Update time! I stayed up to 0300 yesterday to finish this, and aaagh, I know there have been new readers likebombing the thread, so here we go!
2100 words of couples talking before bed. Savor the WAFF, since the dawn comes up like thunder, and tomorrow the final Chapter begins.
Art?
Chapter 11.23
Cards On The Table
+++
Asuka breathed a quiet sigh of relief as Misato's bedroom door slid closed behind the exhausted Major. This evening had been emotionally taxing enough even before Kaworu's spectacularly poorly executed revelation. At least now the end was in sight. She had already helped Shinji to lay down in their bed, once the confrontation with Misato had ended and she'd eaten the small meal they'd hurriedly prepared for her. She was about to follow him and wrap herself around her boyfriend to recharge. Only one more thing to do.
She turned around to face Rei and Kaworu, who were awkwardly not-quite meeting each other's eyes as they stood by the door to the kitchen. Asuka snorted slightly at them. "Gott, were Shinji and I this bad last year?"
Rei snapped out of her distraction and raised her head. "What?"
Asuka rubbed her face tiredly. "You two. Look, it's really late, I'm nearly as tired as Shinji, and this is the first night I'll have gotten to lay down in the same bed as my love in three days. So I want to go to sleep. I bet you do too. But I'll also bet this is the first time you two have had alone together since the assassin, and there's probably some talking you want to do before tomorrow and we have to tell Kaji and decide what the Hölle we're doing next. I'm going to bed. You two make the most of the next few minutes. Don't stay too long, or Section 2 might notice you both are the last ones leaving, at the same time."
She gave Kaworu a pointed look. "You might start by apologizing to Rei for nearly getting shot
again. We told you not to do that. It's a good thing my sweet baka is so... him. I don't know how things might have broken if he hadn't done that little stunt. But I'm still not happy with any play that has Shinji in front of a gun. So you apologize to her for making her worry, and then... talk. I know how few chances you two have to be alone together in ways that won't look too suspicious. I remember what it was like for Shinji and I early on.
She gave Rei a hug, then stepped back to point at Kaworu. "Remember what I texted you, Fifth Child."
Kaworu just smiled. "I know. I am. And she is."
Asuka just nodded, went down the hall to her room with Shinji. The door sliding closed behind her left the two Nephilim in silence.
"I am sorry," Kaworu said quietly. "I... could have done that better."
"Yes, you could," Rei said tightly. "You are never to do something like that again, understand? You could have...grraah!" She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. "Never do that again. You have made me love you, stupid fish, and now the idea of you dying hurts more than I ever thought it could. You promised me to live."
Kaworu had stiffened as she pulled him into the hug, but slowly relaxed, his arms coming up to hold her too. "I'm sorry. I have no idea what I'm doing. But making sure you and Shinji are safe is more important than me. And Asuka too. I know how much she is to you, and even more to Shinji."
"You truly are an idiot," Rei muttered into the curve of his neck. "Shinji just faced down the woman who is practically his
mother now at
gunpoint for you. And Asuka stood right with him. You think you are any less important to us?" She squeezed him harder. "You have been such a stupid, stupid boy and made me love you. I will not let you run away and leave me. You and I are just like them. We go
together, come what may. I will have no other way."
She gently kissed the side of his neck.
He nearly levitated off the floor with the shiver of delight that ran through him.
The silence held for a moment as they just held each other. It was a thing neither of them had ever had a chance at before. It had never been quite like this before. Rei could feel his AT-Field molding and shaping to conform with hers again, but it was no longer the careful avoidance of the time after Arael. Now their fields pressed flush together, curling and twining with each other like they were trying to make their embrace even closer. It was no longer an irritating buzz to feel his Light so close. Now it was warmth, reassurance... intimacy. A curious feeling she'd never known she could want so much. And somehow every moment of enjoying it only made her desire for
more grow.
"There is a part of me that is... joyful right now," Rei said quietly. "That remembers being Lilith. That remembers feelings for Adam she never had the courage to voice. We are not her and him, but... I am not unhappy to know those feelings have now been... redeemed." She kissed his neck again and sighed. "I want to do this for hours. But we cannot."
Kaworu shivered all over again at the kiss. "I... um... yes." He cleared his throat. "D-do not loo-"
"It's fine, Kaworu. I do not mind anymore." Rei raised her head enough to let him see the tiny smile on her lips. "Things change, no? Maybe not everything 'has happened before'. There is always hope."
He smiled nervously. "You... you are completely unknown territory for me, Rei." He lowered his own lips to carefully press against her neck in matching. "But I want to explore."
Rei felt a frisson of excitement run up her spine. The kiss had made her AT-Field
hum in interesting ways. "We- we do not have time tonight. I wish. In the morning we will have to figure out what happens next. Major Katsuragi will still have great difficulty accepting your continued existence without some sort of plan for dealing with both SEELE and the Call." She gently pushed him away. "You should leave first. I will wait a few minutes and return to my own apartment."
She looked back in the direction of Shinji and Asuka's room. Their Lights were cuddled close together, pulsing gently with support back and forth to each other. Shinji's was slightly drained, but they could see it gaining strength with each breath. "I wish we could lay together like they are. To feel you next to me as we sleep."
Kaworu swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. "Yes," he squeaked, then coughed. "That would be... warm."
"I think so too." Rei pulled him back close again, tugging him by his shirtfront into another deep kiss. She then pushed him back. "Now go, before this gets harder than it already is. I can see why Asuka and Shinji spend so much time like this."
Kaworu nodded stiffly. "Goodnight, Rei." He turned and walked through the kitchen towards the entrance hallway leading to the front door.
He looked back just before he turned down the hall. "My First..." he said quietly, just loud enough for her to hear.
"Stupid fish," she replied with a soft smile. "Go."
He departed.
+++
Asuka swapped out the mostly empty IV drip bag on Shinji's stand with a fresh one full of the orange liquid Doctor Akagi had sent them home with before she laid down. She tried not to disturb Shinji as she undressed and slipped under the sheets next to him, but his eyes slid open quickly enough she knew he hadn't been asleep. The drowsy smile he gave her said sleep wasn't far off, though.
"Asuka," he mumbled. "Tired. Think I... used up energy I didn't have for that. Dizzy."
"Shinji, please stop jumping in front of guns for me? I'm too young to have this many heart attacks." She scooted closer until she could cuddle up against his side and throw an arm and leg over him, holding him protectively. "I'd be madder if I didn't expect this kind of stupid heroics out of you by now." Her eyes traced the line of plastic tubing up from his far arm to the bag hanging from the IV stand. "But I'm glad it worked. How did you- you
didn't know Misato would listen to you, did you?"
"Took a chance," Shinji muttered tiredly. "Had to. She was ready to kill him."
"Rei would have stopped her from actually hurting him," she rebutted.
"But that wouldn't have calmed her down. I had to try." He smiled weakly. "And I was mostly sure Misato-san wouldn't hurt me."
Asuka frowned. "I don't like you risking yourse-... but you had to, because Kaworu is our friend and you'll do that for any of us, wouldn't you? That's what you're going to say, aren't you?"
Shinji's tired smile said it all. "Love you. Do it for you the most. Always." His eyes began to droop.
"Oh no you don't, baka! Together, I told you!"
"Always 'n' frver," Shinji mumbled, and fell asleep. He was still smiling.
Asuka sighed and buried her face in his neck. "Goddamit, baka. You better. I want you with me for... always and forever, yes, damn it."
She tried to let her warmth soak into him, giving as much as she got.
+++
Misato stared at the ceiling and tried to force sleep. It wasn't coming.
She'd slowly slurped her way through the ramen and beer Asuka had whipped up, no worse than any effort of her own. But her mind had been chewing on Rei's explanation of her past and her and Kaworu's origins. A few follow-up questions confirming Kaworu still felt the Call had not made her feel much better about knowing any of it. Eventually, sheer tiredness had led her to tell everyone to go to bed, since she was in no shape for going into the necessarily tangled discussion of 'what next?' in her current state.
But sleep had proven elusive despite her head swimming with fatigue. Knowing there was an Angel,
the last Angel, sleeping four floors below her right now was not a comfortable thing, keeping her from drifting off. The presence of her fiancé would have perhaps helped her relax... if he too hadn't been worryingly off the radar since this afternoon. It had been hours since his last cryptic and brief message.
So of course her phone decided now was a good time to go
be-beep!
Misato was too tired to vibrate right into the air in surprise, but she was together enough to flinch at the sudden sound, then roll over and grab her phone like a lifeline.
The text message read,
I'M OK. FOUND THINGS OUT. WORRYING STUFF. WILL GET BACK IN THE MORNING, AS SOON AS IT'S SAFE.
She glared at the message for a second before slumping in relief.
'At least he's alive. And left me hanging all day on that, the jerk.' She picked the phone back up and replied.
GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW.
I'M OK, REALLY.
RYOJI KAJI, ON MY FATHER'S GRAVE GET BACK HERE NOW.
There was a long pause. He'd know she wouldn't say that without a very good reason. Her phone beeped one more time.
I'M ON MY WAY.
Communication was important in a relationship. She finally began to relax enough to drop off.
+++
Her hand was halfway around the grip of the pistol under her pillow before she woke up enough to relax. The footsteps approaching her room were familiar. A second later her door slid open slowly and quietly to admit a somewhat haggard Ryoji Kaji. "Hey," he whispered when he noticed her eyes were open. He shut the door behind him with a faint 'toc' of wood on wood. "I'm here. What is it?" He began undressing without waiting for an answer.
"Just... get in here and hold me. This is big, but... fuck. If I tell you right now,
neither of us will get any sleep. It will wait to the morning." She lifted the sheet enough to let him lay down beside her.
He settled in beside her, frowning lightly. "Katsu-... Misato, you called me back here invoking your father. I
know what that means to you. So wha-"
"I'm warning you, this will mean you get no sleep. It's world-shaking, but not going to blow before sunup," Misato interrupted in warning.
He shook his head. "I'm here, and that message tells me you really needed me. So share."
"Kaworu's the last Angel. Rei's some kind of Angel-ish hybrid. They can both generate AT-Fields strong enough to stop bullets. I know, because I tried to shoot Kaworu when he confessed and Rei blocked it."
The only sound in the room for a full minute was the hum and whisper of the air conditioning.
Kaji swallowed. "...fuck."
"Told ya."
