Get in the Damn Pool, Shinji - Day 1

After pulling Asuka out of a volcano Shinji starts to have nightmares about it. After waking her up in the middle of the night, Asuka discovers that Shinji doesn't know how to swim, on top of all the other lack of training.

"Why do I have to?"

She glares at him, "You dove into lava without knowing how to swim. What would you have done if you missed, idiot? So you're getting swimming lessons from the Great Asuka Langley-Soryu and you should be grateful. Most people would have to pay for the privilege, if I'd even deign to teach them."

"Now get in the pool before I throw you in. You can't possibly be afraid of a little water."

Shinji could, in fact, be afraid of a little water. He had almost gotten used to the LCL filling his lungs, but you couldn't actually drown in LCL even if it felt like you were going to. There was a reason he no longer took baths. He was, however, just as afraid of Asuka's temper. And if he didn't have enough things to be afraid of, he was worrying he'd managed to shrink Asuka's swimsuit when he washed it, because it definitely seemed tighter on her somehow.

'Shit' He'd been staring at her and her face was getting red with anger. He looked away and waited for the incoming slap. It didn't arrive. Neither did the yelling. He looked up just in time to see Asuka's graceful dive into the pool. At least she was facing away from him now, as he couldn't take his eyes off her.

She surfaced and rolled onto her back in one fluid motion, kicked her legs once and glided towards the edge of the pool where he stood. This obviously came to her naturally, the only reason he'd survived the first day of Pilot Soryu's Bootcamp was that the Eva was doing all the physical work and most of that was simulated. He only exercised when he was forced to, she seemed to actually enjoy it. One more thing he didn't understand about her.

She rolled over again as she reached the edge and pulled herself up, the water streaming off her. He found himself looking down at her beautiful face as she looked up at him expectantly.

He was staring again and she was watching him.

'Shit'

At least his trunks were loose, he didn't need to give her more reasons to call him a pervert. Hopefully the water would be cold enough. He did the same stupid thing again and jumped in.

The water was cool, not so cold as to be a shock, not so warm as to remind him of the volcano. He still didn't know how to swim. He panicked. An eternity later, a pair of arms wrapped around him, pinned his arms to his sides and hauled him above water.

"Stop struggling idiot and put your feet down. It's shallow! You can just stand!"

That took a moment. First the panic at nearly drowning had to fade enough for him to get a grip on himself. Once he managed that, he was then very aware that Asuka was holding him from behind. She's stronger than she looks and this must be some sort of rescue hold, there's no way she'd ever touch him otherwise.

Then for a brief moment it felt like he was the one holding her, which was unfortunate given where her hands were holding him, either he was far more tired from training than he thought, suffering oxygen deprivation from nearly drowning or actually turning into the pervert Asuka accused him of being simply for doing the laundry. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, which was another unfortunate experience as he had a split second between feeling something soft under his shoulder and inhaling a lung full of water as Asuka promptly let go of him.

He surfaced to find Asuka so angry her face was red. She was still beautiful. Even he wasn't stupid enough to say so.

"I'm sorry." He wasn't entirely sure how drowning a second time was his fault, but he must have done something to cause her to drop him. At least his feet had hit the bottom while he was under and he'd managed to stand.

"You're supposed to be learning how to swim, not how to drown like an idiot, or how to grope someone you pervert!"

"I didn't..." his denial died on his lips under her glare.

Still red faced and glowering Asuka declared, "If you can't even manage not to drown in a meter of water baka, we better start with getting you to float before we even try swimming."

"Now turn back around. Keep your feet on the bottom but lie back slowly. I'll put my hands under you so you don't sink, and you will keep your hands to your damn self."

He followed the instructions carefully, trying to concentrate on not drowning rather than that he was level with Asuka's waist looking up at her. He decided to close his eyes before she decided he was staring at her breasts rather than trying to keep his nose above water. Then he felt her hands under his back and suddenly wasn't quite as terrified. Probably it should have terrified him in a different manner, but her hands on his bare back were oddly soothing. He didn't even notice his legs rising or the fact that he'd been floating supported for over a minute, until Asuka interrupted his drifting barely-thoughts.

"Right. Now stand back up. Tomorrow we'll get you floating by yourself."

As soon as his feet were on the bottom again, she let go and swam off at high speed. She'd clearly had enough of him for the day and just wanted to get away. He watched her for a moment but turned away before she got to the far end and might turn and see him, then he made his way carefully to the ladder and climbed out.

He was sitting on the edge of the pool, half watching Asuka swim and dive, half asleep when a voice behind him asked, "See something you like?"

He managed not to fall face first back into the pool. He wasn't sure if drowning or having Asuka rescue him would be worse.

He yawned, "Hi, Misato. I was falling asleep waiting for Asuka, she's been swimming a while."

"So were you watching her or dreaming about her?" He knew that tone annoyed Asuka, but he wasn't quite sure why, or what Misato was getting at.

"Trying to decide if day two of bootcamp is going to be better or worse than day two of drowning lessons. I mean swimming lessons."

Misato laughs, "Well, when she comes up for air tell her it's time to go."

For some reason Asuka decided to use the steps next to where he was sitting, drenching him in cold water as she climbed out slowly and stood next to him squeezing her hair out. Obviously she was just getting him back for having to rescue him earlier, but at least the cold water woke him up.

As they headed back to the changing rooms he trailed behind, his legs barely willing to move through the exhaustion, Asuka was as terrifying as she was beautiful but he found himself looking forward to tomorrow, despite his fear of both her and water.

She was right, he was an idiot.