Work Text:
Asuka walks briskly across the empty hall, making sure her low-heeled Mary Janes clack to their full potential with each and every step. The sound bounces off the pastel walls, producing an echo like no other, feeding her with a subtle yet pleasant sense of maturity.
Today is an exciting one—her first sync test back as an Eva pilot! A week ago, they had thrown her in Unit 02 during a peculiarly rough angel attack, and after an epiphany and a half, she'd proven herself; singlehandedly saving First from stupidly committing suicide while flawlessly slaying an angel was no easy task, but she came out victorious at the end. Of course she did. Asuka always does.
Despite her happy mood, Asuka's face can't help but go sour when she spots an unfortunately familiar head of unkempt hair in proximity. And it is sad to say that the unfortunately familiar head of unkempt hair spots her back.
"Oh, it's—it's you again!" It speaks, red eyes wide. "I thought you die—"
"Can it."
Right. So, the battle hadn't gone too smoothly. There was this whole thing where she was unconscious for a few days.
(And, well, pronounced dead at some point. Big whoop. Not like it matters anyway; she's here, well and alive now, so could everyone please stop bringing it up?)
Asuka's grip on her duffel bag tightens. She really hadn't wanted to see Fifth again. Their encounter in the bathroom was enough interaction with him for a couple of lifetimes, at least.
Fifth immediately straightens with her words, effectively shutting up. As he should.
"Yep! I'm back, and I'm even better now, so they'll probably have no use for you anymore...Watch your back, Fifth," she bites, promptly turning around to go in the other direction, which, for your information, is the wrong one—but there's no need for him to know that.
"Wait!"
She stops, not bothering to turn around.
"What?"
"I have a question."
"Spit.”
"You live with Ikari, correct?"
She has to admit, the question slightly intrigues her. Based on her last (and only) conversation with the silver-haired boy, puny little Shinji would have trouble getting along with such a character without breaking into pieces every other minute. She wonders what their relationship might be like.
"Yeah, what about it?" She inquires.
"Could you give this to him?" He digs in his pocket and pulls it out. An envelope.
"A letter? Why don't you give it to him yourself?"
"He avoids me all the time," he explains, donning a frown. He looks like even more of a moron now, with that stupid pleading look on his stupid crinkled face.
Asuka's about to say no—why the hell would she do anything to aid the enemy?— but hesitates, curiosity taking the best of her.
After a pause, she snatches the letter. “Sure, I'll do it, weirdo," she says, and once again starts walking away, a little faster this time.
"Oh!" He says again.
"Um. Thank you!"
What a creep!
***
Asuka wrings the last drops of LCL out of her suit before shoving it in a plastic bag. Her sync rate is amazing, as expected.
At the click of her padlock, she remembers the item in her pocket. She'll read the thing before handing it to Shinji, of course. Who knows what atrocities that knucklehead could have put in there? (Asuka doubts that he has the capacity to write in the first place. She entertains the idea of there being nothing but a few crude drawings in the letter.) Idiot Shinji could potentially crumble, or even worse— completely break the fuck down—if she didn't take this necessary precaution. He should be thankful to have such a kind and considerate person in his otherwise unbearably miserable life!
She plops down on the bench. "Well, here goes," she announces, to no one in particular.
Asuka rips open the envelope, reasoning that she can replace it with a new one later. The writing is childishly big.
I'm sorry I kissed you.
Can we be friends?
-Nagisa
Asuka comes to 2 conclusions:
1- Nagisa's paper smells like... lemons? Why the fuck does it smell like lemons?
2- What the fuck. She is absolutely not handing this letter to Shinji. Not before conferring with its composer first. Conveniently, she has a new nickname for him.
***
"Hello, Homo Boy," Asuka greets as the door opens, letting herself in.
She sets the letter down on the table.
"Your letter's shit. You kissed Idiot Shinji?"
"Homo?"
"You don't know what that means?"
He shakes his head.
"It means you're gay."
"Gay? I'm happy?"
"Geez! stop messing with me," she looks at Fifth, who in turn, looks back, completely clueless. The nerve!
"Forget about it."
"Okay."
Asuka sits down. He follows her lead, sitting next to her, peering at the ripped envelope. She feels a few strands of his androgynous hair tickle her cheek.
"Eek! You're too close. Move."
He complies, quickly scooching over to the opposite side of the table. Satisfied, Asuka gets down to business.
"It's not detailed enough, and your apology's half-assed. Also, your writing is horrible. Drop the...cursive? And put more space in between your letters. Do it now. I'll check when you're done."
The Fifth Child nods as she speaks, looking thankful for her advice. He (very eagerly) starts erasing.
She scans the room. God. Has this boy ever cleaned a day in his life? There's a dull bed in the corner, and an ancient TV on the other side — standard NERV dormitory stuff. Wrinkled school uniforms on the floor, along with a few pebbles here and there. Haphazardly stacked magazines— there's probably porn hidden in there or something. Or not, because this is Fifth, and in terms of normalcy, he's barely at Wonder Girl's level.
On the walls there are a few empty shelves, save for one with some ugly cat statue placed smack in the middle. Where'd he find such a thing? It really is—huh. Her train of thought comes to a halt when she notices a certain forgotten SDAT player right next to the unsightly mass of ceramic.
Interesting.
“Hey. I’m done.”
Fifth passes a newly-written letter to her.
Well, that was fast. Suspiciously fast.
She reads the smaller and admittedly, more legible writing:
Ikari,
I’m sorry I killed that kitten. And I’m also sorry I kissed you.
Can we be friends?
Sincerely,
Nagisa
Her jaw drops.
“What...not only are you a pathetic homo, but you’re also Absolutely Fucking Insane! This is worse than before!” She yells.
“Well, what am I supposed to do, then!?” Fifth replies with the same vigor, a certain redness on his cheeks implying both frustration and a little something else.
“Start by explaining what happened. Then we can go from there.”
Several hours are spent bickering and re-writing.
***
“I keep making mistakes. Nothing works. Why? ”
“Honestly? I don't see how Idiot Shinji could forgive you.”
A part of her regrets the words as soon as they come out. She doesn't own up to it. Fifth looks down. There’s an unbearably uncomfortable stillness in the air.
“Hey, don't ignore me!” She barks.
Asuka (not-so-) gently tilts his head up. Tears are silently streaming down his cheeks. His red eyes are laced with...more red. Shit.
She feels an unpleasant feeling in her gut—guilt.
“Oh! Stop that, you—”
A sniffle.
“I mean. Um. Don't cry, Idiot. Idiot Nagisa...”
He starts sobbing, instead. Great.
Asuka runs a nervous hand through her hair. She absolutely hates it when people cry in front of her.
“Look, forget about that for now. I’m hungry. Let’s eat!” She promptly gets up, heads to the kitchen, and opens the fridge. There's nothing except a few bottles of water, and lemons. Huh.
“No wonder you’re so skinny! Do you have any food in here?”
“instantnoodawsinthecuwword,” Fifth mumbles, limbs now mournfully sprawled out on the bed, face buried in his pillow.
Asuka can't decipher a word of what he's saying, but she finds instant noodles in a cupboard and decides to settle for those.
“Unhealthy, but it’ll do,” she says, taking out two packs.
***
A hot bowl is set next to a sniffling, slumped form. One of Nagisa's fingers unfurl, and his nail slowly picks at the already-chipped cherub pattern on the glossy ceramic. The sound is quiet but intensified by the silence in the room. Asuka shoves the bowl closer to him.
“Eat up, or it’ll get cold.”
***
It's late now, so she calls Misato to let her know where she’s staying. (She snickers at Shinji’s furious “What!?” in the background.)
“You’re sleeping over?” Nagisa asks, no refusal or agreement evident in his tone. He isn't crying anymore, which means that his (dumb) nonchalant attitude is back.
“Wrong. We’re having a sleepover.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Seriously? How deprived are you?”
They start by watching TV and eating snacks that they buy from the vending machine. Nagisa is clueless about a lot of things, so Asuka has to pause practically every ten seconds and explain them. She notes that he never takes offense (unlike some other idiot she knows), opting instead to give her his undivided attention, absorbing the knowledge and occasionally asking a surprisingly insightful question.
Although sometimes she gets annoyed and shoves a pillow in his face, Asuka is enjoying this sleepover— of course, she’d never admit it out loud, or even fully to herself. It’s just that it’s been so long since she’d last hung out with someone so casually.
***
Asuka is painting Nagisa’s nails a bright red. His hand is slender, surprisingly pretty— she recalls him mentioning the piano when asked about his hobbies by girls at school (before he drove them away with his eccentricities). She sets it on his lap before moving to the other one, furrowing her brows as she drags the brush on his fingernail.
Nagisa curiously watches her calculated movements.
“That looks fun. Can I do yours?”
“I don't know if I trust you to do a good job.”
“Why? Is it because I’m a ‘homo’?”
“No, and I...shouldn't have called you that."
A pause. "But you do like guys, right?”
The sentence is spoken a bit too fast. Asuka doesn't know why, but she feels like she's in the wrong. It's...weird of her to ask something like, right? Her palms feel hot. Some sort of imaginary weight lowers her head down, urging her to further concentrate on the task at hand.
“Like? I love Ikari,” Nagisa says very matter-of-factly. “Is there something wrong with that? Don’t you like girls?”
The brush goes astray as her head whips up to look him dead in the eye. How could he say all of that (especially the last bit) so easily?
"You—!"
She hates the fact that a certain blue-haired girl flashed in her mind at those words.
She blushes, averting his gaze. "You and your questions…”
“Ikari told me that guys don't like guys. Does this world think that way?”
“Well... yes, a bit. But Idiot Shinji’s definitely a closet case.”
“Closets?”
“Yeah. He's made himself pathetically comfortable, balls-deep in the damn closet.” As if she isn't doing the same.
“Huh.”
***
Asuka peels the sheets away from her body and turns to face the ceiling. It’s especially hot tonight. She hears shuffling from the futon next to hers. They're both going to sleep on the floor, she'd decided.
“I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“You mean, hanging out? Didn't Idiot Shinji sleep over here already?”
“Yeah, but it wasn't a sleepover.”
She smiles in the darkness, feeling a little proud, and maybe even a tinge sentimental. It must be the night taking its toll. She faces Nagisa. His futon is a few inches away from hers.
"Nagisa."
"Yes?"
Now is the time to provide the emotional support that she could never give if she were fully lucid.
“You might have a chance. You know, Idiot Shinji’s just really stupid sometimes. And so are you! It’s a match made in heaven,” she teases, her voice slightly rasping. It's been a long day.
At this, Nagisa turns around and beams. “Really, Souryuu? You think so?”
“Call me Asuka. And I’ll call you Idiot Kaworu.”
“Okay. Does this mean we’re friends?”
Friends? Her and the fifth? How ridiculous! Asuka’s about to scoff, but...
“Well, if you insist. You’re so lucky to have such an amazing and beautiful and talented friend like me, Idiot Kaworu!”
Her voice resonates in the room. There's no response.
“This is nice. I think I’ll stay for longer,” he finally whispers, the last part almost imperceptible if one isn't listening intently enough.
She doesn't ask what he means.
***
Morning comes.
Asuka is the first to wake up, so she takes the liberty of graciously hitting Kaworu with a pillow multiple times. They grab breakfast at the NERV cafeteria, receiving weird looks from some of the employees.
Idiot Kaworu really loves everything bagels— “How can there be ‘everything’ on this simple piece of bread? How absurd of the Lilin… I love it,” he says, a bit too manically— and Asuka’s already too used to his antics to care.
It’s Friday, so they walk to school together. Speaking of, Idiot Kaworu hasn't gone since his argument with Idiot Shinji. When they cross him at the gate, he stiffens and Shinji rudely ignores the both of them.
In class, a few girls that are brave enough to still be around him gush at his red nails. Even Wonder Girl stares at them for a bit when she walks by.
“They are pretty.”
Kaworu's surprised. “Asuka did them. We had a sleepover,” he states.
He pauses, then adds: “You should come too next time, First.”
Now it’s First’s turn to be surprised. She wordlessly leaves him. It's not a no.
Asuka gawks at this conversation. A sleepover with those two oddballs? Would Idiot Shinji come too? Then, logically, Hikari and the two stooges should be invited as well.
She can't help but look forward to this hypothetical sleepover. Perhaps she'll make Shinji invite them all over one day. He’d have to make up with Kaworu first, though.
What in the world is she thinking? Has she gone soft so easily?
Shinji sits down at the desk next to hers. He looks perplexed— if not a little thrown off.
“You slept over at Nagisa’s?”
“No. We had a sleepover.”
He notices their matching nails.
“...Right.”
They don't talk for a bit, and then:
“He’s not that bad. You should get to know him more, Idiot Shinji.”
Shinji looks at her, even more distressed. Her cheeks grow red.
“Nothing weird happened, dumbass! He’s most definitely only interested in guys,” she adds, a knowing smirk painted on her face.
Shinji blushes. “Y-you...” he starts sputtering, before being interrupted by a looming figure. Speak of the devil.
“Ikari. Can we—”
Idiot Shinji's blush doubles. “No!”
Kaworu’s expression exponentially drops as he turns to walk away in defeat. Asuka feels yet another unpleasant feeling in her stomach. It feels like she's been having a lot of those lately.
That is, until Idiot Shinji suddenly gets up, the sheer force of his resolution evident in the way his chair almost falls, and pulls Idiot Kaworu out of the classroom. She can't help but silently cheer for them.
(Last night, Asuka told Kaworu that he should try to talk and listen to Shinji in person instead of giving him a letter. She didn't expect Idiot Shinji to comply so fast, though.)
***
They don't come back until lunchtime.
Asuka skips over to him.
Kaworu’s smile reaches his eyes, so she doesn't need to ask to know how it went.
***
Two weeks later, Asuka is on the couch, mindlessly flipping through a fashion magazine. Shinji’s making food in the kitchen with Kaworu as his sous-chef. Truly a recipe for disaster, pun fully intended.
She can't help but let out a loud laugh when she hears, “Christ, Kaworu! Don't just..put fish on the bare floor! Use a plate! On the table!" followed by a (wrongfully) smug, “I thought you loved cleaning, Shinji-kun. You even mentioned, once, that you did it every day. So why isn’t this floor clean enough for this raw fish, if it is for our feet? Is food more important to you than my body parts?" The answer comes in the form of a screech that cannot be put into words. (On a side note, Shinji is...strangely good at screaming.)
What a riot.
A few moments later, Asuka hears approaching footsteps and feels the weight of someone dramatically hurling themselves next to her.
“He kicked me out,” he whines.
“Of course he did, Idiot Kaworu,” she starts cackling again, and ruffles his hair.
“Hey, don’t laugh at me!”
Between laughs, Asuka admires the outfit she picked out for him when they went shopping. Lavender is definitely his color.
Ding dong. She jumps to the door. Hikari.
“Hello!” She chirps. She’s holding a box. “I bought fruitcake on my way here!”
“Fruitcake?” Kaworu’s eyes sparkle.
Asuka lets out a sigh. She knows of the sad and bleak phenomenon which is the diversity of Kaworu's palate. She remembers the time she found out what his favorite snack was: whole lemons. She had made him try Shinji's lemon squares that day. Kaworu had cried.
“Let me guess. You’ve never had fruitcake before.”
“No, I haven't.”
“Well, there’s a first for everything!” Hikari beams as she hands the box to Asuka, who bounces away to go put it in the fridge.
In the kitchen, Shinji is static, paused mid-sushi roll, stupidly smiling to himself. Until Asuka snaps him out of it with a slap to the back.
She can't help but grin as she leaves.
***
Hikari is tying Kaworu’s messy layers into pigtails, marveling at how soft they are when they hear the doorbell ringing for the second time. Shinji gets it. It’s the two stooges, carrying a suspiciously large bag. Touji ominously says it’s for later, and Kensuke rolls his eyes.
Asuka looks over to Kaworu, completely clueless—Hikari’s braiding one of his side bangs now—and wonders how he’d act drunk.
***
Ayanami arrives an hour late. They’re all playing Uno when they hear the doorbell ring. She’s wearing something else than the school uniform: a tank top and a long, flowery skirt. It’s...odd. Asuka wasn't even sure she’d come. She realizes she's been staring for too long. But hey, Ayanami's looking right back.
“Hello, First.”
“Hello, Souryuu.”
They look at each other for a moment. An awkward silence? With Ayanami? Gee, what an unexpected development!
“W-Well, What are you waiting for? Come on in! We’re playing Uno.”
As if on cue, Touji's tragic scream resonates in the room. +12. How unfortunate.
“I bought this on my way,” she says, ignoring the haunting wails coming from the living room, and reaching into her messenger bag.
It’s a tub of ice cream.
***
The sushi is delicious. So is the fruitcake (Kaworu almost cries at how good it is. No one bats an eye at this—everyone is used to him getting emotional because of food and other paraphernalia.)
Also, matcha ice cream is Asuka’s favorite now.
***
Asuka wants to make Kaworu drink the obnoxiously sugary beverage(s) that Toji and Kensuke brought (Seriously, is there even any alcohol in this? Or is she just too intoxicated to notice?) but he and his silly new hairdo are nowhere to be found.
She excuses herself from the balcony (where she’d been having an intense hand-holding session with Rei), goes from room to room in a drunken haze, until she opens a door, and finally finds him...Under Shinji, the both of them making out like there's no tomorrow. Fucking finally!
They hear her loud, exaggerated gasp and Idiot Shinji whips around, a horrified expression on his face (which is completely red and sweaty, by the way.) Asuka notices that his hand is still tightly gripping Kaworu’s collar from when they were passionately locking lips. She sticks her tongue out at him.
Idiot Kaworu, on the other hand, all mellow and dazed, doesn't even bother to make the slightest eye contact with Asuka. He's already tugging Shinji back down for more.
Before running away, she yells, enunciating every word, making sure absolutely everyone (and their lover) can hear,
“I did say you were a match made in heaven!”