Author's Note: This is very much inspired by Stage 29: CENTOPATH from the Evangelion manga as I just made something based on a throwaway line from it. Anyways yeah, first fic I made in the New Year of 2024, year of the ReiShin.
'She didn't show up today.'
It was a thought that rang through Shinji Ikari's head during that school day. After class had begun, he noticed that one of the desks still remained empty. Now while they had plenty of empty seats in class due to many students leaving Tokyo-3, this seat was one that still had an attending student, Rei Ayanami. One of his other fellow Evangelion pilots, someone he considered a friend, and who was absent from school that day.
Though it was not that rare of an occurrence as the pale girl had been absent from school before in the past. Her absences every so often had become a natural occurring event that rarely anybody paid much attention to. Many did not see any differences in the school day whether she was there or not. Only a handful ever took notice of it, Shinji being one of them.
'I wonder if it was because of those tests again.' He considered as he started packing up his stuff upon hearing the last class bell ring. The previous time she had been absent not so long ago had resulted in him being tasked with delivering her missed assignments to her. Upon visiting her, he had learned that she had been called in for some type of tests regarding the reactivation of Evangelion unit-00 as it had finally been repaired and deemed combat ready again. Though what test would Rei have had to do this time, he is unaware of, as the general synchronization and harmonics test were already scheduled for certain days of the week, and they had already completed one the other day. Perhaps it was just another test to check on her unit and make sure everything still works fine or something.
Or perhaps she was absent because she was sick.
He'd rather hope she wasn't sick. Though she did look fine when he last saw her the other day, he wouldn't mark off the possibility of her becoming sick in between that time, especially considering the state of her apartment building. The idea of Rei being sick and alone there was not a particularly pleasant one for Shinji to consider.
Shaking his head, he just told himself that he was overthinking it as he hoisted his satchel bag over his shoulders. As everyone else was starting to leave, he couldn't help but overhear a conversation between his friend Toji Suzuhara and the Class 2-A Representative; Hikari Horaki. The conversation of which was actually more so an argument, as most their conversations were.
"Ah c'mon Class Rep, why d'ya gotta make a big deal outta it?" The athletic boy pleaded as he was accosted by Hikari, who was preventing him from leaving. His and Shinji's other friend; Kensuke Aida, had already abandoned him as he had something related to his otaku hobbies to do after school that Shinji hadn't quite caught, but would probably be told in great detail by him the next time they were in class.
"Because you should be putting your trash into the bin instead of throwing it, especially since when you miss, it lands on the floor." The freckled girl reprimanded through gritted teeth as she held a crumpled wrapper that she forcefully handed back to him.
"Well geez it's gonna get picked up by whoever got da cleanin' duty today, so who cares?" He bemoaned which only served to further rile up the Class Representative.
"Yeah, well if I see you throw your trash again, I'll make sure you get cleaning duty for a week Suzuhara! Got it!" She exclaimed, her threat managing to strike fear into the boy.
"Eheh yeah I got it, d'eres no need to resort to somethin' so severe Class Rep." Toji confirmed as he held up his hands placatingly in an effort to not anger her further, knowing she likely would go through with the threat if provoked.
Shinji watched this exchange and couldn't help but to think about the interaction he had with the Class Representative just the other day, when he had been taken to the nurse's office by Hikari after one of her and Toji's spats resulted in him getting a cut. Once there she had asked him some questions about Toji, including whether he ever talked about her as well as wanting to know if he liked Asuka. It had confused him at the time, but when he told Asuka about it later, she said it was because the Class Representative likes Toji.
Yet the way she acted is as though she could not stand him most of the time, as they always end up having an argument of some kind. It confused Shinji as to why they seem to act like water and oil if she actually does have a crush on him.
'I guess that must be the female psyche Asuka was talking about, she might be right about me never understanding it.' The Evangelion pilot just let out a huff as he shook his head. He didn't much care for the idea of people complicating things by obfuscating how they really feel, as it was already hard enough to try and understand others, so there was no need to make it even more difficult.
"Hey idiot! Pay attention or else I'm leaving you behind to walk home by yourself!" The abrasive words broke Shinji from his thoughts as he turned to the source of them. That being the other Evangelion pilot and his newest roommate; Asuka Langley Soryu.
'Speaking of her…' He ruefully thought as he started moving towards the foreigner girl. His mind now turned to her and back to how the Class Representative had been under the misconception that Toji might have liked her. Something he knew was not the case, based on how the athletic boy tended to complain about the redhead girl even more than he himself did. Realizing he was drifting into his head again; he shook himself back out of his thoughts.
"Yeah yeah, I'm coming." He told her as he walked up beside her.
"Ugh, maybe if you stopped daydreaming so much, you wouldn't be such an idiot." The German girl jeered before frowning and crossing her arms across her chest. She had been in a rather unfavorable mood for a while, ever since the party they had to celebrate her move in with him and Misato Katsuragi, along with the latter's promotion.
Shinji bristled slightly at her mean remark but didn't say anything as the two started to head out of the classroom to go home.
"Oh Ikari, can you wait a moment?" Hikari called as any anger on her face disappeared when she turned her gaze to him, taking Shinji by brief surprise.
"Um yeah sure." He replied as he stopped in his tracks.
"Are you sure you really want to have to deal with this idiot any longer, Hikari? You already have to deal with monkey face there." Asuka had also stopped as well and made sure to insult both boys.
"Hey! Why I outta…" Came the indignant response from Toji while Shinji just let out a sigh. However, the Class Representative turned another glare toward the more athletic boy, which stopped him from escalating any further.
"Anyways," Hikari said as she returned to looking at Shinji, "I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"
"Eh? What is it?" He asked, not really expecting what she would want.
"Er, I'm gonna head out then, catch ya later Shin-man." Toji interrupted as he quickly left the classroom before the freckled girl could stop him again. The boy also threw his crumpled trash at the trash bin again, though this time it made it in but regardless caused the Class Representative to grit her teeth at his insolence.
"Suzuhara!" She growled out, but the boy was already long gone.
"Tch, what favor could you need idiot Shinji for?" Asuka cut in, getting somewhat impatient at being delayed from leaving.
"Oh!" Hikari snapped back to attention as she grabbed a handful of papers she had set down, "Well you see, Ayanami wasn't in class today, so she missed her assignments and I was wondering if you could take them to her?"
'Huh, déjà vu…' He couldn't help but think that this was very coincidental.
"Eh? Why does wondergirl need to have her papers delivered, can't she just get them next time she's in class? Tch, it's not our fault she didn't show up." The German girl complained loudly.
Hikari just ignored her friend's grumbling and held the papers out to the brown-haired boy.
"I know I asked you to take her assignments to her the last time she was absent, but you're one of the only students who knows where she lives. I was going to take them to her myself, but my older sister told me she wasn't going to be home until way later and that means I'll have to watch over my little sister until then. She gets out of her school at the same time as us so I have to head home right now, if you could please deliver Ayanami her paperwork for me I'd be very grateful." She explained as she bowed her head slightly in a plea, continuing to hold the papers out to him.
"Um, Yeah, I can take them to Ayanami." Shinji assured her as he took the offered papers, making the freckled girl stand up straight again with a smile.
"Ah, thank you so much. I really do have to go so I'll see you two later," The Class Representative waved at them as she herself left the classroom in a quick walk with a rushed bid farewell, "Bye Ikari, bye Asuka."
However, Asuka simply scowled as she also followed to leave as well.
"Hmph, if you want to go and play delivery boy for wondergirl, then go ahead. But don't expect me to tag along and make such a detour for that doll," The redhead scoffed with a huff as she shook her head, "I'm going home."
She had strode away from him before he could possibly respond, which left Shinji to just sigh to himself.
"Okay then…" He said to no one, it wasn't like he expected her to come with, but he didn't believe she had to be so rude about it. The brunette boy just shook his head as he left the classroom as well, adjusting his satchel so as to put the papers for Rei in it. At the very least he figured that he would be able to check up on her, which would alleviate some of his worry.
'She might be sleeping like she was last time.' Shinji considered to himself as he walked down a sidewalk. Remembering how events transpired the last time he was in the situation of delivering papers to Rei Ayanami, with her opening the door in seemingly just a large button up shirt while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The image of her in that state made him feel a little bit flustered. Though it was better than the first time he visited the girl's apartment, when he had come to deliver her renewed Nerv I.D card on the behalf of Dr. Akagi. Only when he got there, he found the door not locked and so let himself in. However, the blue haired girl had just taken a shower and was completely undressed.
'And then I fell on her…' He thought with a blush, but quickly dispelled that from his mind. It was not as though he did it on purpose, and it had all happened so quickly that he didn't get much time to process the events as they unfolded.
'Stop being a pervert…' The boy mentally chastised himself as he continued on his way. Thankfully he did not have a repeat of such a thing upon his second visit to Rei's apartment and would hopefully not have it repeated upon this visit either. Perhaps it may turn out like his last visit there; where after delivering her papers, she invited him in for tea.
While the whole thing had some awkwardness with him not always knowing what to say for conversation, or when he might have overreacted a little when she barely burned her finger on the kettle, it was overall quite a nice visit where they had enjoyed some Earl Grey tea together. In truth he quite liked Earl Grey even if it was a little bitter by itself, and he quite liked drinking some with her.
'Though we also talked about Father…' The conversation he had with Rei ended up in him telling her about how he desired to talk with his father. When he did, she encouraged him to try to talk to him in an effort to change things between them. But then he actually did try to talk to him, on the phone and at the cemetery. Yet his father had denied him, being dismissive and ultimately telling him to stop trying. It was disheartening for him to hear and made him upset. So things did change somewhat between them, in that he no longer expects any possibility of the rift between them to be mended. It would seem his father didn't care about him after all.
'But what about him and Ayanami?" He wondered as he remembered catching a glimpse of her on the VTOL aircraft his father had taken to visit his mother's grave. He wondered why his father told him that humans cannot understand each other and that he should stand on his own, but yet he seems to care for Rei, at least more so than he does for his own son. Shinji kept asking himself why that was. A part of him couldn't help but hold jealousy over that fact.
'Though maybe I'm the lucky one, seeing where Father has Ayanami staying, maybe I am better off…' Truly he did not envy Rei's living situation. The apartment complex she lived in is located in one of the emptier districts of Tokyo-3, the most notable thing about the area being that there is construction work happening on a daily basis, with loud echoing noises that emanate from it throughout the days, some of it actually being destruction of some of the other neglected apartment buildings. If he was to be quite honest; he believed that her apartment building should probably be razed as well. She should live certainly somewhere that was not a dilapidated building that was unkempt and in need of so very many repairs. And perhaps what made it worse is that she had to live in such a place all by herself.
He may have some complaints about living with Misato Katsuragi and now as of recently: Asuka, but he would be lying if he said that he did not prefer living with them over how he was 'living' before. That being alone. Even while he was under the 'care' of his Aunt and Uncle, he was still alone. By design of course, after all they had 'gifted' him his own space away from them. They didn't want him, they would have gotten rid of him if they were not getting paid, he's sure of it.
Thinking of the past always made him feel gloomy, a state he did not want to be in at the moment and would rather distract himself from falling into. So he decided to look around the street, he had only taken this path to Rei's apartment one other time and so didn't know all too much about the contents of it. One didn't really run into many people much the further they go into this part of Tokyo-3, at least when compared to the area where Misato's apartment is. Though he somewhat preferred that. Upon looking around, a particular shop he was walking by caught his eye.
Shinji found himself stopped in front of it. Though it wasn't something extravagant about it or anything that garnered his attention, simply the type of shop it was. A flower shop.
Seeing it had caused him to recall an errant thought from his last visit to Rei's apartment, when he was sitting on a stool in her room while she was digging out her box of tea from her cupboard to brew it for them both. At the time he noted how her room was quite dreary with how lacking and sparse it was of anything; much less decor, before a thought had suddenly popped into his head:
'Maybe I should have brought Ayanami some flowers…'
The recollection of that moment was quite vivid to him as he now stood in front of a shop with just that, flowers. While it didn't seem very active, the sign on the door did say it was opened. Quite the opportunity that had presented itself, as it would be a rather nice thing to do for Rei. Yet the idea of getting her flowers, made his cheeks feel warm and he found it somewhat embarrassing of himself to consider making such a gesture. But he also thought it would again be a nice thing that he could do to perhaps help her liven up her home, and in the unlikely scenario she was sick, it could be a get well soon gift.
'Would she even like flowers though?' He wondered to himself as he still tried to decide what to do, as Rei was not the most traditional type of person and so he wouldn't know if she appreciated such things.
It was after a minute of contemplation that he finally decided upon the action of entering the shop.
The glass door opened inward with the ring of a bell, something Shinji was not expecting but still entered regardless. A quick glance around showed it to be a small shop, with not much other than some shelving with many pots and such that displayed the various flowers along with some other flower related items. He could see the counter had who he assumed to be the shopkeeper standing behind it. They were a much older woman who seemed to be putting things away into one of the many cardboard boxes she had behind the counter, that was until the sound of the bell above the door got her attention.
"Ah hello there young man, is there something I can help you with today?" The older woman asked him kindly.
"Oh… um, I was just looking around…" Shinji answered as he fidgeted slightly with his bag strap.
"Well was there anything in particular you were looking for?" She questioned him, which made the brown-haired boy feel slightly tense.
"I- no… I just wanted to see what you had…" He meekly replied as he took a glance around at the wares.
"That's alright, you can look around, and if you have any questions then feel free to ask." She told him with a gentle smile as she then returned to putting items away into boxes.
Shinji just nodded his head as he let the shopkeeper resume her work, while he moved to look closer at the flowers on display.
There were a variety of them, most of which he found himself unfamiliar with. Looking at them all astutely reminded him of how very limited his botanical knowledge is. He had not seen many of these flowers and knew the names of even less.
His eyes went to the flower he was perhaps most familiar with, due to its popularity in media; the Rose. They seemed to just only have red Roses, which to be fair were the most popular version of the flower. However, Shinji also knew how they were portrayed in general media and culture as a rather universal symbol of love and romance.
'Definitely not…' The thought of giving Rei a red Rose made his face heat up, and he was sure it put a blush on his face. No, he definitely would not be getting a Rose, as he felt the gesture would come off as him saying he has romantic intention. Which is something he did not want her thinking and causing some type of misunderstanding between them. Also he felt that getting a girl a Rose was somewhat stereotypical and cliche, overall it was just not what he was going for.
He turned his head to look at some other flowers, as well as to hide his blush in case the shopkeeper looked over and saw another one that he did slightly recognize.
It was a few pink lotus flowers, which seems to be kept in a different type of pot than most of the other flowers on display; being in one with a lot more water. Really all he knew about the Lotus was that the flower had some connections to the religion of Buddhism which was quite big in Japan. He had heard a few things about the religion but didn't know much, he probably knew a bit more about Christianity since it had become somewhat more popular in Japan after the Second Impact, not to mention how references to it seemed to pop up at Nerv. But it wasn't as though he followed either religion.
In truth, he didn't follow any religion, they could be a rather sensitive topic in that day and age, especially after the wars that erupted right after Second Impact. The wars were fought over many topics and disputes, religion having been one of them. That wasn't to say that he did not believe in the possibility of a God, simply that he just didn't follow any religions. So perhaps it was accurate to say that he was more of an agnostic person. Though he didn't know if Rei believed in any religions either. 'Perhaps she is a bit agnostic as well?'
Regardless, he did not think a Lotus was appropriate either for what he wanted to get for her.
'Damn it, focus and hurry up already, I still have to deliver her paperwork to her…' He mentally told himself, as he glanced at another type of flower. These ones also had pink petals and seemed more in line of what you might think of when you hear the word: flower.
Looking at the label tag on the base of the pot, it said that they are called Camellias. Taking a second to stare at them, he decided against getting one of them and gazed elsewhere.
He saw another red flower; these ones being labeled as Carnations. They did look very nice in truth, or at least he liked the look of them. However he reminded himself that he wasn't getting a flower for himself, but for Rei. The more he thought about it being for Rei, the more he thought that they weren't the right ones to get either.
Again, he shifted his gaze and this time it came to a stop on a white flower. He briefly looked at the tag which called them Gardenias before looking back at the flower. He noted how the petals swirled somewhat like a rose but, for lack of a better wording, looked more opened up and not as tightly twirled. It looked nice to him, and he couldn't help but associate the white with Rei Ayanami, most likely due to her pale skin and her plugsuit color. His own plugsuit was primarily blue, and Asuka's was red, but Rei's was mostly white.
His blush returned as he thought of Rei in her white plugsuit, and how form fitting it was on her.
'Stop it, don't be a pervert about your friends dammit…' He reprimanded himself as he flexed his hand into a fist before then turning to look at the shopkeeper.
"C-could I get one of these?" Shinji stammered as he pointed towards the Gardenias.
The older shopkeeper stopped again in her own work and came over to stand near him as she looked at the ones he was pointing too.
"Were you just wanting just the one or did you want to make a bouquet?" She inquired as she stared at him.
The idea of showing up to her apartment with a bouquet of flowers was one that made him again feel hot in the cheeks, as he felt it would defeat the point of trying to make it a non-romantic gift and in general was perhaps too grand a gesture.
"J-just the one, please." He stuttered out as his eyes dipped away from the woman.
"Alrighty then," The shopkeeper told him as she reached out and plucked one of the Gardenias from its spot with the others, "...I'm sure she'll like it…"
Shinji blushed at the correct assumption from the older woman, as well as the more implicating smirk she had. But still he followed her back to the store counter.
"Would you like a box for your flower?" She asked him, to which he shook his head negative.
"No thanks…" Came his slightly mumbled response.
"That'll be 1300 yen." She told him.
'Geez, that much for a flower?' He sweatdropped at the price but regardless still pulled out his wallet and handed over the amount.
"Here you are." She handed him the flower with a gentle hold on its stem, to which he made sure to grasp it just as gently.
"Thanks…" Shinji said to her before turning to leave the shop.
"...do be careful young man, things have gotten very dangerous here." The shopkeeper spoke up to him, prompting him to stop, "I myself plan on leaving Tokyo-3 as soon as I have everything packed. You and your family should think about leaving as well, and probably suggest it to whoever it is that flower is for…"
"...yeah, thank you..." Was his only reply as he exited the shop.
Though the warning still echoed in his head as he thought about it. More and more people had been leaving the city ever since the first angel battle that occurred. The percent of the populace that chooses to evacuate only increases with each consecutive attack in the city. He could understand how the battle against the latest angel in particular would increase that number, as it was the largest one so far and had come falling from the sky. It was only thanks to him and his other two fellow pilots working together to catch and kill it that prevented it from utterly destroying Tokyo-3 by crashing into it.
He could only imagine what fear the people living in the city would have felt upon seeing it in the sky before being herded into a bunker with no knowledge of what was happening. They would not have even known if the Evangelions had failed until the angel came crashing down on their heads and killing them all. It was a terrifying notion to think of, but it was a possibility, and one they all had to accept if they were to continue to live in Tokyo-3. They either had to put their faith in Nerv and the Evangelions, or they could leave.
Sometimes Shinji wanted to leave.
To stop piloting and leave behind Tokyo-3. Leave behind the pain of the Evangelions and run away. But really he had nothing outside of Tokyo-3. He doubts his Aunt and Uncle would want to take him back, at the very least they would not be happy about it, and he had no friends from his old life.
However, here; in Tokyo-3, he had friends and people he cared for. While Toji and Kensuke could be a bit much sometimes, he enjoys their friendship. Misato is a sloppy person who baffled him sometimes, yet she also made him feel welcomed and gave him a home and perhaps the closest thing he has had to family. Asuka and him have their disagreements plenty, and she sometimes drives him crazy, but he also knows that there is more to her that made him admire her.
They were people he had come to care about, and they mostly seemed to care for him as well.
Looking at the flower he held in his hand, he thought about Rei, and how while she was quite a mystery to him at times, she also felt like someone who understands, who he can relate to in some ways. Someone he could be content with just having their company as he didn't really have to expect expectations from her. It was nice to be able to sometimes just sit in silence with someone.
She too had become someone he cared for.
Turning his wrist to look at his watch, he grimaced somewhat at the time.
'I should really hurry up.' He thought as he began walking much faster to make up for the detour that had delayed him from his original errand, being careful to not ruin the flower he held.
Walking through the halls of the apartment building Rei Ayanami lived in was always an unsightly experience for Shinji. He preferred living in a clean environment. While he could put up with the sloppy nature of his older roommate, this place would've been too much for him to endure. It was all a dull gray color with various stains and grimes coating the walls as well as some trash and a few insects scattered about the floors. The idea that he may have ended up somewhere like here if Misato had not taken him in, made him all the more grateful to her. Misato's apartment was only messy in that she tended to not pick up after herself, while this building was a mess in that no one took care of it and instead seemed to have left it to decay.
'I swear it somehow looks worse every time I come here.' Thankfully he could see the door to Rei's own apartment.
He wouldn't bother with the buzzer as it had not worked either time he had been here, and he somehow doubted that someone had taken the time to actually do any kind of maintenance. So he would simply knock. Yet he found himself slightly hesitant to do so, the flower he held in his other hand seemed to make his palm itch, but he ignored it.
With a breath he reached out and knocked on the door in front of him and then proceeded to adjust his satchel bag and pull out her papers with his free hand.
'She might not even be home…' Came a stray thought as he realized he hadn't considered that possibility yet.
The idea was squashed though as the door opened right as he pulled the papers out. It revealed the pale form of Rei Ayanami, who despite not having gone to school that day was still wearing her school uniform. 'She doesn't look like she's sick, guess I was just worrying too much after all…'
"Ikari," She greeted, snapping him out of thought as her ruby eyes observed him, "Why are you here?"
"You weren't at school today," He told her, nonplussed at her generally stoic expression, "so Hikari asked me if I could deliver your assignments to you, Ayanami…"
His hand held said papers out for her to take, which she did so without a word.
"...Hikari said that she was going to take them to you instead but then she had to watch her little sister, so she asked me to do it instead." Shinji further explained rather unnecessarily.
"I see…" was all Rei returned with.
However her pupils then drifted to his other hand, where he still held the flower he had purchased.
"... what is that?" The blue haired girl inquired with a tilt of her head towards the plant, he could faintly hear some curiosity in the tone.
"O-oh yeah, it's a flower," He stuttered as he held it up for her to see closer, "I-it's called a Gardenia and well I got it f-for you to y'know, l-liven up your apartment a bit…"
A blush had now spread across his cheeks as he thrusted the flower at her to take.
"...you got it… for me?" She asked while hesitantly reaching out a pale hand to grasp its stem, with the faintest hint of pink dusting her cheeks.
"Y-yeah." The brunette boy affirmed, letting her take the flower out of his hand as the girl did so with graceful care.
Rei pulled the flower close to her with one gentle hand while the other held the assignments she had been given. Looking down at the Gardenia, she noticed it had an aroma to it which she smelled and found to be rather pleasant.
"I am… unsure of what exactly I am to do with this," The bluenette stated as she glanced back up at Shinji, "...Could you show me?"
The pale girl took a step to her right and pivoted slightly in a gesture for him to enter her apartment.
"... sure." He agreed as he stepped inside.
She closed the door behind them both before then walking past him to her room, the small nature of her apartment making it so their shoulders brushed against one another as she did.
Shinji absent mindedly rubbed his shoulder from the sensation as he took a brief look around her apartment. Confirming that it was the same as the last time he visited, worn, wanting, and dreary. A single flower was unlikely to somehow make it aesthetically pleasing, but at least it was a start.
His attention turned back to Rei as she returned from her room, now only holding the white Gardenia.
"What do you do with a flower?" She questioned again as she looked towards him for an answer.
"Ah well, I um don't actually know much about flowers…" He confessed somewhat timidly, "u-usually they're for decoration and you set them down somewhere in a vase or something like a cup with water in them."
He scratched the back of his head a bit nervously as he explained it to her.
"I have cups inside the cabinet." The blue haired girl gestured to one of the cupboards with her head.
"Oh…" Shinji went to open the cupboard and crouched to take a look inside and saw the contents of it, that being stacks of haphazardly placed kitchenware. She had a few plates, bowls, a pot, a pan, a few various utensils, and some cups including a measuring glass all placed in a disorganized manner that made his face deadpan.
'I get the impression she doesn't cook much…' He couldn't help but think with a twitch. Her cupboards reminded him of how Misato's were when he moved in, the older woman not bothering to put them away in an orderly manner as she both didn't care and mostly ate instant meals so didn't use her dishes much. It irked him slightly as he was a person that made sure to organize his kitchenware, but he ignored it for the most part and grabbed one of the cups before then standing back up.
He took the cup and put it underneath the sink faucet and turned it on, filling it up about halfway with water before shutting it off and moving to face Rei.
"You can set it in here, Ayanami." Shinji held the cup out for her. Doing as instructed, she set the flower into the cup, its stem sinking to the bottom as the flower itself stood leaning slightly over the rim.
"What next?" She wondered as she stared at him again, a hint of curiosity shining in her eyes.
"We should probably put it somewhere in your room where it can get sunlight." He told her as he held the cup with both hands so as to minimize the chance of dropping it.
"Very well…" He followed her as they both stepped into her room, it too being the same as he remembered it, "...Where should it go?"
Glancing around, Shinji noticed that due to the glass balcony door in her room; most of it received sunlight even with her thin curtains covering it. However the problem was that she didn't have much furniture at all. He could just set it on the floor, but then it would be mostly out of sight there, not to mention it could get knocked over easily on the ground.
He decided that it would be most practical to set it on top of her dresser where it would be both in the sunlight and in standing eyesight.
"I'll set it here." The brunette boy told her as he moved to the piece of furniture and set it on top of it near the edge. Though he also saw that there was another object on top of the dresser that was near his hand, a glasses case.
'Fathers glasses…' He shook his head briefly to keep himself from spiraling into his mind and went to stand next to Rei. Both of them looked at the Gardenia flower as it stood from its place on the dresser top. Some of the late afternoon sunlight cascading from the glass balcony door and through a crack in the curtains caught the white pedals and illuminated them, causing the flower to stand out even more amongst the rest of the room.
"What do you think?" He looked to her as he posed the question, the bluenette girl briefly turning her red eyes to him before then turning them back to the flower.
"It looks nice." Her answer was delivered in the monotone she always uses, but Shinji could tell she meant it.
"Good… um," He trailed off as he felt suddenly insecure about his gift, "I think you need to change the water or something every so often, but I'm not sure what else you need to do to keep them alive so it might end up dying…"
'Way to kill the mood.' Timidly he looked away and rubbed the back of his head.
"I see…" was the succinct response she gave.
"Sorry…" his apology was genuine in that he was indeed sorry for having gotten her a somewhat inconvenient gift considering that they both lack knowledge of flowers, "... but… do you like it?"
Her eyes moved to stare into his own at his question, making him a little nervous as she did so.
"...I do." She replied honestly with a faint smile.
'She has a nice smile.' He couldn't stop himself from thinking.
"I'm glad." He grinned at her, happy that she at least liked it.
Rei seemed to hesitate for a moment before she opened her mouth again.
"Thank you." Her tone sounded genuine as she said it.
It shocked Shinji for a moment, but he went back to smiling.
"You're welcome." His smile had made Rei feel odd prompting her to turn slightly away and look back at the flower on her dresser.
Silence encompassed them both as they stayed standing. Neither breaking it for a minute. After a moment though, he decided that perhaps he should take his leave.
"Um, I'll get out of your hair now, Ayanami." He told her as he turned on his feet to leave and finally go home.
Only to be stopped.
"Ikari…" Rei's voice called out to him, making him turn to look at her, his eyes meeting hers as she stared back at him, "... I still have that tea… if you would like to share some with me again…"
Shinji was surprised but found himself smiling again at the offer.
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Author's Note: Yep, I based this story on the throwaway line of when Shinji thought he should've brought Rei flowers. The manga really was not that subtle in shipping Rei and Shinji together, and that's one of the reasons I liked it so much. Any who, say what you think if ya want, and maybe I'll make another thingy soon. Ciao.