Chapter Text
Shinji hasn't moved in days. Not after Misato grabbed him the third day, not after Asuka threw a mug at him on the fourth, not even after his classmates visited on the fifth. He's just lying in bed, awake and alive but motionless.
He hasn't eaten any of the food Misato left, she's not a very good cook, but she's worried. Shinji used to do most of the cooking since he moved in, adding to the unease in the house, no more fragrant homemade meals. Returning to her old habits of eating instant ramen and microwave meals is dampening her energy and morale. Misato's worried, even Asuka's worried, trying in her own way to help. Asuka attempted to force-feed him cereal, but he didn't react at all, getting the bedding dirty. His room is beginning to smell.
Misato called Ritsiko, asking for advice, a psych evaluation, any solution to whatever is wrong. Ritsiko visits the next day, takes his temperature, his blood pressure and asks him a few questions (no response). She tells Misato nothing is physically wrong, other than he's becoming malnourished, and that the issue must be purely psychological.
Later that day, Ritsiko makes a phone-call. Gendou is dismissive, instead inquiring about his lab pet, Rei.
Misato is in no way a psychiatrist but it was obvious Shinji's depressed, he was depressed before he was comatose, just not this bad. She doesn't know what caused this development, she's sure if she finds the outside factor causing this 'episode' she can make him get better. Easier said than done when she can’t ask him.
Asuka is losing her shit. How come Shinji gets to sit on his ass all day and skip school while she still has to go? She knew he was fucked in the head before, but this is taking it too far. He's like a discarded toy, lying useless and gathering dust.
It creeps her out how much this reminds her of her mother, in the last few weeks before she died. His eyes are dazed and unfocused, his breathing is barely noticeable and his cheeks are sinking in. He needs to get up and stop running away from whatever he's scared of. At least her Mother was strong enough to talk to Her. (She wasn't talking to her.)
Rei comes with Ritsiko on her next visit. She watches as Ritsiko hooks Shinji up to an IV system, so he wont die like this. She watches Ritsiko work away, taking tests and samples and asking questions, even if she gets no reply. Rei sits with him even after Ritsiko leaves, insisting she knows her way home and that she won't spend the night.
Shinji is her friend. He is kind and cowardly, similar to his father, but Shinji doesn't demand anything from her. She feels protective of him, for reasons she can't quite understand, but the feeling is too strong to pretend it isn't there. She cares for him so she will visit everyday until he wakes up.
As she takes her leave that evening, she catches sight of Misato, standing glaring through the wall with a dark look.
Misato is mad. Misato is beyond mad, and she can't take it anymore. She hates being useless. She hates that she can't fix him. She barges into Shinji's room, it's like a hospital now, with the IV and some machine Ritsiko hooked up to his head. Misato rips the covers off of him, walks to the window and opens the curtains and the window itself, then swivels to stare at him. Not a twitch. He doesn't even shiver at the sudden change in temperature. Just lying there. She can't stand it.
"Get up, Shinji." Her rage makes itself known in her voice, she doesn't know if he can hear her. Misato is going to do something she regrets if she doesn't leave soon.
"..." He doesn't stir, his breathing is the same and there is no change of pace on the machine.
"I'm serious, Shinji. If you keep lying there like a vegetable, I'm going to drag you out." She means it. She needs to leave, but her rage prevails her restraint.
"..." He looks dead. He might as well be dead, if not for the shallow breaths and occasional slow blink, he's a corpse.
Misato grabs him by his frighteningly thin wrist, plants her feet down, and swings his malnourished form out of bed. He crashes into the floor with a crack, colliding with the dresser. He lets out a whimper of pain. The first noise he makes in almost four weeks is because she hurt him. She kicks him in the side, trying for another reaction. She kicks once more aimed at his stomach. He curls in on himself reflexively.
He stares at her feet, his eyes are wide and his mouth is agape. Misato is a coward, and walks away.
Asuka calls Ritsiko. Misato is not fit to deal with whatever the hell is wrong with Shinji. Asuka begs Ritsiko to fix him, even if Asuka doesn't care about him, He is just a stupid boy after all, but the thought of her mother brings her to care enough to do him this favour.
Ritsiko shows up the next day with a group of NERV employees, all from the health department, to move Shinji to the hospital. Misato watches them, not saying a word, even when questioned about the platoon of bruises on his side and back, sprained wrist and the unrelenting look of hollow shock on his face.
For the first time in weeks, Misato and Shinji make eye contact, as he's removed from the apartment on a stretcher. There is a hollow look of fear in his eyes, she wonders if he even realises the expression is stuck on his face, if he recognises her. She wonders if he is thinking at all. He could be completely braindead, for all they know. NERV would be a pilot down, he's completely useless, unless they use his body as research in the dummy plug system Ritsiko seems so proud of.
Rei doesn't like Ms Katsuragi anymore. Assaulting Shinji as a method of relieving her emotions towards his current state is counterproductive. Rei believes (in most cases) that efficiency is the opposite of emotion, Ritsiko doesn't integrate emotion into her work, and she is the pinnacle of efficiency. Gendou is working hard whenever they are not conversing, Rei is being productive whenever she is not thinking about Shinji, or her identity.
Ms Katsuragi let emotion guide her decisions for many years, her whole reason for joining NERV was because of her relationship with her father, her relationship with that strange man, Kaji and taking in Asuka and Shinji were all impulsive, emotion-fuelled decisions.