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BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP- Shinji hit the snooze button on his alarm, for only the second time. He had it set for 7am, and school wasn’t until 8, so he had plenty of time. Warm sunlight bathed his face, and he rolled over. Somewhere in his sleepy brain, he drowsily thought, “Hmm, the sun usually isn’t this out this much this early in the morning…” Just to make sure, he took out his cell phone, and read the time: 11:18am!
“Shit!” he cursed, jumping out of bed and scrambling to stick his left leg through his school uniform pants, using his left hand to pull them up, while his right hand attempted to pull a sock onto his right foot. He hopped up and down on his right leg, trying to coordinate all of his limbs, teetering precariously before tumbling unceremoniously into his own dresser. “Ow-ow-ow!” he groaned, rubbing his shoulder.
By the time Shinji had gotten dressed (but not before he hit his head on the bed frame by pulling a similar stunt, and ultimately decided to take it one article of clothing at a time), it was 11:30. His stomach growled as he looked woefully at the fridge, and cursed himself for not preparing the lunches the night before.
~~~
“Eh, where is Shinji today?” Touji asked Kensuke, with his mouth full of course, as they lounged around the classroom during lunchtime, eating their vending machine-purchased lunches.
“I have no idea…it is technically April Fool’s Day,” Kensuke replied.
“What’s that?” Touji asked, There were bits of melon bun stuck to his teeth.
“It’s a Western holiday where-“
“You get to pull pranks on other people! If they fall for it, it means they’re either naive, stupid, or both,” Asuka butted in, getting up from her seat. Her hair, held back in part by the Eva communication headset, seemed to puff up on its own, like an animal trying to make itself more threatening looking. “What, are you an idiot or something, Suzuhara? Oh wait, I almost forgot, you are.”
Touji rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Asuka,” he said in a deadpan, his concentrating on using his tongue and index fingernail to remove the melon bun bits from his teeth.
“For mansplaining that bit of knowledge,” Kensuke mumbled.
“I can’t be-lieve Stupid Shinji is skipping school today!” Asuka bemoaned theatrically, slumping back into her seat. Her stomach rumbled for what must’ve been the fourth time in the last twenty minutes. Since Shinji wasn’t awake to make lunch, she didn’t have any, and Hikari didn’t have one of her “extra lunches” just lying around today.
“I doubt Shinji would have skipped school without at least inviting me,” Kaworu commented, a wry smile hidden behind the music theory book he was casually reading while leaning back in his desk chair, long legs stretched out and crossed, as he sipped at a mug of steaming green tea.
“Ugh, pervert,” Asuka grumbled as she slumped until her chin hit the desk, closing her eyes. “You two really are perfect for each other.”
“Well, I cannot deny that last bit,” Kaworu said, mostly to himself, smiling without even realizing it as he thought of Shinji.
BANG! Everyone’s heads whipped around to the front of the classroom, the source of the noise: the door, which had been previously closed, was now wide open as Shinji stooped over, barely managing to keep the door opening, huffing and panting as sweat dripped down his face, hitting the floor. The artificial eternal summer created by the Second Impact was not kind to kids literally running late to school.
“I’m — ha — sorry — ha — for — ha — being late — haa —“ Shinji panted out before he was cut off.
“Ikari-kun! It’s alright, it’s only lunch time,” Hikari, the class president, exclaimed. “You may take a seat, or get lunch if you’d like. There’s only five more minutes left though.”
“Thanks — ha — so much, class prez,” Shinji managed to wheeze out before he stumbled into his seat by the window, which was right next to Kaworu’s.
“Are you okay, Shinji-kun?” Kaworu inquired, worried about his boyfriend. He began to fan said boyfriend with his music theory book.
“Hah, thanks, I-I think so—“
“Stupid Shinji!” Asuka yelled, even though she’d just materialized right next to Shinji’s desk so there was no way she needed to yell. Asuka wasn’t very pleasant when hangry. “So, what happened this morning? Why didn’t you get up and come to school on time?”
“Ugh,” Shinji groaned, since Asuka was standing in the way of the gentle breeze from Kaworu’s fanning, and the embarrassment was too much to consider in his worn out state. “I have no idea, my alarm clock didn’t go off until like eleven—“
“HA! April Fools, idiot!” Asuka barked, cheerfully. “I changed your alarm clock late last night while you were asleep! You never saw it coming, did you?” She beamed at this triumph.
“What the hell is April Fools?” Shinji thought to himself blearily, too tired to actually voice his thoughts.
“Now, where’s my lunch?!” Asuka proceeded to interrogate her exhausted captive.
“What, you thought he’d be able to make yourlunch when he’s three hours late to school?” Kensuke wondered aloud, having been able to hear the entire thing since Asuka was being so loud.
“Look who’s the idiot now,” Touji chuckled as Asuka just stood there, fuming, her face starting to match Unit-02’s bright red paint job.
Meanwhile, Kaworu had scooted back his desk chair so he could fan Shinji more directly.
“Kaworu-kun?” Shinji mumbled, his eyes closed as he just enjoyed the chill of the air moving across his hot forehead.
“Mhmm?”
“What’s April Fool’s Day?”
Kaworu chuckled. “An opportunity for both cruel pranks and funny jokes to be played.”
“I think I prefer playing music,” Shinji smiled a little.
“Haha, so do I,” Kaworu lightheartedly replied, still fanning his boyfriend as he tenderly fixed Shinji’s hair.
Rei took her nose out of her current book for the first time that week, turned around, and saw Kaworu as he doted on his poor, pranked boyfriend. “Ikari-kun seems happy, even so,” she noted, seemingly filing away that thought as she returned to her book.