It's Friday. How about an update?
I thought I could finish Hangover with this update, but then I noticed it's 1328 here and I should have been in bed 2 hours ago. So... next update will finish Hangover.
Art?
Evangelion: The Hangover pt 6
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Misato tore her eyes away from the pile of wrecked Mercedes and bloodied men that had been her pursuers a moment ago. "I… ah, that's why I was looking for you all. I don't know. I can't remember anything past mid-afternoon yesterday, and I'm trying to track him down. I was hoping you and Kaworu-kun could do some magic and find him for me."
Rei looked around the city, her eyes becoming more red and shiny than usual. She pivoted in place, turning in a three-quarters circle before halting and pointing. "That way."
Misato waved Rei towards her car. "Get in, you can guide me while the others follow." She looked back again at the smashed pile of mobsters. "Guess we don't need to worry about a dramatic chase through the streets right now."
Rei opened the far door to the Lotus and got in. She stuck her head back out the door long enough to shout 'Следуйте за нами!' at Mrs. Growlski.
The husky engine of the Lotus growled loudly as Misato put it back in gear and headed off in the general northwesterly direction Rei had pointed. The older woman glanced at Rei out of the corner of her eye as they drove, in between looking in the rear-view mirror at the no longer pursuing mobsters. "So… why were you all at the chapel, Rei? Someone else planning to get married?"
"No, Commander. I think we have completed all necessary marriages yesterday."
"So what were you doing there, then, if seeing Shinji and Asuka finally tie the knot wasn't it?"
"We were acquiring video footage of the ceremony. We left last night without it, apparently."
Rei considered for a moment the happy circumstance that had placed her seated to Misato's left, and her facial tattoo on the far side from her Commander. The small smile on her face serenely hid her amusement.
"No sudden marriage impulses this morning?" Misato said teasingly.
"That is a correct statement."
"So what did you guys do after we split up last night?" Misato asked. She grimaced a moment later. "Or… right, you probably don't remember either, do you?"
"Our memories of last night are mostly blurs, yes. According to our credit card receipts, and the marks on our skin, after we left the chapel we went to a tattoo parlor."
Misato blinked and looked at her more directly for a moment. "Wait, tattoos?"
"Yes."
"Ah….where? And what?"
"Several. Shinji now has Asuka's name over his heart. She has his on her back," Rei said calmly.
"Aww… that's sweet of them," Misato said with a smile. "What about you? You get anything?"
"Yes. Among them, I have tattoos on my back I think it best to show you rather than tell you. Turn left here. Kaji's Light is approximately one kilometer east of us and..." Rei squinted, "some distance above us. Evidently in a tall building."
"Oooh, mysterious…" Misato turned at the corner. Ahead of them loomed Caesar's Palace. "Wait… Kaji's in our own hotel? Why isn't he answering his phone?"
"Perhaps he is still asleep?" Rei suggested.
"I woke up in our room with a splitting headache. He wasn't there," Misato said, confused.
Deciding speed was worth the money this time, they left both the Lotus and the minivan in the hands of the valet parking crew, and headed inside. Mrs. Growlski got a lot of stares and more than a few gasps and screams of fear. The security guards that tried to tell them they couldn't bring a polar bear in a pink fez into the casino were sent stumbling back away when Mrs. Growlski growled at them and flipped them off. She waddled along in tow of the Pilots instead.
Rei pointed upward, and they took the elevators to the upper levels of the tower. The ride was at least faster than the old ones in the Geofront, if a lot stranger with a polar bear squeezed in with them.
It did provide a short period where Shinji and Asuka were relatively alone in one corner, isolated from the others by a wall of white fur and muscle.
Shinji fought down an old reflex to avert his gaze anywhere but at Asuka, and took her hand instead. He was comforted a bit by the way she was blushing as much as he was. They hadn't been like this in years. The old early days of their courtship, sure, they'd been like two tomatoes they blushed around each other so much at the merest sign they liked one another, it sometimes felt like Misato would never stop teasing them.
But now… this was different, unexplored territory. "I… I have literally
dreamed about this for a long time, Asuka…" he said hesitantly.
"You're hardly the only one, you know," she admitted just as quietly. "If
you'd asked
me at any point in the last couple years, I probably would have said yes. Half the time I pushed at you, I think I was… trying to get you to. It was always… you know how I'm scared of… being abandoned. It was always that hidden, niggling fear that you'd one day… wise up and leave that made me keep…trying to see if you really would stay with me no matter what. But… I've imagined a day like this too. Maybe not with Rei and Kaworu
quite so intimately tied to us too, but…" She paused. "Ok, well, the
bear is a surprise. As is… Mein Gott, Shinji, you all said
yes. To
me! I… this was my idea?!"
Shinji smiled a little less hesitantly. "Because we all love you, Asuka."
Asuka sighed out her nose and poked him in the forehead. "Yeah, well… maybe. But you still don't get it, do you, my baka
husband? Why we're all here in the first place?"
He blinked, confused. "Er… because Misato said we had to-"
"No, you dummy! Us! All four of us! As a… foursome!" Asuka blushed harder.
"I… I don't…?"
Asuka hung her head for a second. "All these years, still a baka." She raised her head and stared at him. "Shinji, the reason Rei, Kaworu, and I are all here is
you. We all love
you, you idiot. All of us may love each other too now, but what brought us all together in the first place is we all fell in love with you. Rei may have gotten him first because I had you at that point, but you can't tell me even
you missed that Kaworu has loved you since the day he showed up here?"
Shinji did look away this time, flushing. "Um… yeah, I… kind of noticed."
"And our favorite bluenette? The one you impressed the moment you met by volunteering to take her place against the Third Angel? The one who… Gott damn her sexy ass, the one who loves you
and me so much she made sure she never let us permanently give up on each other? The one who apparently is already 100% on-board with… with us staying married? You think she doesn't love your oblivious ass too?"
"Um… well… yes…" Shinji mumbled. He automatically put his arms around Asuka as she pulled him into a hug. "I… I can't deny any of this, Asuka. But why are you-"
Asuka rolled right on like he hadn't spoken. "And me. Me, me, me. The one who fell hardest and fastest and deepest, but can't fucking spit it out unless we're about to die or I'm drunk off my ass because I'm still a stupid scared little girl inside afraid to admit I cry most nights we're not together because the idea of a future without my Shinji scares the Hell out of me…"
She took a shuddering deep breath and buried her face in his shoulder. "I… I've been worried over the last year, Shinji, trying to figure out me, my feelings, and how this… how long the four of us could go on before something happened that broke this fragile equilibrium we'd all found… I… I wanted you forever, but couldn't imagine telling Rei or Kaworu they… they'd have to just watch you and I go off alone together. I never imagined we could do
this… and I… I… I think I'm with Rei. I think we should… I meant every word I said in that video. I can't
remember it right now, but I know it. I... want to keep this."
Shinji's arms tightened around her. "…you… you mean… stay like this. All four of us, together?"
She nodded. "I… Rei's there too. And… I'm pretty sure Sparkles is too. I… I know I am. Are you? Do… do you want to...?"
She could feel him shaking. "A-asuka... I'd marry
PenPen if that was a requirement to be able to stay with you. You're asking me if... if I also want to stay.... stay with the two other people I love and love me? I..."
He started laughing. "Asuka, I may be the most blind, oblivious baka in the world, but I'm not fool enough to ever let you go, o-or Rei, or Kaworu... I... are, are
you sure? I... yes, I've... Kaworu and I have been... looking at each other since we met, but... you come first. Him and me, me and Rei, him and Rei, you and me... that's all something anyone can see. But... I don't want to make you have to... take him as part of a package just because-"
Asuka stopped him with a kiss. "Shush, you. Sparkles... He and I may not
yet be as gaga as the rest of us are for each other, but he's also the only other man besides you I have never minded waking up next to, and... I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the feeling of being between you two. Not just the sex, I mean. The... just being held by you both when I know how you two feel about each other. So... no, it's not 'imposing' him at all, okay? He's... He's part of us now. I can't picture him not being there. So that's that."
She looked him in the eyes again. "So... if you're ok with being at the middle of a pile of wives and a husband at night from now on..."
He laughed again, a faintly crazed edge to it. "Asuka... you always ask me the questions that make me wonder if I'm losing my mind... I've never wanted to let you go, ever. I was always just afraid to ask you to stay, because I didn't deserve it. If you're okay with this... then I am too."
"Also, I promised Rei I was going to screw her brains out tonight for that little stunt she pulled at the chapel with her panties in my pocket..." Asuka said with a growing smile. "And we can't let her get away with that, can we?" She squeezed him tight. "Our Rei needs a firm hand with this kind of thing."
"Our Rei, huh?" Shinji replied. "Kaworu and I to hold her down and you to have your way with her?"
Asuka smiled beatifically. "I love you."
The elevator binged. "Penthouse level. We're here," Misato said from the far side of Mrs. Growlski. "Let's find my husband."
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