji looked up, and it was clear that he was reaching the end of his tether. His ears were red and his eyes were narrowed - a fairly radical change from his usual grumpy scrowl. Misato noticed.
"...Okay, that's enough."
Kaji looked at Misato in surprise. "Wait, you're giving up already? This is a first."
"It's fine, Kaji," she spoke in a tone of voice far more down to earth than usual, "it just feels like we've gone a bit far."
Kaji looked at Shinji and noticed the difference as well.
"Yeah, good call I guess." He straightened out his crooked tie.
Shinji seemed to calm down slightly - at least not looking as angry.
"Paperwork, please."
Misato pointed to a chair near the door. Shinji gathered his things and left without saying a word.
As soon as Shinji left, Kaji let out a deep breath.
"Wow, things got really tense all of a sudden. I didn't know he could get that mad."
"Yeah, it's not like him to get this angry." Misato sighed. "I'll have to talk to him about it later."
Rei was working as she usually did, but Asuka was restless and kept trying to create conversation. Their department was getting a new worker - an "outsider", as Asuka phrased it - and she was being oriented by Aoba.
She was a bit spacey, but she was positive and responsive to instruction. In the 20 minutes she'd been in their department, she'd grasped most of the concepts Aoba told her about, and had even built up a bit of a rapport with him.
Rei finished marking a stack of paperwork, and filed it away. Asuka was on the attack before she could do any more work.
"Man, I dunno about that new Maya girl," Asuka harshly whispered, to Rei's continued annoyance.
"What is so bad about a new employee being added to the roster?"
"Well, she doesn't have a feel of the place! We had specialist training funded by NERV, but she's come in from another city - what if she can't keep up?"
Rei looked up at Asuka, visibly irritated.
"We were taught in classes funded by NERV, but we were not a part of NERV until we were old enough to be employed. I do not understand your bias."
Asuka huffed in a dainty, uppity way. "Well, don't come running to me when your workload increases."
"If my workload increases, then so will yours." Rei grabbed another file and opened it. "And you'll most likely come running to me."
Asuka smirked. "You do have a point, I guess."
Aoba walked over to the pair, with Maya in tow.
"Ladies, this is Maya Ibuki. She'll be joining our department, starting from tomorrow."
Asuka grumbled audibly. She extended a hand for Maya to shake, which Maya took cautiously. Asuka's grip was hard, almost painful, and it came with what seemed like a warning:
"I hope you're good at what you do. The actions of one worker affect the rest."
"Says the woman who neglects her work to speak to others."
Rei's gently-spoken jab left Asuka reeling, and her mood and composure plummeted. Asuka's grip loosened on Maya's hand, which the older woman began to nurse.
"What's got you in such a bad mood today?!"
Rei was too busy for Asuka's antics, and for once she made that clear.
"I'm in an -irritable- mood. You, however, are in a rotten, obstructive mood."
Asuka visibly took offense to Rei's comment. As a flurry of angry words and German expletitives left her mouth, Aoba guided Maya as far from their bubbling argument as he could.
By lunch, everyone had calmed down somewhat. Both Shinji and Kaji were sitting at the usual table - Misato had gone to fetch a catering order. Rei joined them not long after, but there was no sign of Asuka. Rei spoke before either of the boys could comment;
"Asuka might not make it to lunch."
The 3 ate lunch in silence for a few minutes, before Kaji piped up.
"So, have you both spoken with Mr. Fuyutsuki recently?"
"Yes, we did - this morning, in fact." Rei's chopsticks clicked together as a piece of pork fell through their grip.
"And?"
"...We decided to accept it." Shinji rubbed the back of the neck.
"That's good news - a gift like that is like a stepping stone to your future lives." The older man swished the last of his canned coffee around.
Shinji spoke up, timidly but audibly. "...Would it be okay to just drop the subject whenever anyone asks about it? It's still a bit of an uncomfortable subject."
Kaji was going to comment, but he remembered Shinji's reaction earlier in the morning. There was only a slight chance of him getting angry again, but he figured that it couldn't hurt to drop the subject.
"...Yeah, sure kid. I'll tell Misato that you guys accepted, if that's alright."
"That'd be great, thanks."
It was like all the tension that had built up over the course of the day was beginning to dissipate. Shinji's mood lightened a bit, and Rei began to speak a little more openly.
Misato arrived halfway into the lunch hour with a large, 4-tiered platter of sandwiches and a bucket of fried chicken. By the time lunch ended, not even the whole top tier of sandwiches had been consumed.
Misato seemed happy about it.
"Oh well, I guess I'll have to snack on these throughout the day!"
Shinji and Kaji matched stares. So that'd been why she ordered so much.
Everyone began to move out, with Misato carrying a solid 4 trays of food and half a bucket of chicken, when her voice rang out in Shinji's direction.
"Hey, Shinji! I'd actually like a word whenever you're not busy - maybe even now, if you help me with this!"
He thought back to the work he'd left before lunch - he could probably do it when he got back.
"Alright, hold tight, Misato!"
He went back and took some trays. By the time they'd lugged the excessive haul of food to Gendo's office, everyone had gone back to work.
Once they had put everything down, Misato relaxed behind Gendo's desk. Shinji sat in front of her - it almost felt like he'd gone in for a job interview.
"So, what did you need me for?"
"I wanted to speak about this morning." Misato's expression darkened slightly.
"...Fair enough." Shinji's gaze began to wander around the room.
"He really doesn't want to talk about it..."
Misato knew Shinji fairly well, and she could tell when he was uncomfortable. Thinking back on the morning though, among all the other times she'd been making him uncomfortable for entertainment, she knew that she had to discuss her feelings with him.
"Look, Shinji - it's not fair for me to make fun of you like I've been doing."
Misato, apologizing? The thought was almost foreign to Shinji - she only apologized for really serious accidents, not for making him angry.
"It's okay, Misato - I've moved on from..."
"It's not just about this morning, Shinji. It's about the last few weeks."
She looked serious about what she was saying. Shinji's thoughts went back along the past few weeks - he'd taken her attitude with stride, and they were getting along fine in the workplace. In his mind, there really was no need to apologize - they were getting along well.
Misato sighed. "I've been much harsher on you lately, and I needed to tell you why."
"Are you saying there's a reason why you've been messing with me for so long?" The concept confused Shinji. Why would she have been acting harsher towards him?
Unless... the constant coupley activities, eating together - it couldn't be...
"Yeah."
Shinji beat her to her own answer.
"Misato... I'm sorry, but I'm engaged."
She blinked.
"Wait... You think it's because... I'm attracted to you?!"
Her reaction surprised Shinji. "Wait, so it's something else?"
"YES!"
Shinji realized exactly what he'd just said.
"...Oh jeez, I'm sorry!"
"'Oh jeez' is right, Shinji!" Misato had taken a sandwich from one of the trays and thrown it at him. It made a mess on his business shirt, and he yelled out in shock.
They yelled at each other for a little longer, until they were both tired out. An entire tray of sandwiches ended up on the floor, and another ended up on the floor and walls. Both of them lied on the floor, covered in mayonnaise and chicken - Shinji's head propped up on the wall, and Misato lying a few feet away.
Shinji spoke up, once the silence had gotten too much to bare.
"I know it's a bit too late to ask, but what were you gonna tell me about your attitude?"
Misato sat up slowly, her hair matted by the mayonnaise.
"...Kaji. I've been acting harsher because of Kaji."
"Wait, Kaji? I thought you liked him."
Misato sighed. "I do like him, I like him a lot. But he's part of the reason."
She wasn't making much sense to Shinji - maybe she'd been stressed out by his reaction that morning, and was just as tired as he was.
"Then wh-"
"Let me finish, Ikari."
Shinji stopped.
She had taken to feeling through her hair for any solid debris when she began talking.
"Me and Kaji have been on-again off-again since college. When I'm with him, I feel like the person I was back then - young and wild, looking for entertainment. And honestly, you're really fun to tease, which is why we've been bonding over teasing you."
Shinji was stunned for a moment. The first think Misato heard out of him was;
"If it was that simple to sum up, why did we just have this whole fight?!"
She looked around. So much of the office had been covered in sandwich material - there was probably chicken in every nook and cranny. She sighed - so such destruction born from misinformation.
"Hey, if it was so simple, why did you think I was crushing on you?!"
Shinji thought back, and he honestly couldn't believe he'd actually thought what he had. Before he even realized it, he'd begun laughing.
Stressed by the state they were in, and the state of the office, Misato began to laugh too. They were both soon in hysterics, laughing for reasons one had forgot and which the other didn't know in the first place.
The laughter lasted for a while, but subsided quietly as both of them thought about the situation they were in.
"...I'm worried about just calling the cleaners up here." Misato pulled out her cell phone, her hand wiped clean by a tissue from Gendo's desk. "Everyone will hear the announcement, and if people see us sneaking out in the state we're in, they're going to start rumors about us. It'd be weird."
Shinji thought, but she was right - it was a dumb situation, but he knew for a fact that news traveled fast at NERV, regardless of its legitimacy.
The answer was right in front of them, though - Misato didn't grasp it, but the idea came to Shinji pretty fast
"...Why don't we just call Rei and Kaji in here and explain what happened?"
Misato blinked.
"You know, that's not a bad idea."
They both contacted their significant others, and both of them had decided to view the carnage for themselves. When they entered the office, Kaji had already begun laughing - but he only got worse when he saw the sight for himself. Rei had grabbed a large amount of paper towels for Shinji and Misato to wipe themselves off with.
"So wait, you guys were worried people would think you guys were involved in some... messy, high-stakes office affair, and that it'd travel back to us?" Kaji had a hard time containing his laughter, and when he received confirmation he laughed even harder. Rei had taken to rubbing Shinji's hair with a paper towel to get the mayonnaise out. Misato was visibly irritated by Kaji's behavior - in an angry, smouldering way.
When Shinji and Misato were presentable enough, the group left the room in good spirits. Misato was going to wash herself further in the restroom, but she stopped Shinji from leaving.
"Wait a second, you. Your day here is over."
A brief moment of panic washed over Shinji. "Wait, are you sending me home early?"
"Yeah, I am." Misato pointed to Rei as well. "You too."
"Wait, why?!" Shinji raised his voice slightly. "We have work to do!"
"Relax, Shinji, you're not in trouble."
Anger turned to confusion.
"Why are you sending us..."
"Because you're an eyesore for singles!" Misato yelled obnoxiously. "You're putting us all off of our own work, so you should just go home and sort it out between yourselves!"
Both Shinji and Rei blushed.
"People can hear you, Misato, please be qui-"
"You heard me, you curs!" She was just having fun with it now. "Leave, or you'll really get punished!"
She quietened down quickly. "I'll cover Shinji's workload, and I'll circulate Rei's around her department. Just take the opportunity I'm giving you - just mark your regular finishing times and go, you deserve it."
As they went to leave, Misato raised her voice again. "That's right, begone!"
"You can stop now, you're just making the scene less believable."
Misato huffed at Kaji. "Bleh, you're no fun."
AN: Jesus Christ. The longest chapter yet.
This chapter is as late as it is because I stopped writing for a while. The whole Ferguson thing has been stressing me out, and I stopped feeling the writer's itch, if that makes sense. I'll see how far I can get through this story, but I don't know if I'll continue writing it.
Thank you for reading so far, by the way. I know this story is very purple prosey most of the time, and I violate Show, Don't Tell... more or less all of the time. I'm glad you're enjoying this story, even as it's been moving away from fluff. Next chapter is a sweet little surprise, so stay tuned.
Edited 28/10/2014