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"Blackjack." Kensuke said, already moving to take Toji's cards for shuffling. Toji handed them over reluctantly. He could hear the faint crying of a child coming from the bathroom but it was otherwise quiet. That is, if he excluded the faint snores of thousands of bodies echoing off the high walls of the shelter.
He and Kensuke could never sleep in the crowded shelter even when it was this quiet. They couldn't really figure out why other than nerves. It didn't feel right to sleep when the world might end or something. So, they played card games. Their favorite was speed but after midnight that frenzied kind of game kind of annoyed the tired neighbors. Blackjack was considerably less likely to make them throw their cards at each other's faces in frustration. That also meant it was considerably more boring.
"Hey, can I deal?" Toji asked, plucking a ticklish string from his jumpsuit. He suddenly had to do something with his restless hands.
"Why? Gonna slip some aces up your sleeve when you think I'm not looking?" Kensuke grinned and handed the cards over despite the accusation. His government issued frail ineffective blanket around his shoulders slipped a little with the movement and he tightened it.
"Shut up, that's what you've been doing!" Toji took the deck hastily, spilling a few cards in the process. With how many times Kensuke had won that night Toji was actually starting to suspect foul play.
"Dude I don’t even have long sleeves, besides, not like I need to cheat when you're so bad at this." Kensuke replied, gesturing to his shirt. Toji often had to resist the urge to raise his voice when they were having their late night card games but luckily nonverbal ways of punishment were still on the table. He struck immediately. Kensuke saw his attack too late so when he tried to dodge Toji was able to readjust his trajectory easily.
"Ow, jackass." Kensuke rubbed his forehead. Toji had become really good at flicking that area after learning that, no, he could not punch Kensuke. That would be like punching his little sister. He started to shuffle the cards instead of dwelling on that thought. The cards smacked together with a pleasant sound that could only be achieved by a practiced shuffler. He hadn’t been very good at shuffling before he moved to Tokyo 3 but all the evacuations had shaped this skill immensely.
"Hey, stop shuffling for a sec." Kensuke said. He looked distracted. Having seen that look before Toji ceased. If he strained his ears enough then over the sounds of snoring a barely noticeable rumbling could be heard. He couldn’t figure out any more from just that sound so he waited for Kensuke’s assessment. He scanned the shelter quickly as Kensuke closed his eyes in an effort to sharpen his hearing, it was so quiet no one had roused from their sleep.
"I don't think it's getting closer." Kensuke finally said after a long pause. The tension dissipated somewhat.
"How do you know that? I can barely hear it." Toji asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"Just a guess, hey uh," Kensuke gestured to the deck of cards lying discarded on the ground "let's continue our game, okay? It's fifteen to eight if I remember right." Kensuke watched Toji's face with a smile. Both of them knew how forced that topic change was.
"Fifteen to nine. Don't try to sneak that past me, Aida." Toji replied with a glare. Kensuke noticeably relaxed. While he was annoyed by Kensuke treating him like glass when it came to the subject of the Eva units he could also begrudgingly admit to himself that he didn't really want to talk about it. Not yet. He dealt Kensuke’s hand and before he could deal his own Kensuke smirked and held up his cards. An ace of spades and a jack of spades.
“Blackjack.” Kensuke said, to further rub it in his face.
“I hate you.” Toji replied with barely disguised fondness, leaning in for another flick.