Points of Divergence: Episode 17: Dreams and Nightmares: Part 2
Asuka experiences Shinji's nightmare from the outside
Asuka knew this was a bad one when she woke to him calling Wondergirl's name.
She hadn't planned on sharing a bed again, ever again or so soon, but here she was anyway. She wasn't even here because she couldn't sleep, she'd just needed to be here and found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, his bed, before thought had caught up with instinct. Not that thinking had helped at all. Every so often she tried to make sense of it, when he was distracted and she wasn't so uncomfortably aware of what he was doing. Right now wasn't one of those times. She was very aware of him. She hated it.
When she laid down, she had known exactly where he was, she could still feel his irregular breathing as if it were her own. Except she must have fallen asleep a while ago, long enough for her to move, as she could hear his rapid heartbeat under her ear. Despite the heat, he felt cold and the almost bruising grip he had on her waist came with freezing cold fingers against her skin. If he'd been awake and not lost in whatever this new unfamiliar nightmare was she'd have had words to say about him touching her like that, very loud ones.
She'd heard him call her name in his sleep often enough for it to be a familiar sound. Aggravating but familiar.
But Ayanami wasn't in his nightmares, almost certainly in his perverted dreams, but not his nightmares. He'd never called her name before, she didn't know why, or why now was different. It wasn't as if she could ask him now, and she definitely wasn't going to once he woke.
She lifted her head and studied his face. He looked so young and lost and she was glad his eyes were closed because she didn't want to see them. One way or the other they'd scare her and she didn't want him to know that.
That was when he called her name, a desperate plea, a tone of despair she never heard when he was awake. She did something she'd never do if he was, she wrapped her arms around him, pushing her hands under the back of his shirt, letting her warmth leach out into him. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling his ragged breath on her hair, "It's alright my little idiot, I'm right here". She started to wonder why she'd said it that way when sleep pulled her under into a comforting silent darkness.