Work Text:
Lunch today feels like lunch on any other day. The miso soup and rice balls I packed taste the same as they always do. The classroom carries its usual hum of quiet conversation. Beside me, Toji and Kensuke are chatting about girls, same as ever. By all appearances, there’s nothing special about today. It certainly doesn’t feel special like a birthday is supposed to.
It’s hard to blame my friends for not acknowledging it; they might not even know it’s my birthday. It’s not as if I’ve told them or anything.
I’m taken out of my thoughts by something that doesn’t happen every day, at least during lunchtime. By no means does that make it abnormal, though. There’s a flash of orange in the corner of my eye, and I look up to see Asuka marching towards my desk. She’s got that determined look in her eye, which usually spells trouble for me. I’ve barely had time to think about how good she looks before she’s coming to a halt, staring down at me in that way she does.
“Hey, Third,” she says, “you’re with me after school today. I’ve got some shopping to do, and Hikari is busy.”
Toji responds before I can. “What’re you, his boss?” he asks in a challenging tone. “What if we got plans today, ‘dya ever think about that?”
Her eye twitches as she turns towards him, looking murderous. “No, I hadn’t. And I don’t care,” she replies as she looks towards me again. “Cancel whatever plans you had. Pilot business trumps everything else.”
“Oh, so it’s NERV business?” Kensuke chimes in. “I thought you said you were shopping?”
Another twitch of the eye as her frown deepens. “Everything I do is Pilot business,” she spits through clenched teeth. “Not that it’s any of your business, Aida. Look the point is that Shinji is mine for the afternoon. You’ll have to settle for a semi-circlejerk today.”
“Just for the afternoon?” Toji taunts her. “You sure he’s not yours ‘forever and always?’”
My friends have really ramped up this kind of thing lately, so it hardly affects me, but that’s certainly not the case for Asuka as her face turns bright red in embarrassment. She opens her mouth, and I decide now is the time to interject, before things get loud.
“Knock it off, Toji,” I say in a resigned voice. “Sure, Asuka, I’ll go shopping with you, if that’s what you want. Just please, don’t start a fight. Not today.”
Her anger disappears, something else flashing across her face for a moment before she sticks her tongue out at Toji. “Ha! Sorry Monkey Boy, looks like I win.”
Beside me, Toji looks just as ready to start an argument but, in a surprising amount of restraint, he glances at me before letting out a sigh of defeat. “Yeah, whatever Red,” he mutters. “Anything else? Can we get back to our lunch now?”
She grins smugly. “No, I think that’s all,” she says. She glances at me as she turns to leave. “Remember Third. After school, you and me. Don’t forget it.” She walks away before I can respond, her bouncing locks of fire distracting me from whatever weak agreement I would have given anyway.
“Sorry, guys,” I eventually manage weakly, after she’s resumed her seat next to the Class Rep. “I guess I’m busy after school.”
Kensuke shrugs beside me. “Eh, no worry. We’re busy too, so we couldn’t have hung out anyways. We just said all that to mess with her, ya know?”
“Yeah,” Toji agrees. “I mean the nerve of her, right? ‘You’re coming with me, Shinji.’ ‘Do everything I say, Shinji.’ ‘After school Shinji, don’t forget.’”
I tune out their teasing as I continue to stare at the titian curls at the front of the room, and the red clips jutting out proudly from atop them. Yeah, right. Like I’d ever forget.
***
The afternoon classes fly by. It’s no mystery why. Despite all the weirdness and confusion in our relationship, I always look forward to spending time with Asuka. When things are good, there’s no better place to be than with her. And when things are bad, well, at least I’m not alone.
Her parting words at lunch were pointless, it turns out, because the final bell hasn’t even finished echoing through the classroom before she’s standing by my desk, tapping her foot against the ground impatiently. Grinning sheepishly, I finish gathering my things and we head for the door.
“Enjoy your date!” Toji calls after us in a teasing tone. Asuka stops in her tracks, turning back to shoot daggers in his direction.
“It’s not a date!” she yells, quivering in anger. The smug grin on Toji’s face grows wider as he opens his mouth to respond, only to disappear when the Class Rep slaps his arm with a scowl.
“Let’s just go, Asuka,” I say, doing my best to sound upbeat. I don’t want anything to ruin our day together before it even starts. I continue out of the room and, thankfully, she follows, muttering under her breath. I let her vent as we make our way out of the school and towards the shopping district downtown. I’m not usually one for conversation anyway, and it’s best to just let her go on when she’s in a mood like this.
Eventually she runs out of steam, right as we’re about to get off the train. “So, where to?” she asks, turning towards me. I raise an eyebrow in response.
“Huh? We’re here because you wanted to go shopping,” I remind her. “Why are you asking me where I want to go?”
She falters for a moment. “Uh. I just wanted your opinion on what places have good stuff. You’ve been here longer than me, you ought to know.” Asuka is many things, but a good liar is not one of them.
“Right,” I say slowly. “And since when do you care what I think?”
Her cheeks turn bright red, out of embarrassment or anger or maybe a bit of both. “Since now, idiot! You know what, never mind. Just try to keep up.” She makes that last bit easy enough as she grabs my wrist and takes off into the bustling crowd. I can’t help a slight smile crossing my face as I follow. I’m certainly not complaining.
We spend the next hour or so moving from store to store, browsing through what seems like every article of clothing in the building before leaving, empty-handed, and moving to the next one. I’m happy to notice that she rarely lets go of my wrist, and when she does it’s never long before she’s grabbing it again to pull me along
After our fifth stop without a purchase I decide to say something. “What are we doing, Asuka?” I ask in an exasperated voice. “I thought you knew what you wanted. If you’re not actually shopping, can we just go home?”
She glances at me sharply and I could swear there’s a flash of panic in her eyes before she scowls. “No, Third. We can’t go home yet. It’s not my fault that none of these shops have anything good in stock.” She looks up and down the street and her eyes light up as something catches her attention. “Okay, here we go!” she exclaims as we take off again. I can’t help but chuckle as I notice our destination.
“So you’ve just given up on shopping, huh?”
She slows down, forcing me to do the same, and turns to look at me. “Yes. Is that a problem?” she asks in a challenging tone, daring me to oppose her. Not that I’d dream of it.
“No, no problem,” I reply as we step into line. “But why are we here?” I gesture broadly to the giant marquee above our heads.
She appears dumbstruck, as if she couldn’t imagine why I’d ask such a thing as she casts her glance around. “Uh. We’re here for that,” she says, pointing to a poster for what looks like a cheap horror movie. “I haven’t gotten the chance to see it yet, and I don’t know how much longer it’ll be playing here.”
It’s not the worst excuse. She might even be telling the truth— admittedly, I’ve never even heard of the movie, never mind knowing how long it’s been playing. Still, something strikes me as odd about Asuka’s reasoning.
“Don’t you hate horror movies?” I ask.
Her eyes widen a bit before she gathers herself, shaking her head vehemently. “Of course not!” she replies. “What, like I’m some scared little kid? Yeah right.” I try to hide my grin, and fail.
“Sure thing, Asuka. Whatever you say.”
She scowls at me. “Are you sassing me? I don’t believe it. You’re probably just trying to chicken out, aren’t you?”
I’m not, but she’s cute when she’s like this, so I humor her. “Yeah, okay. You got me,” I say in a tone of exaggerated resignation. “We can watch it if you want to.” I don’t like her smug grin as much as I do her genuine smile, but she looks pleased at her victory, and that’s what matters.
“That’s right,” she says. “Let this be a lesson, Third. I’m always in the right, no matter what.”
I barely stop myself from chuckling. “Okay, okay,” I tell her, putting up my hands in defeat. “Let’s just get our tickets.”
I feel a pang of disappointment when she releases my arm to carry her drink and snacks into the theater, but it’s alright. Nothing lasts forever, and I suspect it’s impermanent anyways. Indeed, she seems to sit closer to me than she needs to when we take our seats. A big, goofy smile crosses my face, and I could swear I see her smiling too as the lights dim and the movie begins.
***
As we exit the theater into the dim light of the setting sun, I feel like I’m on top of the world.
I have no idea if the movie was good or not. Most of my attention was on Asuka. Despite her bold claims, she’d spent half the time jumping out of her seat. Once or thrice she’d grabbed my arm on reflex, only to push herself away a few seconds later. Eventually I’d decided to be bold, finding her hand in the dark. She’d tensed up at that, but to my delight she hadn’t freed herself. By the end of the movie she’d latched onto my arm, tucking her head into my shoulder during the very loud, very frequent jumpscares. She promptly separated herself from me when the movie finished and the lights came up, of course. That was fine. She didn’t want to acknowledge it, but we’d both understood what it was.
Now, as we wander aimlessly downtown, she avoids the awkward conversation by chattering endlessly about the movie. The cheesy effects, the bad acting, the plot that was barely a plot. Even if she believes what she’s saying, I get the sense that she’s talking just to talk. I don’t mind when she does that, sometimes, but right now there’s something else on my mind. Feeling nervous, though not overly so since this already worked just an hour ago, I take hold of her hand and stop walking, bringing her to a halt beside me.
“—has to be more embarrassing for them than anything— Hey, what’s the big deal?” she asks, pausing her rant to glare at me.
“Asuka,” I say simply. “Can we go home now?” She opens her mouth but I continue before she can speak. “I’m sure they’re ready for us by now.”
Her mouth closes, before opening and closing once more. Her eyes go wide as a shocked expression crosses her face. “What are you talking about?” she eventually manages to ask, casting her gaze all around to avoid meeting mine.
“The party,” I reply. “That’s why we’re out and about, right? So Misato can set up my birthday party?”
She wants to deny it, I can see it in her eyes. She seems like she might, too, but thankfully she only asks me in a flat voice, “Who told you?”
I let out a laugh at that. “Nobody told me, Asuka. It was just really easy to guess what was going on. A week ago Misato asked me what kind of cake I like best. Yesterday she asked me to bake a cake just like it, to ‘celebrate our good job at the sync test.’” Asuka rolls her eyes and I laugh again. “And then there was you, too. Since when do you ever ask me to hang out after school, away from the apartment?”
“I thought shopping was a good excuse,” she grumbles. “I didn’t think you’d catch on.”
I chuckle once more. “Maybe, if you had bought anything. I’m not sure why we had to go to the movies though.”
She casts her gaze down, studying the ground. “I told you,” she mumbles. “I really wanted to see that one.” It doesn’t sound very convincing, probably not even to her.
I shake my head. “I didn’t mean that movie specifically,” I clarify. “Why don’t you want to go home?” I tug her hand lightly and she looks up to meet my gaze.
She stares at me with ocean-blue eyes, struggling to speak, and just as I find myself getting lost in them she tears them away again. She’s mumbling something, but she’s speaking much too quietly to understand. I feel my smile falter a bit as realization hits me; this isn’t the place for this conversation.
“You know what, let’s forget it,” I say, hoping my voice sounds as kind as I want it to. “You can tell me later. Why don’t we just go home?” She’s looking at the ground again as she nods silently. I turn and head in the direction of the nearest train station and she follows close behind.
We haven’t made it three steps when something snags my arm. Looking down, I’m shocked to see that this time Asuka has taken hold of my hand. It brings a smile to my face, which only widens when I see the embarrassed blush on her face as she continues staring at the ground in front of us.
Neither of us say anything as we approach the train, nor during the ride to the station by our apartment, nor as we disembark to complete the last leg of our journey home. The silence is unusual, in a way; I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Asuka go this long without speaking. It’s not uncomfortable though, in fact it’s rather enjoyable, so I don’t mind. I’ve still got a smile on my face as we amble through the streets of our neighborhood.
Regrettably, she lets go of my hand when we enter our apartment building. It’s disappointing, but I understand why she does it. The silence between us continues as we board the elevator and begin riding up.
Suddenly, Asuka shocks me once again when she reaches out and presses the emergency stop button, bringing the car to a halt mid-ascent. I look at her with an eyebrow raised, and she finally looks at me for the first time since we were outside the theater.
“Do you still want to know why it took so long to come home?” she asks. Her voice is quiet, and it’s shaking a little, but her eyes are shining with determination. Suddenly I’m nervous. I knew we’d have to have this conversation, but I wasn’t expecting to have it so soon. This is what I wanted, right? Am I ready for it? Hesitantly, I nod.
“Right. So—“ She pauses to clear her throat. “So, uh, the reason we stayed out so long was, uh…” she trails off and squeezes her eyes shut. She takes a deep breath, and then another, before opening them and staring at me again. “I was having a good time with you,” she says, still speaking quietly. “What you said is true that Misato asked me to keep you away from the apartment while she set things up. But while we were shopping I realized that I was enjoying myself. Just being with you and talking with you and, um, holding your hand.” Her face breaks out in a blush, and I feel my own do the same as she continues.
“It was also true what you said that we could have come back before the movie. But I didn’t want to give up that feeling before we had to, you know? And when I saw the theater it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.” She pauses again as the color returns to her cheeks. “I was really glad when you grabbed my hand in there,” she concludes softly.
My heart is racing as I process her words. Continuing to meet her gaze, I gulp as I try to find the courage to speak. “I liked that too,” I manage to say. “And I liked it when you returned the favor.” Both of us are blushing furiously, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been this nervous, but I don’t dare look away from her eyes as long as she’s still looking at mine. Feeling bold, I continue in the straightest voice I can muster. “We should do it again sometime.”
“Is that right?” she asks, her voice softer than I’ve ever heard it. Terrified, I manage a shaky nod. “Maybe we should,” she agrees, giving a shaky smile as she finally turns around to press the emergency stop button again. The elevator resumes its trek to our floor, unknowing and uncaring of the revelation it’s just witnessed.
We’re silent for the rest of the ride and the walk down the hallway. Upon arriving outside our door, my hand reaches out to open it only to be stopped mid-air. Confused, I turn to look at Asuka, who gives me my final, biggest surprise of the afternoon as she leans in and presses her lips to my cheek. My blush returns with a vengeance as she holds there for a few seconds before withdrawing with one of her own.
We stare at each other, trapped in a silence that’s awkward, but far from uncomfortable. She’s got a small smile on her face, the kind that I like. A real one. I can’t help but give her one in return.
“Happy birthday, Shinji.”