Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion and all rights go to their respective owners. Also, all OCs are the creation of JimmyWolk himself.
SPOILER WARNING: This contains spoilers for the fanfic "The 2nd Try " by JimmyWolk. So If you haven't read that then you should stop right here and check that out first.
Summary:
Shinji gives Aki a new toy in a form of her very own tricycle, but too soon he finds that it is becoming more trouble then its worth.
"Tricycle"
It was another normal day for the Ikari family. The sun was rising in the sky indicating that it was still early in the morning. The three occupants of the house, Asuka and Shinji were doing their usual chores around the house while their daughter Aki was off playing and enjoying herself currently with her new favourite toy.
The said favourite toy which Aki was currently riding on was making a speedy beeline towards her Papa's leg.
"Beep beep, Papa!" Aki shouted.
"Wait wha hey!" Shinji cried out in a tiny bit of pain as his daughter bumped rather hard into his leg with the front of her new tricycle.
"Oops, sorry Papa…hehe," Aki apologised although the little twinkle in her eye as well as her little laugh showed it wasn't entirely sincere.
When Shinji stopped hopping on one leg while nursing his other, he looked down at Aki, giving her a rather firm and disappointed look. A look which made Aki realise she was in big trouble.
Getting down on his knees in front of his daughter, Shinji sighed. He was getting tired of this.
"Aki, Honey. We talked about this remember? You can't keep bumping into Papa with the tricycle, ok?" Shinji firmly tried once again to explain as he has done a dozen times today, however, he sighed heavily as the words fell on deaf ears after seeing his daughter was already turning around on her tricycle away from him.
"Ok, Papa!" Aki shouted as she once again raced off around the perimeter of their home.
"So, are you regretting giving her that yet?" a familiar voice teased behind him.
Shinji turned his head and saw his wife, Asuka giving him her all-knowing look, with one hand on her hip. Shinji sighed heavily as he knew that she was correct as he was now really regretting giving his daughter that tricycle.
A few days before after doing his usual exploration of the ruins of the city, Shinji had come across another toy store which neither he nor Asuka had explored yet and found what he saw was a perfect gift for his daughter, which was in a form of three-wheeled tricycle bike that was perfect for her age group.
After bringing it home and surprising his daughter with it, seeing Aki's eyes light up like diamonds made it seem worth it at the time, especially when Asuka once again chided him for spoiling Aki with yet another toy and even giving her husband a vague warning to him that he will end up regretting it, as if she had already known what would inevitably happen. But like always, how could he not want to spoil and give his little sunshine anything she wanted, especially if it made her happy?
Yet as the days went on, Shinji was beginning to realise that Asuka was indeed right, and Aki was too obsessed with her new toy. Not only did it give her too much freedom and speed, but Aki was now beginning to become very troublesome with it. Just like now, Aki had been repeatedly bumping into him as a sort of funny game, which he did not find funny at all. Heck, he was convinced that maybe Asuka was the one to tell Aki to do it to annoy him, but sadly couldn't prove it.
"You know you can help me reign her in, right? She listens to you more than she does with me," Shinji said with a bit of pleading in his voice, sincerely hoping for his wife's help.
"Me help? Oh no no no, you reap what you sow, Baka Liebling. You got her that thing, so this is your mess to deal with," Asuka replied as she turned back to her chores in the garden.
Shinji sighed heavily in defeat. Since Asuka wasn't going to help him, he was all on his own to deal with this. He just hoped that Aki would eventually get tired of the tricycle soon.
x-x-x-x
"Aki come on, it's time for lunch!" Shinji called from the veranda. Having prepared a small lunch for his daughter who complained earlier of being hungry, he set the plate of food on the outside wooden table.
"Ok!" Aki shouted and in an instant was already at the edge of the veranda, still on her tricycle. "Gimme gimme gimme," Aki impatiently reached out with her hands at the plate of food.
However, Shinji wasn't going to give it that easy. "Aki, what do we say first?" Shinji sternly said, wanting to remind his daughter about the lesson in manners.
Aki pouted but ultimately complied. "Please, Papa," the girl said while still reaching out while she still sat on her tricycle.
"That's better. Now come and sit at the table honey," Shinji said.
"But Papa I don't wanna," Aki whined. Hungry, yet still not wanting to get off her new fun toy just yet.
"Aki, come on, you can play with the tricycle after you've eaten," Shinji told his stubborn daughter.
Aki grumbled and it took her a moment but she ultimately did get off the tricycle, which Shinji was thankful for. When he started taking a bite out of his food he noticed a bit too late that Aki grabbed her share and quickly got back on her tricycle before speeding off again.
"Hey wait, Aki!" Shinji called out but unfortunately, Aki either didn't hear him or most likely wasn't listening as she sped off to the far end of the garden.
Sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time today, Shinji wished that Aki didn't have such a stubborn streak. Like seriously he was hoping that Aki would get tired of her new toy sometime soon.
x-x-x-x
"Hey, Shinji, have you seen Aki?" Asuka asked her husband as she was wiping her hands on a cloth.
"I saw her a minute ago, so she's gotta be here somewhere.."
"Mama, Papa! Come here, look, look!" Aki called out to her parents.
As Asuka and Shinji quickly went to the other side of their house where Aki's voice came from, they saw to their surprise what looked like a mini racetrack in front of their house with many of their household and outside garden items being used to create obstacles.
As Aki saw her parents were now watching her, Aki put on a pair of dark sunglasses and proceeded to speed off the start of the track, twisting and turning around the corners with speed and avoiding the many things she had placed to make the track more challenging. Near the end, Asuka and Shinji noticed that there was a small ramp at the end meaning Aki was attempting to do a small jump but as they tried to stop her it was too late as Aki was already at the end and sped off the ramp making a hard landing but was still ok and still speeding towards her parents.
Just as it looked like she was about to hit Shinji's legs, Aki put on the brakes before doing a ninety-degree turn and stopping just at her parent's feet. Aki flipped up her glasses and looked up to her parents wearing a proud and wild smile on her face. "Yeah! Let's do that again!" Aki cheered before already moving to the beginning of the created race tract.
All Asuka and Shinji could do was look flabbergasted at all this. The fact that Aki in the short time that they had not seen her had created a small track course in front of their house to move about in her tricycle like an experienced pro racer and to Shinji's confusion on where she got the cool black sunglasses as he couldn't recall him or Asuka ever owning a pair.
As the shock and confusion died down, Shinji saw Asuka giving him a hard look that he knew said "See this is exactly what I was warning you about giving her such a toy!"
x-x-x-x-x
After chiding Aki for the little stunt and for taking their household items to build her so-called race track, Asuka and Shinji continued doing the last of the chores of the day which was taking their laundry off the close line. The two were nearly finished when they heard their daughter call out to them again.
"Mama! Papa! I'm going to the city to get some groceries!" Aki shouted out as she came out from the house, all the while dragging a red children's wagon with some rope.
Both parents chuckled and decided to play along with their daughter's game of pretend. "Ok, Schätzchen have fun shopping then!" Asuka shouted back as she unclipped one of their now dry and clean clothes off the line and passed it to Shinji.
"Do you and Papa need anything!" Aki asked as she tied the rope on her tricycle and waggon together.
"No honey, me and Mama are fine so just get what you need ok!" Shinji shouted back as he neatly folded the clothes into the basket.
"Ok! I'll see you later!" Aki cheered happily as she got on her tricycle and peddled off towards the front of their home.
Again, the two parents chuckled at their daughter's imaginative nature. They remembered the previous times when Aki pretended to be other stuff like a cowgirl, along with toy guns, to pretending to be in space astronaut by using a fishbowl as a helmet and many other things she had done in the past and now she pretending to go shopping on her own…
And just like that in sync, both Asuka and Shinji froze as they both came to the same realisation.
Looking at each other it was Shinji that broke the silence first.
"Wait…was Aki, actually pretending or did she really mean to go shopping on her own?"
The answer came at the sound of the front gate of their home being opened which Asuka and Shinji now had a look of horror on their faces before they both quickly bolted to prevent Aki from leaving the grounds of their home.
"No no no no AKI!" both parents shout in sync.
x-x-x-x-x
The sun was finally setting on the horizon and both Asuka and Shinji were utterly exhausted as they sat on the chair while leaning on the garden table.
After the incident of Aki trying to go shopping in the city on her own, which the little girl was severely told off for trying to do. The stubborn girl even attempted to argue back that she could do it and find her way back on her own, an argument she still lost much to her frustration. In retaliation, Aki began the silent treatment towards her parents and refused to play with them even after they calmed down. Even when they had given Aki her dinner outside, so she could continue playing with her tricycle wasn't enough to change her cold attitude towards them.
Having now rested both Asuka and Shinji prepared to face the challenge of telling Aki that playtime on her tricycle was over and that she needed to come inside. When they found Aki, to their surprise and humour they had found the girl asleep but still peddling her feet and moving in a small circle due to how she was resting her head on one side of the steering.
Looking at each other with weary smiles, Asuka and Shinji went over to pick up the sleeping girl before taking her into the house.
In the coming days the two would be grateful that like with many of the toys before, Aki would begin to play less and less with her tricycle but unlike many, it would still be one of her favourites to have that she would occasionally still play from time to time.
End.