Chapter Text
Rei, with all due respect, was completely and utterly socially inept. She knew what was illegal, and that was it. She often struggled with both reading signals as well as producing them. However, Rei Ayanami was pretty damn sure that whatever Shinji had offered to her, would be seen by most, if not all, as a date.
Emotions were also something she struggled with. She'd felt happiness and anxiety before, but the idea of Shinji taking her on a date seemed to produce both emotions inside her brain. It felt both exhilarating and daunting. "Ambivalence," she said quietly, "I've never felt ambivalence before." The only thing that answered her was the silence of an empty apartment.
The bluenette hummed quietly. "I should try and understand emotions before the date-," Rei quickly felt her face heat up. That was a prime example of what she meant, she felt an overwhelming amount of joy finally vocalizing the fact it was a date, but also there was what felt like embarrassment in there too, she wasn't too sure.
[~~~~~]
Asuka, in all fairness, had mixed feelings about the planned date between her fellow pilots; she felt left out and lonely, but also felt at least an inkling of respect after she found out that Shinji had asked Rei out, not the other way around as she suspected.
After this, however, Asuka quickly concluded that neither Shinji nor Wonder-girl had any idea of what an actual date entailed.
She remembered chastising Shinji for not suggesting a place to go as he should've, to which he replied to her, "That's easy for you to say- I've never been on a date before. I don't have any experience compared to you!" Shinji had raised his voice a little louder at the redhead, which, while not completely uncharacteristic of the boy, was also not a common enough occurrence to go unnoticed by Asuka.
"Hey! Don't get hostile with me, Third!" She raised back, a little shocked at Shinji's sudden lack of cowardice.
"Sorry." There it was.
Shinji sulked for the remaining thirty minutes, as Asuka stared at him through disgusted eyes, leaving them both in a heavy silence. She got up to leave before turning back to face the boy behind her. "That's why you never get any dates! How are you supposed to care for someone when you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself?" She let out a frustrated groan as she turned and stormed out and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Shinji alone to wallow in his own self-pity.
Back in the present, Asuka sat alone in her room, happy not to be dealing with Shinji or anything to do with relationships. She let out a content sigh. "Finally some peace and quiet." Not a second after she finished speaking, Asuka heard her phone ring. "Mein Gott," she seethed, "I can never have any time to myself!"
The girl shifted slightly, picking up her phone to see who was calling her. The number wasn’t one she recognised. With a resigned sigh, Asuka picked up. "Listen, if this is some creep who somehow got my phone number, then you better watch out before I- '' the redhead was quite quickly cut off by a familiarly flat voice.
"Pilot Souryuu? It is Ayanami here; Pilot of Evangelion Unit 00." Rei's voice kept an even tone, the quality of the phone doing no help in making the girl easier to read. Asuka released an exasperated sigh, already prepared for what Rei was about to discuss. “I require information on the social or romantic engagement commonly referred to as a ‘date’.”
Asuka pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke through gritted teeth, "What do you want to know." It wasn't a question. It was a heavily annoyed demand.
Silence sat between the two, Asuka unsure whether Rei's silence was from fear or genuinely trying to think about what she wanted to know. Knowing Rei it was most definitely the latter.
"I wish to understand what to do. What is my central function on a date?" Rei asked after a few silent beats. What? What did she fucking mean by 'what is my central function'?
Letting out another frustrated breath, Asuka began to calm herself down. "Okay… Okay… Just breathe, Asuka, you can do this… Your 'central function' on a date is to simply enjoy yourself. Laugh, eat, do anything! Spend time with Shinji- fuck- share your thoughts on the weather! Flirt with him!" After Asuka's fairly lofty rant, there was a moment of seemingly more heavy silence.
"When you say 'fuck' do you insinuate consummation between myself and the Pilot of Unit-"
"No, no, no! Stop right there! Don't even think about it!" Asuka yelled, trying to convince herself more than anyone else on the call, she was definitely thinking about it. "You don't need to 'consummate' with Shinji! I don’t believe this- you're even worse than he is!" The redheaded teenager rested the phone on her desk, setting it on speaker, and began viscously scrubbing away at the image residing in her brain with her fingers. She let out an annoyed groan through clenched teeth. "Listen, if you don't know what you're doing, don't worry about it. I am positively certain that stupid Shinji has even less of an idea about it." Truth be told, Shinji could probably spot social clues better than Rei- even if he was still terrible at it.
"Hmm… I shall take your advice into account. Thank you, Pilot Souryuu, you have been greatly helpful." She could almost detect what sounded like the faintest of smiles coming from the other side of the phone.
Asuka sighed, clasping her head in her hands. "Yeah, whatever," she said sluggishly. She was so done with people coming to her for dating advice.
The faint sound of the line going dead filled the air as the call ended, Asuka threw herself onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. "I'm so done with all this shit."
[~~~~~]
Humming to himself quietly, Shinji was deep in thought. His mind was lost in a sea of both confusion and excitement; two emotions Shinji didn’t think would be able to coincide at the same time, yet they were. He sat at the top of the apartment complex, taking in the view of the city in the eternal summer’s gorgeous sunset. Two days. That’s how long he currently had until the date between himself and Ayanami. Maybe they could come back here afterwards and watch the sunset together, or was that too corny? Shinji didn’t know.
“I don’t think Rei will be able to tell if anything was corny,” he muttered to himself, chuckling quietly at the thought of the blue-haired girl’s common lack of social knowledge.
They had already agreed on the date plan. First, he was going to meet her at her apartment- that was one of the few pieces of advice Asuka had actually given him- then they were going to get a bus into the country and have a picnic, maybe come back here and watch the sunset. Shinji was still unsure of that part. If all went well, he'd surprise her with that.
Shinji let out an exhausted sigh. When he woke up there would be only one day left until the date, and that scared him. He had already practically wasted a day, barely getting any information from Asuka, and barely making any progress on his own personal date plan.
He had school tomorrow… Maybe he could bring it up with his friends. They might know a thing or two…
[~~~~~]
Another boring lecture. Their teacher seemed to never actually teach them anything, only ever talking about life before second impact. It got tedious after a while.
Touji had already zoned out by the time Kensuke handed him a note, taking several hard prods from the smaller boy to realise what was going on. "It's from Shinji," Kensuke whispered, subtly pointing to the dark-haired boy in front of them, who, in turn, looked around to face the two and give a subtle thumbs up.
Opening the note definitely made the day more interesting for Touji. The note read, " Help! How do you date? Ayanami and I are going on date soon. What should I do? " Touji had to blink a few times just to make sure he wasn't dreaming or hallucinating.
He heard a harsh whisper from beside him. "So, what does it say?" The bespectacled boy asked.
"Apparently he and Ayanami are going on a date?" He whispered back, still staring at the note.
"Wait what?"
Kensuke only managed to get the first half of his question out before the terrifying sound of their class rep, Hikari Horaki, calling them out interrupted the rest. "Suzuhara, Aida! What reason do you two have to talk during the lesson!" All eyes were on the two boys as they smiled awkwardly at the girl who was accusing them.
She quickly approached their desks and snatched the note from Touji's hand. She paused for a moment as her brain registered the hastily written information on the sheet. "Ikari! You too? That's it- you three stay behind after class!" Any of Shinji's friends could tell you that the boy didn't enjoy being the centre of attention, a point which was further proven by the sight of said boy trying to make himself disappear by curling in on himself in both shame and embarrassment.
Touji practically deflated in his seat once Hikari returned to her own, tuning out the lecture that had recommenced while he was settling down.
The athletic boy began to ponder, the gears beginning to grind in his less-than-academic brain. "Shinji and Ayanami? They're going on a date? I didn't know he had it in him. I mean- I oughta congratulate him."
[~~~~~]
Oh God, that was embarrassing. Luckily for Shinji, he wasn't the one who bore the brunt of Hikari's wrath. That honor would go to his two friends Touji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. But still, having to stay behind after class was still annoying. At least it'd be easier for him to be able to talk with Touji about it.
It was at that point that Shinji caught a glimpse of Rei staring at him. He smiled warmly at her, believing to be safe from ridicule as almost everyone during these lessons would be lost in a world of fantasy. Shinji's smile only grew when Rei smiled back.
Unfortunately for him, the interaction was in fact viewed by the class representative, who wouldn't ridicule the two but definitely would ask questions.
Shinji turned his head to stare out of the window next to him after Rei turned back from looking at him, the faint smile still on her lips. Shinji kept his smile too, eyes taking in little details of the surrounding school premises.
Time continued at an absolute crawl as their teacher continued to rave on about the world pre-Second Impact. God, it was monotonous.
[~~~~~]
"Sorry for distracting Touji and Kensuke, it was my fault- really," Shinji said to Hikari, who had just handed him a bucket and sponge.
"I'm aware of that, Ikari, although that doesn't resolve these two for discussing so loudly at the back of the class." Hikari quickly turned to the boys who flinched from her action. "Now the three of you, start cleaning!"
As the three boys began their work, none of them wanting to deal with Hikari's authority, Shinji inched towards Touji slowly. "Hey, Shinji?" Touji whispered to his friend. "You and Ayanami, huh?" He smirked as Shinji's face turned red. "I'm not surprised. It makes sense that you two would like each other." Shinji remained silent. "You're both quiet, smart, and maybe a little messed up in the head." That last statement was enough to elicit a glare from the boy. "What I'm trying to say is that you two are good for each other. You don't need advice, just be yourself, man, chicks love that kind of stuff."
Shinji mopped the floor in thought. "I can try. I don't know if I'll do too well though."
"You'll be fine, dude. Just remember; be yourself."
Suddenly both boys were interrupted by the class rep. "He's right, you know." They all jumped, practically snapping their necks, turning to look at Hikari. "You can never love someone if they don't let you see the real them."
"Is that why you like Touji so much?" Kensuke muttered under his breath.
Both Hikari and Touji froze, their faces turning a faint red. Shinji was just happy it wasn't him for a change.
He heard the sound of what he assumed was an argument starting between the three and decided to tune them out, mindlessly mopping the floor as his brain began to ponder what Touji and Hikari had said a few minutes prior. "Be myself… I… don't even know who I am sometimes." Nobody heard him, still arguing about something that he didn't particularly care about at this current point.
The thought of “Am I good enough?” seemed to circle within Shinji’s mind as he mopped back and forth. He was aware that Rei definitely needed someone in her fairly bleak life, but he was unsure whether or not he could be that someone- it’s not that he didn’t want to, he really did, it’s just that he doubted his own ability at helping others.
If you asked anyone in that room other than Shinji, they'd probably tell you that he's a kindhearted guy with a lot of issues, but he was still cool. I mean, he had literally fought battles with the angels, but Shinji never saw it as a heroic act; he just saw it as something else he had to do, because people told him to.
In his mind, he didn’t deserve love from anybody.
The room had gone silent. Something Shinji only realised after climbing out from the hole of self-loathing to observe his surroundings. He turned around to see why all the sound seemed to have stopped, only to see the other three occupants staring at him expectantly. What?” He asked.
“You’ve been mopping the same spot for the past six minutes,” Hikari observed, “Is everything alright?” She asked, her tone a little more empathetic.
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Just got distracted.”
Hikari studied Shinji, looking for any holes in his statement. It wasn’t until after a fairly uncomfortable pause did she finally speak again. “Alright, you’re free to go.” She waved at them all, as she turned to leave the building, the three boys following behind her.
“Say, where ya taking Ayanami anyways?” Touji asked as they reached the outside.
Shinji blushed slightly, a little embarrassed. “We’re- going t- to have a picnic in the c- countryside.”
Touji thought for a moment, his finger scratching subtly at his chin. “Alright, that sounds good.” He said with a wide smile and a thumbs up. Shinji smiled back, glad that his friend was supportive. He watched as Touji’s smile warped into a smug grin. “Well, I think this is where we say goodbye for today.” Shinji’s expression changed to one of confusion until Touji pointed behind him.
There, sitting behind him on a bench, silently observing, was Rei Ayanami. Her face was glowing in the golden hour of an eternal summer, she tilted her head subtly, her expression remaining as blank as ever.
“Alright, I’ll see you guys soon.” Shinji smiled gently, watching Rei’s hair softly blowing in the wind.
“See ya later, Shin-man!” Touji yelled as he walked away.
“Good luck, Ikari!” Kensuke shouted, saluting his friend as he walked away.
“You two better take care now.” Hikari warmly said before going off to join the other two.
And then they were alone.
[~~~~~]
The walk back to the apartment was never usually quiet, especially after Asuka joined the building, but that’s just the type of person Ayanmai was; quiet. Something Shinji didn’t particularly mind all that much, it was a nice break from the usual bickering he held with Asuka or the odd conversations shared between Kensuke and Touji. It was nice.
“Say, why were you waiting for me?” Shinji asked, taking as much of an opportunity to take in the girl's features. Her red eyes seemed to pierce through the golden light of the sun like fire. A fire he knew she had, as he’d seen her in battles with an angel. But nothing was better than that gentle smile that made his heart flutter, and his breath get caught in his throat.
The girl turned to him as they walked, that soft smile remaining on her face. “I wished to walk home with you.” It was a simple statement, but an effective one, Shinji’s face becoming a warmer colour, unaware of the similarly pinkish tint that happened to Rei.
Shinji averted his focus to the road in front of him, trying to focus on other things. “T- thank you… For walking home with me.” He took a deep breath in and cursed his awkwardness. “It’s nice, and I’m glad that… I have you in my life.” His voice was a near whisper for that last part, his face once again returning to that red state.
Rei’s smile only seemed to grow that little bit more as the two continued on their path to Misato’s apartment. “I am glad to have you in my life also.” She said to him in a surprisingly warm tone for the famously cold girl.
They remained in comfortable silence for the rest of the journey, until the two had reached Misato’s apartment door. Shinji looked at the blue-haired girl and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, I shall see you tomorrow, Shinji.” She ended her sentence with a quick peck to Shinji’s cheek, something which had left the boy completely frozen with shock. He watched as Rei left the block, with that blank look she was famous for, but Shinji could see that familiar fire in her eyes, and he smiled.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered to himself as he entered the apartment.
[~~~~~]
The air was fresh, the sun was setting, and the cool breeze broke up the heat and softly rustled Rei’s hair. After leaving Shinji’s apartment complex, the realisation of what Rei had done seemed to actually settle in for the girl.
She felt overwhelmed with new feelings and desires, her face a bright red, possibly the most emotive Rei had ever been in her entire life. Luckily no one was around to see her in such a state. Her face tried its best to keep that deadpan look, but her lips seemed to want to involuntarily curve upwards, the memory of kissing Shinji’s cheek constantly replaying in her mind as she walked home.
“See you tomorrow,” she whispered to herself as she reached her desolate apartment building.