- Location
- supernatural
This chapter really shows Asuka and Shinji letting down their walls and beginning to trust one other it's very touching.
Two Souls [NGE]
- Thread starter Boreas Anemos
- Start date
grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
I could totally write that conversation as an omake for my long-form crack fic.I want her to do this just to see the look on Ritsuko's face.
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
It's just a step on a far longer road, but a big step. The trust is building - and showing
Please do, knowing your writing style, this is going to be hilarious
Shinji refusing to correct himself like: "Nandamo- mondainai s-sore jijitsud-" and that's all she can decipher in three seconds to his panicked sprinting into the kitchen.
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
Okay, my Japanese is extremely limited but what I can understand, this is how he'd say it ^^ Thank you, TIL
Of course, due to the above extreme limitation on my part, I avoid using Japanese words entirely, relying on the "English is Japanese" translation convention.
Next chapter of "What happened, kids?" is essentially ready, and the final one is half-written, but I'm waiting until I find a good place to split them. My esteemed readers can expect an update before Saturday.
What happened, kids? – chapter 6.
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
WHK?, chapter 6. – "Can I love you?"
Saturday morning
"Misato, I told you five times, and I will repeat it again. We. Did. Not. Have. Sex." Asuka's voice was a mix of anger, annoyance, and exasperation. Her face was almost as red as her hair, her eyes were shooting darts, and her fists were clenched. She was silently counting on Shinji's quick return from his "fast emergency shopping trip" he was sent by Misato under some – obviously made-up – pretence.
"Asuka, if you did, you have nothing to worry about. Just be honest with me!" Misato's voice was equally exasperated.
"Misato, I'm telling you. We. Did. Not. I don't know how to convince you–"
"By telling me the truth?"
"That's the truth!" Asuka suddenly yelled, eliciting a groan of pain from her guardian. "What do you expect me to do?! Lie that we did, or maybe submit to a fucking gyno inspection?!" she snarled, venom seeping from every word.
Misato paused, her jaws tight. The fact that she should chide Asuka for the language slipped her mind. Actually, the thought about requesting a medical examination has crossed her mind before, but the idea made her cringe as fast as she thought of it. It was not something she would be willing to request from Asuka under any reasonable circumstance, not to mention she was not willing to deal with a number of questions such request would raise from any doctor cleared to perform an exam on a Pilot. 'And I'm surely not asking the good doctor Akagi to perform it… not that I'd trust her with anything right now', she realised and shook her head. "No, don't worry, that's out of the question. Just… you know how bad it would be if–"
"Misato, for fuck's sake", Asuka growled, but her voice showed some relief. "I'm not some stupid, mad-in-love girl" she managed to say in a calmer voice. 'I'm a very smart, mad-in-love girl, but let's ignore that', "and I'm not going to jump into anyone's bed on a whim. And if I do, trust me, I have enough knowledge to–"
Beep. Hiss. Both heads turned towards the apartment's door.
"I'm not sure if that was what you wanted, Misato, but I think I've got it all-oh, hi, Asuka, you're up", Shinji announced his arrival with a somehow forced smile and some discomfort. "Have I interrupted something?"
Misato un-clenched her jaw with some effort. "Nothing that couldn't wait for now, I think. I'll let you both get ready for school" she rose from the chair and went to get her work bag from her room. "See you in the evening", she added, leaving them behind as she rushed out.
'She was so worked up from that… I guess I can believe her. I should question him…'
She sighed again. 'When did I sign up for this? Teenagers are hard… The good thing in all this is that questioning him can wait. She'll be either too embarrassed or too angry to discuss it with him right now.'
"… and then she asked, point-blank, if we had sex!" Asuka voice was bordering on a growl. "I felt like in front of an inquisition tribunal. Again. Twice in three days", she added, exasperated.
"And what did you tell her?" Shinji asked, putting his shoes on.
"What are you, stupid?" she spat out. "The truth!"
"The whole truth?" he inquired, his eyebrows raised.
She stared at him for a moment, her hand tugging on the shoe's back. Shinji's brain, fed an input it very much liked, told him to compliment her legs. He ignored that; it was definitely not the right time.
"No, idiot. I didn't tell her anything about us, I'm not going to spill our secrets, I am smarter than that", she dropped her foot and pierced him with a stare. "And you better not, either, no matter how much she tries to make you say something. Ad rem: by any definition that I know, not to mention by any sane reasoning, we didn't have sex, and that's what I told her. Six, well, seven times. She seemed to believe me in the end" Asuka explained while they stepped out and started their walk towards the school. "And then you came in."
Shinji let out a breath of relief. "That's good. I thought it was a little suspicious when she sent me for that cake… especially that she didn't take it to work afterwards", he eyed the carton box conspicuously left on the table before walking back to the kitchen and putting the box in the fridge.
Asuka shrugged. "We just need to be more careful and not give her any indicators. I'll figure something out."
"You want to lie to Misato?" Shinji's entire body language showed that he was uncomfortable with the concept.
"Not lie. I don't like to lie, too easy to get tangled in a web of lies, even if you're as smart as I am. And I know you're not good at it at all, even if now I know that your brain is actually working. But!" Asuka focused on Shinji, eliciting a surprised look from him. "She threw a false accusation based on… I don't even know what? A hunch? Because I assume you didn't take any of her condoms?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
'No, I bought my own' was the answer that rattled in his mind, but he refrained from giving it, even if it was true. "No, definitely not. I don't know… I think she trusts us and wants to maintain that trust, she's just… I don't know, careful?"
He stopped for a moment, next thought being so absurd that his brain had to process it twice. "Like a doting mother would?"
Asuka stopped as well. "She doesn't feel like a mother to me in any way, not in comparison to how I remember my own mother. But I guess you would trigger some motherly instinct in her", she grinned.
Shinji raised his eyebrow. "Like you wouldn't. For your age, I'm sure you trigger a lot of parenting instincts. I sometimes worry if you're eating right, you know? Why do you think I like to cook for you?"
Asuka's mouth opened and closed, shock clear on her reddening face. 'That… cheeky… little…'
Her shock turned into a smirk as a mean thought struck her. "Are you sure this isn't something else?"
"What do you mean?" Shinji tilted his head.
She stepped closer and poked him on the chest. "Feeding someone, what does it mean when you give someone hand-made food?"
Shinji blinked. "That you want them to be happy and healthy?"
Asuka rolled her eyes. "That too, but don't tell me there's nothing else to it. Aren't you trying to tell me something?"
"I'm not 'trying' to say anything, I am actually saying that I care about you", he replied, his voice surprisingly firm. "Is this so strange for me?"
Her lips turned into a thin line. For a moment, they walked in silence.
"It is, to be honest. I've been less than friendly to you, right?" she finally asked. "And still, you care? Why?"
Shinji shrugged softly, his smile sheepish. "I'm… like that."
"So, you'd do that to everyone?" she narrowed her eyes, stopping and grabbing his arm.
He stopped and quickly checked their surroundings: they were a few meters from leaving the side-street, the last place to talk relatively discreetly. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.
"Asuka… what do you want me to say?" he started, his voice carrying a hint of exasperation. "I am serious when I say I want you to be happy, and I do care for you. It's not that I feed everyone, right? And it's not that I spend evenings watching movies snuggled with everyone, correct?" his serious expression turned into a smirk. "Not to mention, I don't kiss everyone", he chuckled.
Asuka rolled her eyes, but it was clear she was trying to force a grin down. "Fair point. I suppose I would murder you if you did", she let the grin out. "I can bear you cooking for Misato, considering her habits. I don't know why I bear with you cooking for Wondergirl at times, but I guess this is something akin to feeding a stray cat. But if you take it any further…"
Shinji tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
Asuka shook her head, wondering for a moment how oblivious the boy could be. "Just be sure where your loyalties lay, okay?" she insisted.
Shinji's confusion turned into firmness again. "I do, Asuka. I… I think I really–"
A long, pale finger landed on his lips, cutting him off immediately. If the finger was not enough, her expression would be.
"Let's make a deal, Shinji. Let's stop before any of us says something really, really stupid, and let's get back to it once we're in better… mindset", she forced out. "Soon."
He nodded in response. "Thank you. I guess… you're right."
"Of course I am", she shrugged, her voice expressing perfect certainty. "But first, I want to make sure we're about on the same page. Kiss me", she demanded.
"We're going to be late, you know?" he raised his eyebrows.
"I don't give a shit", she blurted out, her face disdainful. "I can stand in the corridor with the buckets in case they want to go medieval on us. What is Hikari going to do, flog us? I don't think so", she chuckled. "I want to feel it. I can't name it right now, I don't want to name it right now, but I want to feel it."
Shinji, his expression inscrutable, slowly put his bag down and placed his hand on Asuka's neck, pulling her closer. She closed her eyes just before their lips met. A few seconds later, she grabbed him at his waist and pulled him into full-body contact; to her satisfaction, he did not tense nor retreat – the only change was his tongue getting surprisingly more active.
'I can get used to this… fuck, today's going to be interesting', she realised as the felt the familiar heat taking over her body. 'Oh well, fuck that. I can bear "interesting". I can die tomorrow. I deserve this', she decided as the kiss continued and the exploration slowly but steadily became bolder.
'And he deserves it too. I'm not letting you go, idiot. You better get used to being mine.'
Asuka was only partially right in her musings – the day at school was mostly boring. This, of course, left her with plentiful time to think. She had to stop her train of thoughts at least twice with a well-placed pencil to her forearm – neither doubts about her own feelings nor guesses where the massage would have gone if she had stopped him were particularly helpful. 'At least the lunch break would provide some distraction', she realised. And she was right – except not in the way she anticipated.
"What? You didn't bring lunch?" she burst out loud, disrupting every conversation in the classroom.
Shinji was somehow taken aback by the abruptness of the outburst; the only thing that stopped him from panicking was that odd spark in the redhead's eye and an almost imperceptible wink.
"I'm sorry!", he replied in his usual style. "I didn't have time to cook last night", he paused as a risky thought appeared in his mind. Before the ever-present and ever-active set of courtesy and diplomacy filters managed to stop him, he voiced it: "I had more important things to do than cooking, Asuka."
Asuka was opening her mouth for another round of yelling before that retort stopped her in her track. 'You little, devious bastard, now either agree with you and raise eyebrows, or argue and give you ammo. Ooooh I could kiss you here and how', she grinned internally. 'But you're not getting away with this, not a chance…'
"And this is supposed to calm me down while I eat cafeteria crap? Important or not, you could've warned me!"
Shinji, maintaining his position on sheer willpower and faith in the fact that Asuka's wrath was either for show or for some other odd purpose, took a deep breath. He felt his heart beating rapidly, he felt like facing a dangerous, wild animal – which was, to be honest, not that far from the truth.
"That would not have helped. What would you have done, cooked for both of us?" he retorted, barely maintaining the steadiness of his voice.
'Fuck, I walked into that one. Okay, feint and retreat–'
"Oi, what's this?" a voice from two desks away interrupted her thinking. "Married couple fighting again?" Toji Suzuhara asked offhandedly.
Asuka watched Shinji's face turn red in two seconds before realising hers did exactly the same – up to and including her ears. "It's not like that!" they yelled at him in unison before turning to each other, their blushes turning luminescent. A bout of laughter from the entire class did not help in the slightest.
Asuka, being a trained and tested battle pilot, collected herself first. "You could at least take some responsibility!" she growled. Seizing his hand, she continued: "Grab your wallet. You could at least buy me something decent in this crappy cafeteria."
Shinji followed and they left the classroom in a hurry. Two distinct sounds followed them: Toji's comment "Have a nice date" – and another bout of laughter from the class.
"Fuck", Asuka mumbled as she dragged Shinji towards the intended destination. "That babbling mouth had to draw attention to us, of course he did!"
"Asuka…"
"And he could not stop, he kept going, and everyone had a good laugh!"
"Asuka…"
"And you, you could not just accept that I was rightfully pissed, you had to–"
"Asuka!"
Shinji's raised voice made Asuka stop. 'He does sound like his father sometimes…' she realised, surprised.
"First of all", he started once she turned to face him, "what did you expect of Toji? Restraint? Courtesy? He has other qualities" he paused, noticing Asuka's chuckle. "Second, you perfectly know why I didn't cook. We didn't have time for a proper dinner or breakfast." To that, the redhead reacted with 'well, yes' sigh. "Third, what happened to 'nothing is worse than apathy'?"
That question took Asuka by surprise; normally, she was quite good at hiding her real emotions – but this ability was not perfect and tended to fail when a question came without any warning. Shinji, on the other hand, was quite adept at reading emotions, even if his ability to interpret left a lot to be desired. But it was impossible to misinterpret the sheer surprise on Asuka's face; for a moment, Shinji wondered if a slap to her face would have been less a surprise. 'Not that I would ever be able or willing to test that…'
The redhead stared at him, her expression changing like a kaleidoscope, from anger to joy to fury to incredulity to anger once more.
Finally, she spoke. "If anyone ever kills you, and it's not me, I'm going to murder them from taking this opportunity from me", she shook her head. "I really, really–" she shook her head again; Shinji was waiting patiently.
"No, not here", she shot a look around. "The walls have ears, and we gave them a show enough already", she paused. "Okay, we'll do it like this: we go get the food now, and then, on the first opportunity, I'll need some answers from you."
Shinji chuckled, eliciting a frown from the redhead. "What's so funny?" she asked in a threatening voice.
"Well, you could just say 'we need to talk' and it would be about the same, right?" he explained in a somewhat shaky voice.
Asuka sighed heavily. "Point taken. So okay, 'we need to talk'. Better?" she glared at him.
"Yes, we do", he agreed. "Now… shall we go?"
"Definitely", she turned away, but this time waited for him to reach her side before starting to walk. "And Shinji…"
"Yes?"
"Those were more important things", she smirked. "I feel better… and I wouldn't mind getting that from time to time."
Shinji's blush, gone in the time between leaving the classroom and now, returned softly. "I… I think we can come to some agreement. But no surprise shouting, okay? You could've warned me."
Asuka chuckled. "What's next, scheduling arguments?"
"Well, I did read something like that in an 'advice to couples' section in a–" he stopped abruptly, suddenly realising the meaning of his words. The blush returned in full force on both faces.
The rest of the way to the cafeteria and the way back were spent in awkward silence; Asuka would have sworn the cafeteria personnel were giving them knowing looks.
'God above, what in the living fuck I got myself into?' she pondered before admitting to the simplest and most truthful answer: 'I got myself into him. And I did it willingly. I went into this with my eyes open. And I'm not backing out.'
================================================================
As promised and kinda on time - behold, chapter six of teens being teens. It's a bit shorter than I planned, and that's because two final chapters became three final chapters due to total lack of good splitting points in the middle. Next one will be up in a few days.
Edit: added missing word
Saturday morning
"Misato, I told you five times, and I will repeat it again. We. Did. Not. Have. Sex." Asuka's voice was a mix of anger, annoyance, and exasperation. Her face was almost as red as her hair, her eyes were shooting darts, and her fists were clenched. She was silently counting on Shinji's quick return from his "fast emergency shopping trip" he was sent by Misato under some – obviously made-up – pretence.
"Asuka, if you did, you have nothing to worry about. Just be honest with me!" Misato's voice was equally exasperated.
"Misato, I'm telling you. We. Did. Not. I don't know how to convince you–"
"By telling me the truth?"
"That's the truth!" Asuka suddenly yelled, eliciting a groan of pain from her guardian. "What do you expect me to do?! Lie that we did, or maybe submit to a fucking gyno inspection?!" she snarled, venom seeping from every word.
Misato paused, her jaws tight. The fact that she should chide Asuka for the language slipped her mind. Actually, the thought about requesting a medical examination has crossed her mind before, but the idea made her cringe as fast as she thought of it. It was not something she would be willing to request from Asuka under any reasonable circumstance, not to mention she was not willing to deal with a number of questions such request would raise from any doctor cleared to perform an exam on a Pilot. 'And I'm surely not asking the good doctor Akagi to perform it… not that I'd trust her with anything right now', she realised and shook her head. "No, don't worry, that's out of the question. Just… you know how bad it would be if–"
"Misato, for fuck's sake", Asuka growled, but her voice showed some relief. "I'm not some stupid, mad-in-love girl" she managed to say in a calmer voice. 'I'm a very smart, mad-in-love girl, but let's ignore that', "and I'm not going to jump into anyone's bed on a whim. And if I do, trust me, I have enough knowledge to–"
Beep. Hiss. Both heads turned towards the apartment's door.
"I'm not sure if that was what you wanted, Misato, but I think I've got it all-oh, hi, Asuka, you're up", Shinji announced his arrival with a somehow forced smile and some discomfort. "Have I interrupted something?"
Misato un-clenched her jaw with some effort. "Nothing that couldn't wait for now, I think. I'll let you both get ready for school" she rose from the chair and went to get her work bag from her room. "See you in the evening", she added, leaving them behind as she rushed out.
'She was so worked up from that… I guess I can believe her. I should question him…'
She sighed again. 'When did I sign up for this? Teenagers are hard… The good thing in all this is that questioning him can wait. She'll be either too embarrassed or too angry to discuss it with him right now.'
***
"… and then she asked, point-blank, if we had sex!" Asuka voice was bordering on a growl. "I felt like in front of an inquisition tribunal. Again. Twice in three days", she added, exasperated.
"And what did you tell her?" Shinji asked, putting his shoes on.
"What are you, stupid?" she spat out. "The truth!"
"The whole truth?" he inquired, his eyebrows raised.
She stared at him for a moment, her hand tugging on the shoe's back. Shinji's brain, fed an input it very much liked, told him to compliment her legs. He ignored that; it was definitely not the right time.
"No, idiot. I didn't tell her anything about us, I'm not going to spill our secrets, I am smarter than that", she dropped her foot and pierced him with a stare. "And you better not, either, no matter how much she tries to make you say something. Ad rem: by any definition that I know, not to mention by any sane reasoning, we didn't have sex, and that's what I told her. Six, well, seven times. She seemed to believe me in the end" Asuka explained while they stepped out and started their walk towards the school. "And then you came in."
Shinji let out a breath of relief. "That's good. I thought it was a little suspicious when she sent me for that cake… especially that she didn't take it to work afterwards", he eyed the carton box conspicuously left on the table before walking back to the kitchen and putting the box in the fridge.
Asuka shrugged. "We just need to be more careful and not give her any indicators. I'll figure something out."
"You want to lie to Misato?" Shinji's entire body language showed that he was uncomfortable with the concept.
"Not lie. I don't like to lie, too easy to get tangled in a web of lies, even if you're as smart as I am. And I know you're not good at it at all, even if now I know that your brain is actually working. But!" Asuka focused on Shinji, eliciting a surprised look from him. "She threw a false accusation based on… I don't even know what? A hunch? Because I assume you didn't take any of her condoms?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
'No, I bought my own' was the answer that rattled in his mind, but he refrained from giving it, even if it was true. "No, definitely not. I don't know… I think she trusts us and wants to maintain that trust, she's just… I don't know, careful?"
He stopped for a moment, next thought being so absurd that his brain had to process it twice. "Like a doting mother would?"
Asuka stopped as well. "She doesn't feel like a mother to me in any way, not in comparison to how I remember my own mother. But I guess you would trigger some motherly instinct in her", she grinned.
Shinji raised his eyebrow. "Like you wouldn't. For your age, I'm sure you trigger a lot of parenting instincts. I sometimes worry if you're eating right, you know? Why do you think I like to cook for you?"
Asuka's mouth opened and closed, shock clear on her reddening face. 'That… cheeky… little…'
Her shock turned into a smirk as a mean thought struck her. "Are you sure this isn't something else?"
"What do you mean?" Shinji tilted his head.
She stepped closer and poked him on the chest. "Feeding someone, what does it mean when you give someone hand-made food?"
Shinji blinked. "That you want them to be happy and healthy?"
Asuka rolled her eyes. "That too, but don't tell me there's nothing else to it. Aren't you trying to tell me something?"
"I'm not 'trying' to say anything, I am actually saying that I care about you", he replied, his voice surprisingly firm. "Is this so strange for me?"
Her lips turned into a thin line. For a moment, they walked in silence.
"It is, to be honest. I've been less than friendly to you, right?" she finally asked. "And still, you care? Why?"
Shinji shrugged softly, his smile sheepish. "I'm… like that."
"So, you'd do that to everyone?" she narrowed her eyes, stopping and grabbing his arm.
He stopped and quickly checked their surroundings: they were a few meters from leaving the side-street, the last place to talk relatively discreetly. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.
"Asuka… what do you want me to say?" he started, his voice carrying a hint of exasperation. "I am serious when I say I want you to be happy, and I do care for you. It's not that I feed everyone, right? And it's not that I spend evenings watching movies snuggled with everyone, correct?" his serious expression turned into a smirk. "Not to mention, I don't kiss everyone", he chuckled.
Asuka rolled her eyes, but it was clear she was trying to force a grin down. "Fair point. I suppose I would murder you if you did", she let the grin out. "I can bear you cooking for Misato, considering her habits. I don't know why I bear with you cooking for Wondergirl at times, but I guess this is something akin to feeding a stray cat. But if you take it any further…"
Shinji tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
Asuka shook her head, wondering for a moment how oblivious the boy could be. "Just be sure where your loyalties lay, okay?" she insisted.
Shinji's confusion turned into firmness again. "I do, Asuka. I… I think I really–"
A long, pale finger landed on his lips, cutting him off immediately. If the finger was not enough, her expression would be.
"Let's make a deal, Shinji. Let's stop before any of us says something really, really stupid, and let's get back to it once we're in better… mindset", she forced out. "Soon."
He nodded in response. "Thank you. I guess… you're right."
"Of course I am", she shrugged, her voice expressing perfect certainty. "But first, I want to make sure we're about on the same page. Kiss me", she demanded.
"We're going to be late, you know?" he raised his eyebrows.
"I don't give a shit", she blurted out, her face disdainful. "I can stand in the corridor with the buckets in case they want to go medieval on us. What is Hikari going to do, flog us? I don't think so", she chuckled. "I want to feel it. I can't name it right now, I don't want to name it right now, but I want to feel it."
Shinji, his expression inscrutable, slowly put his bag down and placed his hand on Asuka's neck, pulling her closer. She closed her eyes just before their lips met. A few seconds later, she grabbed him at his waist and pulled him into full-body contact; to her satisfaction, he did not tense nor retreat – the only change was his tongue getting surprisingly more active.
'I can get used to this… fuck, today's going to be interesting', she realised as the felt the familiar heat taking over her body. 'Oh well, fuck that. I can bear "interesting". I can die tomorrow. I deserve this', she decided as the kiss continued and the exploration slowly but steadily became bolder.
'And he deserves it too. I'm not letting you go, idiot. You better get used to being mine.'
***
Asuka was only partially right in her musings – the day at school was mostly boring. This, of course, left her with plentiful time to think. She had to stop her train of thoughts at least twice with a well-placed pencil to her forearm – neither doubts about her own feelings nor guesses where the massage would have gone if she had stopped him were particularly helpful. 'At least the lunch break would provide some distraction', she realised. And she was right – except not in the way she anticipated.
"What? You didn't bring lunch?" she burst out loud, disrupting every conversation in the classroom.
Shinji was somehow taken aback by the abruptness of the outburst; the only thing that stopped him from panicking was that odd spark in the redhead's eye and an almost imperceptible wink.
"I'm sorry!", he replied in his usual style. "I didn't have time to cook last night", he paused as a risky thought appeared in his mind. Before the ever-present and ever-active set of courtesy and diplomacy filters managed to stop him, he voiced it: "I had more important things to do than cooking, Asuka."
Asuka was opening her mouth for another round of yelling before that retort stopped her in her track. 'You little, devious bastard, now either agree with you and raise eyebrows, or argue and give you ammo. Ooooh I could kiss you here and how', she grinned internally. 'But you're not getting away with this, not a chance…'
"And this is supposed to calm me down while I eat cafeteria crap? Important or not, you could've warned me!"
Shinji, maintaining his position on sheer willpower and faith in the fact that Asuka's wrath was either for show or for some other odd purpose, took a deep breath. He felt his heart beating rapidly, he felt like facing a dangerous, wild animal – which was, to be honest, not that far from the truth.
"That would not have helped. What would you have done, cooked for both of us?" he retorted, barely maintaining the steadiness of his voice.
'Fuck, I walked into that one. Okay, feint and retreat–'
"Oi, what's this?" a voice from two desks away interrupted her thinking. "Married couple fighting again?" Toji Suzuhara asked offhandedly.
Asuka watched Shinji's face turn red in two seconds before realising hers did exactly the same – up to and including her ears. "It's not like that!" they yelled at him in unison before turning to each other, their blushes turning luminescent. A bout of laughter from the entire class did not help in the slightest.
Asuka, being a trained and tested battle pilot, collected herself first. "You could at least take some responsibility!" she growled. Seizing his hand, she continued: "Grab your wallet. You could at least buy me something decent in this crappy cafeteria."
Shinji followed and they left the classroom in a hurry. Two distinct sounds followed them: Toji's comment "Have a nice date" – and another bout of laughter from the class.
***
"Fuck", Asuka mumbled as she dragged Shinji towards the intended destination. "That babbling mouth had to draw attention to us, of course he did!"
"Asuka…"
"And he could not stop, he kept going, and everyone had a good laugh!"
"Asuka…"
"And you, you could not just accept that I was rightfully pissed, you had to–"
"Asuka!"
Shinji's raised voice made Asuka stop. 'He does sound like his father sometimes…' she realised, surprised.
"First of all", he started once she turned to face him, "what did you expect of Toji? Restraint? Courtesy? He has other qualities" he paused, noticing Asuka's chuckle. "Second, you perfectly know why I didn't cook. We didn't have time for a proper dinner or breakfast." To that, the redhead reacted with 'well, yes' sigh. "Third, what happened to 'nothing is worse than apathy'?"
That question took Asuka by surprise; normally, she was quite good at hiding her real emotions – but this ability was not perfect and tended to fail when a question came without any warning. Shinji, on the other hand, was quite adept at reading emotions, even if his ability to interpret left a lot to be desired. But it was impossible to misinterpret the sheer surprise on Asuka's face; for a moment, Shinji wondered if a slap to her face would have been less a surprise. 'Not that I would ever be able or willing to test that…'
The redhead stared at him, her expression changing like a kaleidoscope, from anger to joy to fury to incredulity to anger once more.
Finally, she spoke. "If anyone ever kills you, and it's not me, I'm going to murder them from taking this opportunity from me", she shook her head. "I really, really–" she shook her head again; Shinji was waiting patiently.
"No, not here", she shot a look around. "The walls have ears, and we gave them a show enough already", she paused. "Okay, we'll do it like this: we go get the food now, and then, on the first opportunity, I'll need some answers from you."
Shinji chuckled, eliciting a frown from the redhead. "What's so funny?" she asked in a threatening voice.
"Well, you could just say 'we need to talk' and it would be about the same, right?" he explained in a somewhat shaky voice.
Asuka sighed heavily. "Point taken. So okay, 'we need to talk'. Better?" she glared at him.
"Yes, we do", he agreed. "Now… shall we go?"
"Definitely", she turned away, but this time waited for him to reach her side before starting to walk. "And Shinji…"
"Yes?"
"Those were more important things", she smirked. "I feel better… and I wouldn't mind getting that from time to time."
Shinji's blush, gone in the time between leaving the classroom and now, returned softly. "I… I think we can come to some agreement. But no surprise shouting, okay? You could've warned me."
Asuka chuckled. "What's next, scheduling arguments?"
"Well, I did read something like that in an 'advice to couples' section in a–" he stopped abruptly, suddenly realising the meaning of his words. The blush returned in full force on both faces.
The rest of the way to the cafeteria and the way back were spent in awkward silence; Asuka would have sworn the cafeteria personnel were giving them knowing looks.
'God above, what in the living fuck I got myself into?' she pondered before admitting to the simplest and most truthful answer: 'I got myself into him. And I did it willingly. I went into this with my eyes open. And I'm not backing out.'
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As promised and kinda on time - behold, chapter six of teens being teens. It's a bit shorter than I planned, and that's because two final chapters became three final chapters due to total lack of good splitting points in the middle. Next one will be up in a few days.
Edit: added missing word
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- I live in student debt.
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- He/Him
Always good to see an update to this story. Your ability to write Shinji and Asuka into a healthier relationship without damaging their characters is enviable.
A note:
A note:
You seem to be missing a 'we' here.
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
Thank you, fixed!
Thank you very much for the kind word! I stand on the position that those two have it in themselves to improve and get together, it's just that in canon, they never really get a strong enough impulse to overcome a pathological withdrawal on one side and a pathological size of ego on the other. Not to mention a serious case of cultural conditioning on both. It's like not being able to cross the potential barrier - give them a jolt enough and suddenly they're on the same side. And then the work begins to keep it that way, but that's also a good story material
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- He
Very good chapter Boreas, I can't wait for the final one, I really like the chemistry their both having, lets just hope that it'll stand the shitstorm that's about to hit them.
And is Shinji becoming bolder?
And is Shinji becoming bolder?
grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
Our esteemed host's S/A fics always run on Shinji starting to internalize "faint heart never won fair lady"
In colloquial Japanese, it is rarely necessary to say "You / me / we ( go do this or that )." Unless it is really imperative, like warning someone to duck: "Anata wo (duck)" instead of just "Duck!" In those circumstances, like English, it is good to explain whether the speaker is going for a verb or noun.
So, Shinji probably just said "Na, ikuze?"
edit: Upon refresh I saw OP made the change all the same. Just to nitpick but not pry, if Shinji says "we go now?" it would sound like "woman move your tuckus."
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- On a powder keg, next to a fire
...I've been running around with an idea of the main cast having voices in their heads telling them useful things. Now, I'm tempted with a story where some people walk around with a narrator in their heads.
Of course, that'd be nothing but pure crack.
Thank you! Mind you, there will be two more because there was no good split point. And the shitstorm... well, things already are changing, and they're already better off - Asuka's not reeling from perceived rejection and Shinji's not building reinforced walls anymore.
He definitely is. He might have been taught to be a good, people-pleasing boy at all times, but now he has encountered a paradox: a person he wants to please, but the only way to do so is to be brash and bold. Also...
...nicely put! Of course, in virtually all cases, Shinji is not doing it consciously nor is he aware of what is he doing. But I believe this to be the logical way of developing him, at least from the spot he is in the beginning of the series.
Had this process started earlier, the results would have been different (possibly even the "Badass Shinji" figure we sometimes see) - but most of my stories have their point of departure somewhere within the series, giving him (and all others) fewer options. But as said - he has it in him, and tapping it before he gets traumatized by the events is - in my eyes - realistic enough to use in a story.
Today I Learned, thank you! I was dimly aware of that aspect of Japanese, mainly because some languages I know follow this as well - you either omit the pronouns at will (because the verb's form conveys that already), or you omit/add them to factor in emphasis or even change the meaning.
A simple example I can present is the Polish equivalent of "I know": "Wiem" is a simple statement; "Ja wiem" (with "Ja" being the literal equivalent of "I") puts a strong emphasis on "I" (as in "I know, but they don't!" or just to add exasperation to the expression). I'm not sure if such strong changes in meaning occur in Japanese, but I would not be surprised.
On a side note: in Polish, the statement in question (translated "To co... idziemy?" or simply "Idziemy?") would be spoken entirely without pronouns - to do otherwise would sound awkward because the pronoun ("my" - "us") is already baked into the verb as the suffix. Speaking it with a pronoun ("To co... my idziemy?") would change the meaning entirely: "We go" with a clear implication "but the others stay" (which would make no sense, because there is no-one there but those two).
Apologies. I tend to get carried away explaining languages. Playing around with words is fun.
That would be very much not his style. I usually picture Shinji as rather well-spoken; he's wants people to feel good around him (it's his defense mechanism, after all) and being polite and elegant (to a degree beyond of what is expected from a teenager) is one of the ways of achieving that (again, consciously or not, we don't know). The "we go now?" is something you'd expect from a bored Touji or annoyed Asuka
- Pronouns
- He
But the question is if he's changing, is he the same Shinji that always piloted the Eva so he could be praised and needed by others or is he becoming, you could say, someone better?
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
Ah - that is left to the reader to judge. I have my opinion on that, and it may or may not be visible in-story, but in the end, the question is: what do you think?
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- He
I'm in doubt, on one hand this is Shinji, the boy who ended the world because Asuka rejected him, but on the other he wouldn't try to be more bold with Asuka around so maybe he's finally getting through that head full of Ikarium (the densest material of anime, as Strypgia says) that he can start to love himself, who knows, only time will tell.
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Oh Asuka you should be afraid, you should be VERY afraid... Hikari doesn't play favorites when it comes to school.
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
The difference between us at our best and at our worst is horrifyingly thin at times. And apologies - but I must disagree with you on one part: I believe that
We're entering philosophy and morality territory here, areas I believe myself hardly qualified to discuss - so I'll just say that: I believe that while the circumstances do not exonerate him, they do explain the reason for his actions to a degree. Few people would want to be in his shoes.
In most of my stories he gets a chance he never had; so far, it has mostly resulted in him and Asuka getting together, but there are other concepts that wait in line to be written once one of my projects ends (I try not to start too many things at the same time, lest I don't finish any of them).
I do have an idea how this side-story will progress, but as things may change considerably depending what Kyoko and Yui do, I offer no hints. Stay tuned!
is a bit of an oversimplification. He is not innocent, no doubt, but the amount of pressure, trauma, and neglect heaped on him during the series would break most minds. In some places and with reasonable guardian, he'd get some mental help. But canon NGE is "whatever can go wrong people-wise, will go wrong" (and therapy is what happens to other people), so he gets a beating after beating... and becomes his worst.
We're entering philosophy and morality territory here, areas I believe myself hardly qualified to discuss - so I'll just say that: I believe that while the circumstances do not exonerate him, they do explain the reason for his actions to a degree. Few people would want to be in his shoes.
In most of my stories he gets a chance he never had; so far, it has mostly resulted in him and Asuka getting together, but there are other concepts that wait in line to be written once one of my projects ends (I try not to start too many things at the same time, lest I don't finish any of them).
As with all things
I do have an idea how this side-story will progress, but as things may change considerably depending what Kyoko and Yui do, I offer no hints. Stay tuned!
To self-quote one of my other works:
- but yes, a scolding is on the table, close friend or not.
grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
This is not the story in which Hikari's disapproval of Asuka culminates in deliberate physical impact.Oh Asuka you should be afraid, you should be VERY afraid... Hikari doesn't play favorites when it comes to school.
The one where it does is NSFSV.
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- He
You're completely right in this, I made a huge mistake by oversimplifying but the fact is that yes, the trauma exacrberated those bad traits of his character but he always had them, look at the afterbattle of Arael (where after Asuka tells him to go away he doesn't even try to fight back) or Armisael (where he rejects Misato and Rei), now I'm not blaming Shinji for his traumas, he didn't have any control on the events that lead to them (namely his parents insanity) but as Rei asked in the train car scene in EOE, did he ever tried?
That doesn't mean he can't get any better after EOE, in fact I believe that from there it can only get better for him, Asuka and their relationship.
Of course, as it was already proven before, my opinion could be flawed.
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
Absolutely and definitely. This is a lighthearted teenage drama with eldritch abominations, parental abandonment, serious insanity, and end of the world in the background. But no flogging
That's also a valid point. Whether he tried to do anything or just let the winds of fate (or random chance and circumstances, depending on the worldview) take him where they willed is also a matter of personal judgement. After all, this dispute is as old as NGE itself and has so many sides that you'd need to be a Hindu deity to hold all of them in your hands.
I personally believe he could've done better, yes - but psychologically speaking, he needed some impulse to do so. Truth be told, in canon NGE he got the impulse - Kaworu's attention and love - it just came far too late to save him; also - again - it is a matter of dispute whether it was genuine affection of Kaworu or just a manipulation of Tabris.
One more thing: we're focusing on Shinji here, but Asuka has a very similar set of skewed priorities: she wants to be the best Pilot ever, period. Her entire downfall could have easily come from the fact that - by sheer accident! - Shinji had a better battle record and a few of her battles went less stellar than she expected them to. I see her insecurities and contempt that masks them as an important barrier between them, along with Shinji's issues and withdrawal that comes from them. But again, this is yet another can of worms.
Post-EoE stories are a mixed bag, and I never tried to write one yet. On one hand, we see so little of what has happened that the author can go wherever they want to go with little limitations, which is good; on the other, Asuka and Shinji are still traumatized teens lost in increasingly hostile world (all those Impacts are not good for the environment, after all), which makes it hard (unless you do a time skip or show that Third Impact was not that bad. I've seen some good, though, and many were about them starting anew or at least trying to reconcile.
As long as it's expressed in a way that permits a non-violent discussion, opinions are welcome. I don't like to argue, but to debate a concept that is quite on topic? Why not
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Things not to say out loud... the self-awareness is good, though!
Awkward silence for a full minute
No, no, listen to that impulse!
Honestly, Asuka would likely revel in confirmations and validations of her looks and knowing he's looking/paying attention.
Hahaha! Burst out laughing, here. Shinji accidentally said just the right thing! Asuka's not even going to know how to handle such direct expression of 'I care about you, specifically and intentionally', and that he's pushing back. She's going to melt.
Her admission AND inability to articulate it is very 'them'. Her ability to say it out loud right now is massive progress. Since he'll be bedeviled by similar lack of 'appropriate vocabulary', but understand what she means... which is communication, exactly what stopped them from getting to this point in canon.
Hahahaha! Such impulses evading his self-imposed filters is going to lead fun places.
Yep, the pushback is going to fire her up like nothing else.
I think Asuka is going to be turned on/love that he's pushing back on an intellectual level as anything else. That she's found not just a boyfriend she likes to kiss, but a partner who will engage her mind too... she'll be over the moon.
Hahahaha, I nearly spit out my drink! And boy, did Shinji just unintentionally walk onto a landmine neither of them wanted to say out loud!
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
It definitely helps to know what is going on, indeed. Especially in your own head.
Yes, but there is a minor caveat here: compliments are great, validation is needed, attention is desired... but not when they're discussing being pissed with Misato. On the other hand, it would have improved the mood - and the cost of Asuka having mixed feelings of "oh, he's bolder and he likes what he sees, good" and "could you please focus?"
There's a scene in the next update where Asuka acts on that desire - I'm still polishing it to make their behavior believable. And it may be important later, so you're on the right track here. No matter how much one reinterprets Asuka's character, it is impossible to ignore her intense desire for attention (well, unless you rework her from ground-up, but that's going heavy AU).
She very much can be. Under the interpretation of her character I use here (it obviously differs between stories), she wants a partner: not someone to control her, not a toy to play with, but someone at her level. Obviously, it would be difficult to find someone of her own intelligence (her genius status is not just her gloating, after all - she is elite, it's just her habit of rubbing it into everyone's face that is annoying), but there are other qualities that can compensate for that.
Half of their communication is caused by one of them saying a bit too much - I know this is kind of comedic for a relatively serious story, but this just happens, especially when people start to feel comfortable around each other
- Pronouns
- He
I mean, Shinji is the son of two people that had plans to end (save technically in Yui's case but she still wrecked the globe and turned everyone to Tang) the world so that doesn't mean he's an idiot, let alone average.
I've read somewhere that people have various types of intelligence, someone who's good at Mathematics might not be good at, for example, playing the piano, and viceversa. So maybe if you give Shinji a mathematical paper he'll bash his head against it trying find the solution but if you give him
- Location
- On a powder keg, next to a fire
I think picturing Shinji as kind-of-an-idiot is Asuka's fault, due to her catchphrase
While there are numerous hypotheses regarding intelligence, there is - as far as I know - a general consensus that both nature (so, genes and development) and nurture (so, upbringing, attention, training) matter; the hypotheses disagree how important any given factor is. I assume Shinji's development took some dive when the was essentially abandoned at age of four, but that means that he was pretty well cared for until then (I might picture Yui as... off... at times, but this doesn't mean she was not an attentive mother).
Shinji is, in my opinion, above the average intelligence. His issues come not from the fact that he's stupid - he is not. His problems come from mental issues (the Hedgehog Dillema, discusses in-series, is a good depiction), which are completely independent of intelligence. Also, he is not a bad Pilot, too - and it's not all Unit-01 doing. That takes some brainpower.
This is yet another thing, and yes, this is the case. Of course, there's a bunch of hypotheses about that again, and in extreme cases you have a dozen different intelligence scores... but in the end, every brain is different - even monozygotic twins develop slightly differently in life, even if they live in similar environments. So those scores may work well statistically (like, "people from class X living in A area and from culture α are better at emotional intelligence but fail mathematics"). Skipping over extremes - like savant people who are perfect at one thing and people who are mentally deficient for one reason or another - everyone is better in something and worse in another. A key to finding your 'calling' (or just a niche) it to find that something and work with it - for example, I have a friend who's a very good painter and makes a modest living out of it, but can barely make sense of daily life and sometimes needs help to do a basic thing with a bureaucracy; and I have friends who are great software engineers, but to write anything in a natural language (even a courteous e-mail or an elegant invitation) is beyond them. Both types are intelligent and have a well-developed brain - just with completely different pathways. And ths is fine, as long as the basics (like, being able to function in a society without starving or getting killed) is covered.
All in all, I know I might not succeed perfectly, but I try to picture Shinji as a normal guy who's kind of lost (and gets progressively lost as the series progresses), because this is how I always perceived him. He's not an idiot, he's not a genius, he's just a smart boy thrown into insane circumstances. In the end, it's not his wit that failed him, it's his resilience to pressure and madness around him.