Archive of Our Own

U-um… I-I'm kinda nervous… I don't have much experience with evangelion fics. Well, this is a one-shot, all fluffy and crap at the end... I think, I don't know, I never liked fluff, so it might not work right. I hope I get asuka right, shinji's supposed to be different, so that's not worrying me too much but… oh well. Never know till I try!

Shinji and Asuka were walking to school on a practically perfect day. The weather was warm, not blisteringly hot like it had been for the previous two months, and there was a pleasant breeze, currently running through Asuka's long red hair and uniform skirt.

This was seemingly one of the most relaxing and peaceful days Tokyo-3 had seen since the second impact… that is, until you see Asuka's face.

It gave the exact opposite feeling of the weather. She was grinding her teeth, and her face was screwed into one of anger and frustration. An aura was also making it's way from the girl, and it told everyone, save for Shinji, as he didn't seem to notice, that if-you-talk-to-me-I'll-find-out-where-you-live-while-I'm-in-my-eva feeling.

Shinji, on the other hand, was strolling casually alongside her, humming to himself: whether he knew it or not, every note he hit only served to fuel Asuka's rage. They were completely silent, if you don't count the teeth grinding and the humming, the entire way to school.

As they passed through the gate, they saw the front yard of the school filled with kids. Not jam packed, but you couldn't make it to the school with out passing through several groups of people.

Shinji continued, not noticing that Asuka had stopped, and made is way through the thin crowd; apologizing every time he bumped into someone.

The sight enraged Asuka, and her aura turned from pissed off to murderous. She stomped down the yard, and anyone that had a brain, or even survival instincts, jumped out of the way. One idiot was stupid enough to not move, trying to stand his ground: he ended up in the ground with footprints running up his body and on his face.

Asuka made it to the school doors, a smiling Shinji holding the door open for her. "Nice day, isn't it Asuka?" he asked, and his merry tone pissed her off.

She moved to stomp on his foot, but he moved it as he walked inside and towards their homeroom. She just stood there, baffled that he, once agan, didn't just stand there and take it like the doormat he was.

She was smacked from her thoughts as the door Shinji was holding open for her came back and hit her square in the face.

"..." Asuka remained silent for several seconds before she opened the door and walked to their homeroom, a little more calm than she had been before.

She made it to the classroom without incident, but any calm she felt was immediately killed when she saw Shinji.

He was talking to Rei, grinning like an idiot the entire time. She was standing next to his desk, talking about something Asuka couldn't hear.

'Why the fuck does he look so fucking happy!' she thought to her self as she tried to make her way to her seat nonchalantly. She succeeded, and was able to sit quiet and unnoticed until class started.

At least she thought so. After the teacher had entered the room, and begun droning on about the second impact, a little flashing red blip appeared on Asuka's computer screen.

She glanced down at it, then hit a button on the keyboard. A window popped open. It was from Horaki Hikari.

"Is everything alright Asuka?" it read, and Asuka huffed.

"Yeah, I'm fine." was her reply. She looked over to her best friend, who gave her a suspicious look.

Hikari turned back to her computer, and Asuka looked to her own.

"You were really quiet when you walked in. and you got upset when you looked at Shinji." was what it read, and Asuka's eyebrow twitched for a moment.

'Why did I need a best friend again?' she thought angrily, and begun typing.

"Baka Shinji overslept, and he didn't make breakfast." Asuka lied, looking up to her friend, who turned to her after a moment. She looked at Asuka impatiently, then turned back to her keyboard.

"… When you're ready to tell me what's wrong, I'll be here." As Asuka read it, her lips twitched a few times, and she sighed, closing her computer. Hikari turned back to her, huffed, then turned back around.

Asuka placed her chin in her left hand, curling her fingers under her mouth, with her right hand twirling a pencil between her fingers, and she turned to stare out the window as Shinji had done many times before her. When she realized that, her eyes found their way to his desk.

She watched him as he smiled goofily at the blackboard. She realized she was staring, and had been for the past few minutes, when she heard the faint beep that sounded when a computer got a message.

She looked down to her computer, noticing that she neglected to close it all the way. She opened it, and clicked the little mail icon. There were 3 messages, all from Hikari.

"Hey, Asuka, why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Asuka? don't ignore me!"

"Huh? Why are you staring at Shinji so intently?"

Asuka blushed slightly as she read the last one, and she looked up to see Hikari smirking at her.

"Anta baka? Who would stare at hentai Shinji? I was looking out the window!" Asuka typed, angrily clacking against the keys.

After the second it took Hikari to read the message, Asuka heard what sounded like a strangled snicker.

Asuka flicked a piece of her eraser at her, nailing her in the back of the head. Her snicker stopped, and she went back to typing.

"Asuka, is the reason you're upset and the reason you're 'window watching' the same?"

Asuka scratched her head aggregately, "No. Why would they have anything to do with each other? You're being annoying Hikari, leave me alone."

That was what Asuka typed, but she left her computer open and waited for a reply.

"Fine, fine, you'll tell me when you're ready." the message read, and Asuka snorted in victory.

The rest of the class passed with Asuka preventing herself from looking anywhere in Shinji's general direction, she didn't need Hikari believing something that wasn't true.

'Who would like a hentai baka like that?' she thought to herself, but her heart seemed to skip a beat when his image appeared in her mind.

She waved it off as gas, thinking back on the previous day. Her heart skipped two beats in a row as she remembered what happened.

Flash Back

Asuka was lying on her stomach, Wearing a loose tank top and tight shorts that showed off everything her thighs had to offer, her feet locked together and sticking straight up, and watching T.V. when Shinji walked in. Asuka had possession of the remote, and that meant if you want to watch T.V., you had to watch what Asuka wanted.

She was watching some international German channel, but after watching it for a moment, Shinji demanded the remote.

"Asuka, give me the remote. I want to watch something I can understand."

Asuka turned her head to look up at him over her shoulder like he was insane, "If you go lick the bottom of my shoes, I'll put the captions on for you." she said, turning back to watch her show.

Something hard, but not heavy, hit the back of Asuka's head, inflicting no damage. An empty beer can bounced down onto the floor beside her, rolling away as if was it scared of the fiery red-head, and she turned to see Shinji with his hand outstretched expectantly. "Give me the remote, Asuka." he said in a serious tone.

She scoffed, then stood up, "Come take it, watch me shove you're arm up your ass."

Shinji stood up, and she smiled at him with her 'you aint doin' shit' face.

She held the remote out in front of her with her right hand, and Shinji reached for it. She pulled it away, out to the right. He grabbed for it, but she switched over to her left hand and out to the left. He grabbed for it again, and she raised it above her head. He reached up for it, and she tossed it down around his hands, bouncing it off his face, into her right hand down in front of her stomach, which was the same place she held it out for him at first.

She still had her 'you aint doin' shit' face, and she grinned as he looked like he was getting royally pissed off.

Suddenly, he stepped towards her. She blinked in surprise, and he hooked his right foot around her leg, and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her off balance and down to the floor.

Now, Asuka had been trained in several martial arts, and was quite good in them, so normally this would not have worked at all. Shinji was no push over either, as he was trained as well, but she far outmatched him every time they sparred.

Shinji, however, had an advantage. As Asuka was still in her 'you aint doin' shit' mode, she was completely defenseless temporarily.

Asuka landed flat on her back, with Shinji on top of her. Shinji was straddling Asuka's upper thighs, so she would be unable to do her favorite move of grabbing your head with her legs and slamming it into the ground, but most of his weight was being used to pin Asuka to the ground by her shoulders.

"G-get off'a me!" she shouted, sounding uncharacteristically helpless.

She lifted her arms to push him off of her, and he grabbed her wrists, forcefully slamming them down above her head, pinning them to the floor. Her heart stopped as she looked into his eyes, and an unfamiliar feeling tingled through her body.

She was staring wide eyed at Shinji, breathing heavily, sweat glistening off her face and chest, with her hair wildly going off in every which direction with a few strands stuck by sweat to her face and chest. Shinji blushed, but didn't look away or apologize.

He slowly plucked the remote out of her limp hand, and he moved to the couch, changing the channel to something Asuka couldn't see. Not that Asuka was worried about what channel he turned it to, as she was trying to sort through what she was feeling at the moment.

The heat had affected her chemistry, she concluded after a minute of contemplation. 'Yeah. There's no way on earth it has anything to do with baka Shinji…' the thought made itself known, to Asuka's dismay, and she flinched.

She was doing a fine job of blaming everything on the planet other than Shinji, but that single thought completely inverted the thought process. Nothing but Shinji was going through her mind now.

She glanced at him, without him noticing, and her heart skipped a beat. She closed her eyes, and felt a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Hey, what's going on? What's all that noise for?" she heard their guardian holler from somewhere in the kitchen.

Misato looked to Asuka, lying on her back with her hair sprawled out in every direction, then to Shinji, who was sitting on the couch watching T.V. and sporting a small blush. They both looked to her, and spoke at the same time, "Sorry/Nothing."

Asuka's head whipped around to Shinji, and he didn't look anything like he did before. He looked more like the normal Shinji; averting her eyes like he was embarrassed and apologizing like that.

"Baka, what are you apologizing like that for!" Asuka shouted at him, turning her face from him again. Shinji looked like he was going to retort, but Misato stopped him.

"Alright, just calm down! It's hot, everyone's uncomfortable, and I have a migraine, so can we not do this?" she said, holding on hand up towards Shinji and the other on her head.

"Don't you mean hangover?" Asuka asked innocently, then got up and went to the kitchen to get a soda. She grabbed a can from the fridge, then sat at the table.

Misato sighed, then sat down next to Shinji. He scooted over to give her room, and she looked at him. "Haven't been getting along with Asuka, Shin-chan?" she asked, and took the remote from him.

"Sorry."

Asuka was fuming at this point, 'What the fuck! He apologized again… and he didn't even try to protect his trophy!' she thought angrily, tightening her hand and leaving indents of her fingers on the soda can.

Her eyebrows were twitching, and she was radiating hatred. Almost as if sensing the change in her mood, Shinji and Misato turned to look at her.

She shot them a dangerous glare, and Misato turned back to the T.V. while Shinji just kept looking at her unflinchingly. She snorted, got up, and then went to her room.

End Flash Back

The bell sounded, ringing Asuka from her recollection of the previous day's events, and she looked around. Everyone was getting up and conversing, and the teacher had left the room.

She sighed as she saw Hikari walking towards her. "Asuka…" she started, and Asuka raised her arms in a cross. "No, leave me alone! Nothing is wrong, so leave it alone."

Hikari pouted and huffed, "Fine! I won't bother you anymore." Hikari told her, then moved over to the back of the class.

Asuka turned to see what she was doing; she went to go talk with Touji, and then Asuka noticed Shinji sitting behind him with Kensuke in the seat next to him.

Shinji was looking timid and meek again, and Asuka ground he teeth. She looked forward again, turning her attention to the bag hanging off of the little hook on the side of her desk.

It was her school bag, and normally it contained a bento made by Shinji. Not today.

"Make your own lunch, I'm not your servant-boy" Shinji had told her earlier that morning. She snorted, then stood up. She glared back at Shinji, who looked sheepish while a blushing Kensuke was explaining something to him using over exaggerated arm movements.

She felt her fists clench, breaking the pencil she was once twirling with her death grip, and she marched over to him. Shinji looked up to her curiously, and she shot out her open palm to him expectantly. "Give me money, baka Shinji. You didn't make my lunch, so now you have to give me compensation. I'm nice, I'll only take half of what you have."

Touji and Kensuke were about to rush to his aid, but one word kept them in their seats. "No." Shinji said, looking up to her with an apathetic expression.

She felt a blush come on, which everyone there mistook for her flushing in anger, and Shinji stood up, staring into her eyes with the same apathetic expression.

"I made you lunch each day because I felt like it. I don't owe you anything. Go find your own food. As I told you this morning, I'm not your servant."

Her blush kicked up a few notches, she said nothing and her mouth hung open in awe, which everyone there mistook for speechless rage.

"WAY TO GO SHINJI!" Touji hollered after a moment, jumping up to hug his new hero, Kensuke not far behind him. "You've slain the red-haired demon!" they cried out in unison, and Shinji fell back into his normal hesitant personality.

"U-um… yeah." Shinji mumbled as all the boys in the class begun to shower him with praises, compliments, and pats on the back.

Ok, NOW Asuka was flushing in anger, and left in a speechless rage. She turned and stomped out of the room, punting a desk through the glass window on the way out. She thought she heard screams of pain outside in the direction she kicked the desk, but she didn't care.

She left the classroom, and eventually the school.

Asuka had found her way to the movie theater. Nothing anywhere near good was playing, but she needed to waste a few hours because Misato had a day off today, and she was at home. She didn't feel like talking to Misato at the moment, so she would just get home at the normal school release time. She ended up buying a ticket for some sci-fi horror movie.

There weren't many people in the theater; a couple was sitting further up, and three other presumably homeless people scattered through the room, sleeping. She sat through the movie, loosing herself in her thoughts about halfway through it and she started trying to sort out these new feelings.

Something that felt very close to anger, but not quite, whenever she saw Shinji revert to his 'good boy' self. It acted like anger, but she hadn't been able to get rid of it. It brought with it a heavy, restraining feeling on her chest that stayed with her much longer than the anger(?) had.

Next, there was that tingling feeling she had felt when Shinji pinned her and took the remote. There were no feelings she knew that came close to what ever it was, but she knew she liked it.

She would never admit it to herself, let alone anyone else, but she didn't have to admit it, because she knew; it felt good to have Shinji force her to the ground, it felt good to squirm helplessly under him, and it felt good when he looked at her with that look she never saw in his eyes before.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a scream. She almost jumped out of her skin, and she jolted her head up. There was a woman screaming in the movie as she was being chased by a monster, quite obviously an actor in a costume by the zipper on its back.

Asuka blushed slightly, looking around to make sure no one saw her, when she noticed the couple up front. They were making out, and the girl kept giggling as the boy was whispering something to her.

The sight pissed Asuka off. Her eyebrow twitched, and she left the theater.

Asuka still had some time to waste before school let out. She made her way to the arcade; she felt like decimating someone at Super Street Fighter 4 (Yes, the arcade version; it's out in the year 2015).

There was someone she had never seen before at the machine she played. He had an arrogant and superior look on his face. She watched him play a match, telling him "I got next."

He paid no mind to who was next, and he beat his opponent quite easily. 'God, what a scrub.' Asuka thought as she watched him play.

The match finished, and Asuka took up the losers place. The boy looked at her, and then lol'd. that pissed Asuka off, but she said nothing. He looked back to his screen, chuckling as he picked Gouki (Akuma), and she picked Dan with his protective gear costume.

It was a massacre, Gouki couldn't get a hit in. Best of three match, and Asuka won with two perfects. The other guy got pissed, and switched to Chun li so she switched to Cammy.

Asuka finished every one of her 10 wins with Cammy's Ultra II (Counter Ultra. It's difficult to land because you have to have your opponent attack you after you do the Ultra, for those who aren't ssf4 fans. Sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to incorporate ssf4 in a story for while.), or a time out victory when he refused to attack.

The kid ran out of the arcade crying, and Asuka laughed at his tears. After her display of Street Fighter violence, no one was wiling to take next, so she left the machine.

She still didn't feel any better, and now that she didn't have a focus for her anger, everything she saw seemed to aggravate her. Guys, girls, machines, bad players, good players, couples, sounds, smells, everything in the arcade was rubbing her the wrong way.

Enough time had passed now, she concluded after looking at a clock on the wall, so she headed home.

Asuka opened the door quietly, it took a little longer to get home than expected, about a half an hour. She sighed, then kicked off her sandals when she head a beautiful sound coming from Shinji's room.

She walked to his room, opened the door, and she could now see Shinji sitting on his bed, eyes closed, playing the cello.

Shinji was facing her, but his eyes were closed so he couldn't see her.

Asuka started clapping slowly, "I didn't know you knew how to play the cello, Shinji" Asuka commented, and Shinji looked up to her with a smile.

"Hey Asuka." he greeted her happily, and it made her angry again. "What are you smiling about, baka?" she spat at him, the good mood his playing put her now gone.

"Oh?" he said, smiling a bit wider, "I'm smiling?"

Her lip twitched upward, and she left the room, slamming the sliding door behind her. 'What the HELL could he POSSIBLY be so fucking HAPPY about!' she screamed at the top of her mental lungs.

She stomped to her room, flopping into her bed and thinking angrily at Shinji as she pulled her pillow into a hug that could crush spines. Then, an image flashed in her mind, and that feeling was back.

The heavy, almost anger feeling came back with the image of Shinji talking with Rei earlier that day. He was smiling then, too. And throughout class after that.

The feeling was getting stronger, 'Tsk… I hate this. This stupid whatever this is, it needs to just leave me alone! I was perfectly fine two days ago! Baka Shinji… I can't tell who I'm more mad at; Shinji, Rei or myself…'

Then she blinked several times, "Myself…?" Asuka thought aloud, then she heard Shinji's cello start up again. "Baka Shinji…" she said, then sat there for about a minute, listening to him play.

He started up a new melody, then Asuka got up. She threw her pillow on her bed, then headed back into Shinji's room. She opened his door, and he looked up to her, stopping his new song.

"When are you making dinner, baka? I'm hungry." Asuka asked calmly, and he put on that same face he wore when he demanded the television remote from her the previous day, "I'm not, I don't really feel like making dinner."

From looking at Asuka's face, you could tell something, somewhere, snapped. "What the hell is going on with your new attitude, third child?" she hollered, but Shinji didn't flinch away at the tone of her voice, though his expression changed slightly so that it held the tinniest hint of sorrow.

He didn't say anything, and it pissed her off some more, "WHAT! Why are you acting like this?" Shinji's features twitched slightly, and Asuka's fist clenched. "And why only me? You act normal to everyone, everyone but me and it pisses me off!"

"Because…" Shinji started, his features hardening again, "maybe it's because I hate you." he said coldly, watching as she could only blink at his answer. Asuka's chest felt tight, and she felt like she couldn't breathe as he continued, "Maybe I don't feel like being treated like shit anymore. No one else but you treats me like that, so maybe I've had enough."

Tears threatened to escape her eyes, and only her pride held the tears back. She turned around and walked out of his room. Shinji couldn't hear anything for a moment, then he heard the front door close.

Shinji sighed after a moment, a very uneven and ragged sigh, and he adjusted the cello back to its playing position. He pulled the bow across the strings, attempting to start up where he left off, but he hit several bad notes.

He sighed again, then tried again. Nothing like he was playing a few minutes ago, it sounded more like a dying cat. He put the bow down, and stared at the cello for several moments before his face contorted in anger. He lifted it over his head, and chucked it at the wall, breaking the neck of the instrument.

Shinji was quiet for a while as he sat on his bed, staring at the broken instrument, then he wrapped himself in his blanket and tried to go to sleep. Only 4 hours of staring at the wall later would he succeed.

"Onee-chan! Your German friend is here!" a little brown-haired girl yelled through the house from the front door.

"Nozomi!" said onee-chan started in a stern tone, "It's rude to keep calling her that, you know her name!"

"It's fine, Hikari." Asuka said with a smile, "Um… can I stay here for a while?"

"Of course, Asuka, come on in." Hikari told her, leading her to her room.

Asuka kicked off her shoes and put them neatly by the front door, then followed Hikari up the stairs.

"What's going on, Asuka?" Hikari asked after they made it into her room.

Asuka waved her off, "Nothing, nothing, just a little argument. Needed to blow off some steam on someone actually good at Street Fighter."

Hikari smirked, then set up the PS3. Asuka grabbed one of the arcade sticks, and Hikari sat next to her as they waited for it to load.

Ten minutes of playing later…

"Are you okay Asuka?" Hikari asked, looking at her best friend with concern, "I can never beat you when you're angry at something, but your doing even worse than you normally do."

"No, I'm fine. your just getting lucky is all." Asuka explained, refusing to look at Hikari.

"Asuka, you've dropped your favorite combo seven times that last game. You never drop that one."

Asuka didn't say anything, but hit the retry button and waited for Hikari to do the same.

Hikari shook her head, then hit the retry button as well. Halfway through the next match, Asuka spoke up. "Am I a bad person?" she asked, and Hikari paused the game, "Do I really treat people badly?"

"No! Of course not, Asuka. while I have to admit, you can be a little bossy and have a bit of a temper, but you aren't a bad person… is that why you came here?"

Asuka was quiet for a moment, doing slow motion combos on her arcade stick even though the game was paused, "He…Shinji told me he hates me…" she whispered softly, tears threatening to run rampant across her cheeks again.

Hikari eyes widened a bit, "He WHAT! That… that… BASTARD! Wait here Asuka, I'm gonna drag him here to apologize!" Hikari fumed, grabbing her tazer gun from beside her purse beside her bed, and heading out of her room.

Hikari knew full well of Asuka's affections, even though she didn't even admit them to herself, and even if they weren't mutual, that was a horrible thing for Shinji to say.

Asuka grabbed her arm though, and Hikari turned to look at her. "No, don't Hikari… even if you make him apologize, it won't mean anything."

Hikari looked to her friend, then sighed, "Fine. I won't make him apologize. I'll just go kick the crap out of him, okay?" and Asuka chuckled.

Hikari took a seat next to Asuka, "Tell me exactly what happened."

Asuka had spent the night at Hikari's, with Hikari informing Misato of where she was by phone.

The next day, Asuka didn't show up to school. Shinji went, and was still acting like his normal self, if not a little more gloomy than usual.

When class started, he received a message on his computer from Hikari.

"Can you meet me in the gym after school? I want to ask you something." it read, and Shinji glanced up at Hikari. She was facing forward, so he just typed his reply.

"Is it about Asuka?" he asked, and his reply came a few seconds later.

"Sort of."

"Okay, I'll see you after school."

That was the end of their conversation, so Shinji went back to ignoring the 2nd impact lesson the elderly teacher was giving.

After school had ended, Shinji headed to the gym like promised. He saw Hikari sitting on the bleachers, so he started towards her.

"There you are Shinji!" Hikari shouted as she noticed him, and he waved to her awkwardly feeling a little embarrassed.

"What did you want to talk to me about, incho?" he asked after he reached the bleachers.

"Well, I was just curious about something." she started, getting up and walking down towards him, "Do you remember yesterday when Asuka was trying to get money from you, then ditched school?"

Shinji nodded with a curious expression on his face, "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"It just made me notice that that's the only time I've ever seen you stand up for yourself. Or even be anything even close to assertive. Is something wrong with you two? Asuka's so stubborn you know, she won't tell me anything."

"Uh, well, not really. We got into an argument yesterday, but that doesn't have anything to do with it." Shinji explained, sitting down as he didn't know how long she wanted to talk for.

"Oh, okay. Nothing serious, right?" she asked, and Shinji shifted a little. "M-maybe… I kind of said something I didn't mean, and she got upset."

Hikari blinked several times as she repeated his words a few times in her mind. "Incho?" Shinji asked, and she blushed slightly. "O-oh, no, I just uh, had something in my eyes," she said, sporting a small smile while rubbing said eyes.

"Ah." Shinji said, with two small nods.

"Well, why don't you normally stand up for yourself then?" Hikari asked, and Shinji shrugged. "It's not really worth the effort to stand up to someone who doesn't matter, I guess."

Hikari just blinked again, but this time she spoke before Shinji could say something. "So, you aren't assertive if the person doesn't matter?" she asked, and he nodded. "Pretty much, why?"

"So then… you stand up to Asuka because she matters…?" she started, watching him intently as his eyes bulged out a bit after he realized what he just admitted.

"U-u-um… no, that's not- it wasn't-…" he stuttered through his panicky blush, then he got quiet while staring at her intensely.

"You can't tell Asuka! Please, promise me Hikari, please don't tell her!" Shinji begged, and Hikari chuckled and scratched her cheek sheepishly. "O-okay… I won't tell her anything."

Shinji got up and started off to exit the gym, then he turned around, "If you don't say anything, I'll help you with Touji. Okay?" he said, and she blushed.

"What?" she squeaked, and he ran away.

It was quiet in the gym for several seconds, then Hikari got up and walked behind the bleachers, "Asuka? What now?"

Asuka was leaning back against one of the support beams for the bleachers, staring at a spot on the wall intensely.

Shinji was cooking nervously sometime after got home. Asuka still hadn't come back, and he didn't know whether or not Hikari would keep her promise. He had cleaned the entire apartment, save for Asuka's and Misato's room after he got home, trying to distract himself until she got home. He would've played the cello, as he was getting tired of cleaning and cooking, but he broke it the other day.

He was about half-way through finishing dinner for three when he heard the front door open. He turned to look who it was, trying his best not to look abnormal, and he saw Asuka come in and sit at the table.

"Hey Asuka." he said evenly, turning back to what he was cooking. She made no reply. He was somewhere around his 200th prayer that she wasn't told what happened, when she spoke up. "Shinji…" started, and his skin seemed to leap out in surprise, "what are you making?"

He glanced back at her, and she had a pleased smirk plastered on her face. "N-nothing special…" he stated, turning back towards the stove, "So… um… how were things at Hikari's?"

It was all Asuka could do to stifle a snicker, "Fine, I guess. Why?" she asked innocently, and he shook his head. "No reason…" he started, but trailed off.

It was quiet for another minute before Asuka spoke up, "So, about today in the gym."

Shinji froze, and said nothing. "Don't worry, Hikari didn't break her promise; I was there, behind the bleachers."

Shinji still didn't say anything, and he was staring at what he was cooking like it was the most interesting thing on the planet.

"So, you lied when you said you hated me?" Asuka asked, and Shinji nodded after a moment of silence.

"Why did you lie?" Asuka asked, and shinji shifted a little bit.

"U-um... I'm not good at feelings..." he said, and she nodded even though he couldn't see her.

"And so, when you said I mattered to you… what did that mean?" she asked him, and he gave her a blushing glance, then looked back to his food.

"You matter to me Asuka, more than anyone else." Asuka sighed, "What are you trying to say, baka? Just say what you mean."

"In… in other words, I love you." he said, glancing back at her again. She blushed slightly, then looked away from him and muttered 'baka'.

They were silent for another several seconds, then Shinji heard the movement of a chair against the floor. He turned back around, and she was walking towards him.

She got right up in his face, then spoke, "Well, now that we got that out of the way, I got some ground rules."

"G-ground rules?" Shinji stuttered, and Asuka nodded.

"Well, now that you're my boyfriend, there are some rules you have to follow."

'Huh? Boyfriend? Does that mean she likes me too?' Shinji thought, but Asuka tore him away from his thoughts.

"First off, you can't be getting all lovey-dovey with any other girls, okay? Especially like you were with Wonder-girl yesterday. Got it?" she explained, and he donned a confused expression.

"With Rei? When did I do that?" Shinji asked, and Asuka pinched his ear, "Owowowow!"

"Yesterday, when I came in class you were all giddy while you were talking to her. No more of that." Asuka said, and Shinji laughed, which caused Asuka to pull his ear a little harder.

"Haha, owowow, haha! Is that why you were mad yesterday? I was happy when I walked in, cause I realized that I liked you, and she asked me if whatever was going on would affect my ability to pilot eva."

Asuka blushed as she realized she got jealous over something so stupid… 'that's what that feeling was… jealousy…' she thought to herself, then let go of Shinji's ear.

"Well… okay, I'll forgive you. now for the second rule, you have to be more assertive with everyone, not just me." Asuka said, and Shinji's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"You want me to be more assertive?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, it pisses me off when I see–" she started, but Shinji interrupted her with a kiss on the lips. Her eyes fluttered for a moment, and he hugged her while still kissing.

After a minute, he pulled back, and noticed that Asuka was blushing as hard as he was. "Sorry." he said, and she blushed a little harder and flicked him in the nose.

"Baka…"

Author's box

Well, that's my first eva story. I have more planned, so make sure to tell me how I did with this one. If you liked my fic, and haven't already read my other fic 'Team Naruto', it's awesome. No one shouldn't check it out. If you found my story 'Team Naruto' by checking me out after reading this story, then if you review 'Team Naruto', could you put EVA at the end of your review? I want to know how many people I attracted with this story. And, to my fans who were waiting for a new chapter for 'Team Naruto', I know this wasn't as good as a new chapter, but I kinda got stuck with what to do next. I had to do some complicated stuff, but it will be up soon. So, yeah, review. Every time you don't review, a child dies. Don't let them die, ya heartless jerk.

Well, when I was writing the scene in the gym, I thought up two omake's. Enjoy them… or be destroyed. The choice is yours.

Omake #1: Shinji In Black

"So then… you stand up to Asuka because she matters…?" she started, watching him intently as his eyes bulged out a bit after he realized what he just admitted.

"Hold on." Shinji said, reaching into his back pocket and taking out a shiny silver pen-like object and black sunglasses. He put the sunglasses on, then looked to her, "Did you ever find your purse?" he asked, and she blinked in confusion as he fiddled with the pen-thing.

"Huh? Purse?" she asked, and he raised the pen to eye level. It had little glowing blue lights on it, and then a bright flash stunned Hikari. "The purse you lost in the gym. You came to look for it, then realized you left it at home. I was never here, and this conversation never happened."

"Okay." Hikari said flatly, then got up and left the gym. Shinji sighed, then pulled out a cell phone, "This is agent S. I'm done here, send someone to pick me up."

Omake #2: A little help from cupid

"Shinji, wat's goin' on?" Touji asked as Shinji dragged him to the gym. "Doesn't matter, come with me."

They made it to the gym, and Shinji sat him down on the bleachers, "Now Touji, why do you stand up to Hikari?" he asked, and Touji just stared at him.

"Huh?"

"So it's because she matters?" Shinji asked, then nodded to himself, "It's okay, I won't tell anyone. Okay, you can go."

"What?" Touji asked with the most bewildered expression he would ever wear, and Shinji walked behind the bleachers and gave Hikari the thumbs up signal. "See, I told you."

Hikari facepalmed, and sighed.