Chapter Text
Kaworu sighed at his laptop, resting a hand on his cheek, of which the elbow was on his knee. The overgrown bangs of his white hair were pinned back some hair clips he had to buy for himself a few days ago. The air conditioning in the apartment wasn’t installed yet; he and his roommate had just moved in last week. Kaworu was genuinely surprised there was working wi-fi so soon. What a miracle.
At the moment, however, the wi-fi and air conditioning were the least of his worries. He was arguing with the supervisor of an online college he wanted to attend.
“Please…” Kaworu pried. “You can’t give me an extension?” He was referring to his admission papers; the move distracted him from filling them out.
“Well...” A low yet feminine voice answered him quickly. “I can’t give you any later than midnight tonight. After that, you won’t be valid for attendance in the online courses. Then you’ll just have to wait until next semester.”
That’s something he didn’t want to hear. He didn’t think that was enough time. “But..”
“That’s all the time you get, Nagisa.”
Kaworu sighed once more. He wasn’t getting any wiggling room. “Fine, supervisor…”
“Good. Now get to work.” And the audio communication ended with that.
Kaworu had a bit of… trouble moving along after high school. Unlike his roommate, he didn’t go to college right away. He kept himself afloat by working various odd jobs around the city. The orphanage he was in kicked him out the second he graduated, merely providing him with little possessions and money to live by. His roommate and longtime friend agreed to share an apartment with him only if he were to attend college and get a part-time job or get a full-time job entirely. One year later, Kaworu had saved enough money (and stayed with one of his roommate’s friends) to assist with a down payment, and there they were.
Kaworu’s roommate’s name was Ikari Shinji, or just Shinji to Kaworu (or more rather “Shinji-kun” mostly). Shinji had been going to college for over a year for engineering, and was originally in a dorm with one of his high school friends. But when he heard Kaworu wanted a roommate, he happily obliged. Kaworu saw Shinji as the epitome of kindness, and showed his gratitude any and every way he could.
Kaworu and Shinji both had part time jobs as baristas at a café down the street, with Kaworu on morning shift and Shinji during the evening. Kaworu would admit he didn’t spend as much time with Shinji as he wanted to, but there’s no way he’d admit that out loud. Shinji on the other hand didn’t mind it as much; he wanted to be sure he could support himself as well as get Kaworu back on his feet.
Kaworu closed the laptop, standing up from the floor. He didn’t have a desk quite yet; the shipment hadn’t come in. It was evening time, so Shinji was out working, leaving Kaworu by himself. He glanced over at the piling boxes against the wall. Some were labeled with his name, others with Shinji. He walked over to them; might as well get back to unpacking.
He ripped the tape off one and opened it; it was filled with his clothes. Not exactly the one he was looking for. The truck which had all their furniture inside hadn’t arrived yet, so they were stuck without it. Kaworu decided to leave the box be, and move onto the next.
Before Kaworu could realize, hours had already passed by. He found another one of his boxes, only it was filled with all of these robot figurines he’s taken to collecting. They were special for one reason; they were old models that Shinji had put together and given to Kaworu when they were kids. Even through his hardships, he managed to keep them intact and together for all this time. Kaworu was truly proud of this. He could show Shinji how he kept them all this time, as well as show how much Kaworu cherished their friendship.
He took a casual glance to his laptop, which was still closed. He scooted back over to it, opened it up, and used the track pad to wake it up from sleep mode. Once he signed back in, he looked at the clock; it read 11:30 PM.
Kaworu groaned. “Oops… looks like I should get started. If I put it off anymore, I know Shinji-kun will have a fit…” Kaworu crawled back to his mess of figures, quickly put everything back into the box, and moved back to his laptop to fill out his papers.
Kaworu wanted cyber classes mainly so he could keep his morning shift. That way, he could be home and take care of Shinji when he was back from his day classes. And then once Shinji left for work, Kaworu could attend to his own classes as well. It seemed like a bit of a stunt; Kaworu was making a risky choice because of his tendency to procrastinate, but he kept assuring himself that everything would be fine.
He managed to fill out the admissions forms with a grin. He knew Shinji would be happy to know that Kaworu finally did what he always wanted to do. It almost seemed like Kaworu’s one pleasure in life was to please Shinji in some form, but he wouldn’t admit or agree to it. He wouldn’t say that Shinji clouded his thoughts in the slightest, no matter how obvious it was.
11:55 PM. Whew. Kaworu sent in the last form via email, and closed the website for now. He knew that the supervisor would be rubbing her temples and sighing at him later, but at least Kaworu got it done. He had no worries for now; or at least until Shinji would get home. Shinji would probably be exhausted, wondering where the hell their furniture was (as if both of them weren’t already), and nap on the floor for a bit.
It’s been like that for a few days now, and Kaworu hoped it would change. Just as his thoughts began to decline, he could hear a motor outside, and some lights shining into the window. He got up from the floor, peeking outside.
“For the love of…” He got down, quickly putting on his slip-ons to cover his bare feet and running toward the door leading outside. “Out of all the times this damned truck could’ve showed up…” It was annoying, sure. But at least the night would be interesting now.