"Hey Shin-man, good to see you back" Toji called as he settled into the seat next to Shinji.
"You alright? All we hear is that you're in hospital and not allowed visitors. Red's nowhere to be seen either, though Miss Misato told Hikari she was fine."
Shinji is spinning a pencil between his fingers, a motion that's mirrored with a pen by Asuka as she walks over from several desks away.
"What happened? It's been a month since the last Angel, normally you're back on your feet in no time."
"You sure you should be back? I don't see no bandages or shit, but you look terrible"
Shinji's pencil snaps. Asuka doesn't notice the ink spreading across her fingers.
"Leave him alone stooge" snaps Asuka, putting herself between Toji and Shinji.
"He can talk for himself, he don't need you interfering..." Toji trails off as Asuka, rather than picking the fight she seemed to want, simply turns her back on him.
Asuka crouches in front of Shinji so she's looking up at him and places her hand on the desk next to, but very carefully not touching, his. "Hey baka?" she asks softly, "You need to go home?"
After a moment he shakes his head. "Better to be around people"
"And Toji means well, he just doesn't know how to be quiet about it. How would you feel if one of your friends ..." Shinji finally notices that Asuka is staring at him, practically daring him to finish that sentence.
Asuka sighs, "Well, just let Rei or I know if you need to go. We'll get you out of here"
She turns back to Toji and looks over to include Kensuke in her glare as well, "No, he's not well. He's been unconscious for most of the last month. He'll talk to you when he's ready. Just make sure you're there when he is."
As Asuka strides back to her desk, Toji and Kensuke look at each other, "What the hell just happened?" "Beats me".