Misato was going through the motions of a school morning. Wake up late, neglect to change out of her nightwear, and head out to the kitchen for breakfast served by her male ward. She was looking forward to his food when she noticed something awry. Shinji was wearing a hoodie. She had never seen him wearing a hoodie before. She didn't even know he owned one. To add to it he was cooking in it, surely getting hot from the steam.
"What's with the apparel, Shin-chan," she asked, feigning innocence.
In response Shinji jumped a bit, maintaining control of the cooking utensils all the while. He stammers for a moment and then answers with "It was comfortable, and my room was cold in the night."
Strangely, Misato didn't push things any further, retreating with a simple "Alright."
The three of them ate together and when Asuka made to leave Shinji got up as well, starting to follow. Misato reached out and grabbed his wrist, to which he winced and looked back. Misato narrowed her eyes.
"You go along, Asuka, I think me and Shinji need to talk," she shot out. Asuka responded with a 'tssk' and Shinji looked uneasy.
"Shinji. Wearing a hoodie at night is one thing, but it's 30 degrees outside," she stated in a surprisingly calm voice. Seemingly out of nowhere, she adds "I'm not mad at you or anything, I just want you to know I care about you. Can you show me your wrist?"
Reluctantly Shinji rolled up his sleeve with an embarrassed, guilty face. On his wrist was what Misato had feared, a still mostly fresh cut, directly horizontal. Misato looked into Shinji's eyes, coaxing him to say something.
"I was curious…"
"Shinji, normally people aren't curious about those kind of things."
Shinji remained silent.
"Shinji… I want you to look at me."
Nothing.
"Shinji, please. Just look at me." She held out her arm, confusing him. When he finally moved his focus from the wall to her, she continued.
"C'mere. Look at my arm." He waddled over and brought his gaze there to find a series of thin lines barely bumping out, like the edge of an old coin. Most of them were almost completely faded, but there were a few that were more fresh. Shinji came to realize what that meant and looked down.
"What I said to you Saturday night… It wasn't wrong, but. I had no right to say it. I.. ran away from my problems too, after taking that first step. Only last night did I keep walking."
When Shinji still didn't respond she continued. "I can't say anything on your behalf, but. I hated- still hate myself for that. It feels… It feels like you don't deserve anything, you're just using others. Like every bit of affection you get was unrightfully taken.. And then even when people love you it still hurts…"
Shinji butted in, quietly "Opening up hurts, staying closed hurts. Everything hurts."
Misato retorted. "You're forgetting something. After opening up, it hurts a little less. Nothing gets immediately fixed but… After last night, I'm a little better. And tonight, it'll hurt a little less again. That's why you have to keep going."
Again, Shinji said nothing.
"Look at my arm again. There are a bunch of old cuts, but only a few newer ones. And the newer ones are shallower. It takes time, but… It gets better."
In bringing himself over to look, he shed a tear on the newest one, and choked a sob. Taking advantage of his closeness, Misato gently brought him into a hug. Eventually Shinji relented and leaned into it, resting on her shoulder.
Patting his back, she reassured him. "It gets better." Neither of them had gotten very good sleep last night, so after embracing for a while they both fell asleep.
Even discounting what happened the previous night, Asuka was having a pretty piss-poor day. It started out with Shinji making a relatively mediocre breakfast (She wouldn't say it, but even that was still a pretty good meal). They were just about ready to go to school when Misato pulled Shinji back for some chat. Typical, Misato seeing some tiny thing wrong with Shinji The Great and she bends over backwards, yet not a finger is lifted for Asuka. And Shinji wasn't the only one absent, for some reason Rei wasn't there either, leaving her the only pilot at school.
She was looking forward to getting home and giving Misato an earful for letting Shinji skip out. How lucky was she that when she opened the apartment door she walked into something out of her fantastical nightmares.
"Buh- What!?" She flummoxed out, walking over to stand above Misato and her ward, passed out on the floor and in each other's arms.
She kicked them 'lightly', spitting out a venomous "Hey! Lovebirds!", which managed to rouse the two.
Shinji jumped and backed off, sputtering out a stereotypical "It's not what it looks like!", looking reasonably fearfully at her. Misato meanwhile peeked up and gave an apology.
"It's really not. Something rough happened with him last night and we talked about it. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Yuh-huh! And it took a whole day of cuddling up and who knows what else! And with you no less!" Asuka had a hook and she was sure to tug on it. "I know what you're like!"
Misato eyed Shinji before she calmly retorted. "Asuka, this is a serious matter. Can you come with me to talk one-on-one and not yell loud enough for our nonexistent neighbors to hear?"
"Tssk! Fine. You better have a good reason for it." Asuka reluctantly let Misato bring her over to her room, where Misato chose to sit on the bed. She cut to the chase.
"Last night, after we'd all gone to bed, he went into the bathroom and cut himself on the wrist." Asuka's expression went from one form of sour to another. "That's why he was wearing a hoodie, to try and hide it. I recognized what was going on."
Asuka took few things very seriously, but for personal reasons self harm was one of them. Her ego was still big enough that she wouldn't verbally admit wrongdoing, but she knew to shut up. She was also knowledgeable enough to connect the dots as to why, although she certainly wouldn't incriminate herself.
"I knew you'd understand the gravity of this situation. Now, I'm not gonna ask for you to wait on him hand and foot, but I want you to consider treating him more kindly during these hard times."
That suggestion forced a muttered retort out of Asuka against her better judgment. "These times are hard for everyone, but you don't expect me to be all kushy for them."
Disappointed, Misato returned with "Refraining from berating people isn't being 'kushy'. And you know I'd prefer if you did act that way towards everyone. I'm sorry, but, please go play some video games or practice kanji or something, my 'mom' quota for the day is more than filled." She tiredly got up from the bed, leaving Asuka to flop down into her place, thinking alone.
Misato entered the kitchen to a downtrodden Shinji, with her sitting in the chair and calling for a much needed beer. All in all it seemed as if the day had returned to a semi-normal state.