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The air was thick. To say it was a hot and humid day would be an understatement. In the endless summer that was Tokyo-3, the only thing more deadly than the Angels, was the heat. The fans slowly circulated the same hot, stale air around the living room. It didn’t do anything to cool off the pilots.
Asuka and Shinji were melting into Misato’s pleather couch. The couch was a “gift” Misato had gotten to help make Asuka feel more at home. A gift that felt as if it was fusing with her skin due to unbearable heat. Full cans of beer and soda lay scattered around them, taken from the fridge to try and help cool off their sweltering skin. Sweat was beading down each of their foreheads. Their heads both tilted up to the ceiling just enough to keep the sliding perspiration slow, trailing down their faces at no more than a snail's pace. The air conditioning unit had been out for two days by that point. Asuka didn’t know how much more sitting around and melting she could take. Her gaze drifted towards Shinji, who was fast asleep. His mouth slightly agape with a small glob of drool creeping its way out of, and down the side of his mouth.
“Gross” She thought, but the tiniest hint of a smile formed on her face.
Her gaze lingered on him for a moment longer. Being alone let her indulge herself in her crush on the brown haired pilot a bit more. Not that she’d ever admit that to herself. Despite that, she had started to notice him a bit more lately. Ever since he heroically saved her life, diving into the volcano with no protective gear and no cable, Asuka couldn’t stop her affection for her roommate from growing. She’d already admitted to herself that he was cute. Maybe not a dashing hunk of a man like her Kaji, but cute nonetheless. The tank top and shorts he was wearing helped show off his developing muscles and growing frame. “Maybe there’s still a chance for this idiot”, she thought.
She returned her heatstruck gaze to the ceiling, her mind was back on the stuffy, sticky room she was in.
“You’d think being the Operations Director at NERV would come with some more sway over repair techs” Asuka thought to herself, as she closed her eyes to try and take her mind off of her sweltering skin. She started to daydream.
The heat only brought about one memory. She never thought of her life before becoming an Evangelion pilot. The redheaded girl made a conscious effort to block out that part of her life, at all costs. There was one happy memory she couldn’t keep out though. No matter how hard she tried.
Asuka was four again. Her father had taken her and her mother to America to visit Asuka’s grandmother. She didn’t know her name, she only ever called her mamaw. She also didn’t know exactly where they were, only that it was in the southern United States, in some mountain range, maybe Tennessee, or West Virginia, she couldn’t remember. None of that mattered to her however. What did matter were the memories of her grandmother.
Asuka’s father, mother, and grandmother had gone out to pick berries to make jelly for the season. Wild black raspberries were her grandmother's favorite, and they were blooming just as Asuka and her family had arrived. She remembered it being hot and itchy under the long sleeve shirt and jeans she’d been forced to wear. The brush was rife with overgrown weeds, tall grass, and plenty of thorns. The berry bushes themselves bore the most thorns, making the picking even more difficult. After filling their pails and baskets, they returned home.
Asuka wasn’t allowed in the kitchen while the jelly was being prepared and canned, so she sat in the living room watching cartoons. Finally, after a long, grueling day, her grandma brought her some of the jelly spread over biscuits, and she indulged. It was heavenly.
Asuka’s eyes shot open. Her stomach was growling and her mouth started to salivate. As she sat forward she raised her arms up and rolled her shoulders to stretch, stiff after sitting on the couch for so long. She shot a look over at Shinji, who was still sleeping peacefully.
Suddenly, she had an idea on how she could get out of the house and put an end to her boredom. She grabbed the remote for the TV from the arm of the couch, and flung it towards the idiot’s head.
“Ow!” Shinji yelled out. His body contorted away from Asuka as he sat up, left hand clutching his forehead where the remote struck. “What was that for?” He asked with clear frustration.
Asuka didn’t reply, she just stared at him. Her head and shoulders canted forwards ever so slightly, while still making eye contact.
“Asuka? Are you alright?” Shinji’s hostility had left his voice, with concern starting to grow on his face as his eyes opened a bit more.
“Shinji, I want jelly.”
“Oh, well, I guess we could go to the convenience store and get some jellies, if that’s what you want.”
“No you idiot, not that kind of jelly.” Asuka rolled her eyes and sighed. “Jelly’s like jam, just without the chunks. It’s more popular in America.”
Shinji stared blankly at her for a moment. “You’ve been to America?”
Another, deeper sigh escaped Asuka’s lungs. “Yes, but that's not what we’re talking about. Do you know how to make it?” Asuka asked, genuinely, slightly tilting her head and raising one eyebrow.
“Uh… well, I could try. I’ve never actually made something like that from scratch before.” He stared off into space, fingers raised to his chin and as he contemplated her question. “Ah!”
Shinji perked up, he looked as if he had an epiphany. Which was something Asuka had never thought she’d see from her stupid roommate.
“Actually Asuka, I was watching a cooking show the other day, and they spent the whole episode going over how to make homemade preserves and jams. To make it the way you want, we’d just need a way to strain the juice before we boil it. So I think I could handle that..” Shinji finally replied with a smile on his face. “So do you want to go to the store and get some fruit?”
“No, we’re gonna go pick them ourselves.” Asuka replied with a smug grin.
Shinji’s smile slowly faded. “Are you sure? I’ve never… have you ever done that before? Where do we even start? Ho-”
“Stop stop stop.” Asuka cut him off quickly, waving her hands in front of her. “Just shut up for a second. First off, of course I have. Secondly, you’re overthinking it. It’s not rocket science genius, anyone can go out and pick some fruit. We’re Eva pilots, the pinnacle of humanity. Do you seriously think we can’t handle gathering some berries like neolithic foragers?”
“Well, no, I guess when you put it like that…” Shinji trailed off as he looked off into space again. He turned back to her with an inquisitive look on his face. “Where do we go though? I don’t know the first thing about foraging. I could call Kensuke I guess and see if he knows anything.”
Asuka scoffed at the idea of asking someone they knew for help, especially that nerdy stooge. “No need, I’ve got it all figured out Third Child.” She said with the same smug look she’d been wearing. Asuka stood up and stretched again, clasping her hands above her head and leaning backwards, her midriff exposed slightly. Beads of sweat trailed down her stomach. As she glanced down she noticed the boy staring at her stomach. She smirked with a devious look in her eyes. “Done staring?”
She could see his cheeks start to blush as he looked away. “Sorry… I, uh didn’t mean to -”
“Forget it.” She cut him off again, and sighed. “ Look, last time we were at Kaji’s farm getting those watermelons, I saw some berry bushes near his cabin along the fence line. We can start there and see what we find. Sound good?” Asuka was smiling brightly at that point. She could see Shinji’s embarrassed face slowly come back up with a smile.
“Yeah.”
“Alright, well let's get ready, I’m gonna shower first, I feel gross. Make sure you put on some jeans and a long sleeve shirt. You’ll get cut up out there like that” Asuka pointed a finger at him as she spun around. She headed to her room to get a change of clothes. The shower was running just a few minutes later.
After they had their respective showers and changed into some more appropriate attire, they met back up in the kitchen. Asuka was wearing a red and white long sleeved t-shirt that clung to her body, showing off her figure, skinny blue jeans, and some white sneakers. She’d also stolen one of Shinji’s baseball caps, to help with the sun, it was blue, and had some local team’s logo on it she didn’t recognize. Her hair was in a single ponytail, poking out of the hole in the back of the hat. An uncharacteristic look for her, she thought, but one she liked nevertheless.
Shinji had thrown on some khaki cargo pants, of which the pockets had been filled with things like bug spray, bandaids, and sunscreen. All of which Asuka relentlessly teased him for.
“Geez, didn’t realize you’d turned into a soccer mom Third.” Asuka chuckled to herself as Shinji filled his pockets.
He was also wearing a blue and grey long sleeved shirt, white and black sneakers, and a grey baseball cap with some lettering Asuka didn’t care to decipher.
They both stared at each other for a moment.
“Well, you ready?” Asuka broke the silence.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Then let’s go, idiot. We don’t wanna waste any more daylight.”
They grabbed their respective baskets, Asuka’s was a thatch basket she’d taken from one of Misato’s cabinets, destined to be stained with berry juice for the rest of time. Shinji had gotten an old paint can that had been cleaned out. He gave it another wash, just to be sure.
The door closed as they headed out. The quest for berries had begun.
The walk to the train station was a quiet one. The sun was already beginning to take its toll on the pilots. Asuka regretted not bringing a towel along to help dab up some of the sweat rolling down her face. She breathed a sigh of relief as they found refuge from the sun's gaze underneath the awning at the station. After waiting on the bench for a few minutes, the train to the geofront arrived and they boarded.
Cool, refreshing air washed over them as they entered the train car. Goosebumps formed on their skin, and their spines shivered. The sweat that had coated their bodies made the air even more frigid as it evaporated on their skin. It felt like stepping into a human sized version of Pen Pen’s cooler. In perfect synchronisation, they took a deep breath, sighed, and relaxed their shoulders. After a brief respite, they moved to sit down.
Asuka sat across from Shinji, the cool, cushioned metallic bench was just icing on the cake for her as she basked in the chilled cabin. They sat in silence as the train slowly lurched forward. Asuka looked the boy up and down slowly as he sat on his bench taking in the cool air.
“Why do you cook?” She asked with wide eyes and a subtle smile on her face.
“Huh?” Shinji titled his head forward to meet her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Why do you like to cook, Shinji? Is it just fun for you?”
“Well, I guess, yeah. But, I’ve always had to since my teacher was gone a lot. I was tired of instant noodles everyday. The more I cooked though, the better I got. I guess at some point I started to like it. It’s relaxing, I just, shut out the rest of the world and cook.”
“Just like when you put in your earbuds, and drown out the world?” Asuka thought as contempt slowly creeped into her mind.
Shinji pondered for a moment, looking down and away slightly, Asuka noticed his cheeks starting to flush, and he crossed his arms together, pulling them down from the tops of adjacent seats.
“And? Is that it? There’s no other reason?” Asuka prodded, in almost a teasing tone, tilting her head slightly forward.
“I, uh… Well…” Shinji brought his left hand up and scratched the back of his head. His eyes still glued to the floor. “ I guess… I like cooking for you, and Misato too. I don’t feel useless when I’m making you guys food.” A smirk grew on his face as he tilted his head up slowly and brought his arm back down to rest on his lap.
“Useless? Is that really how he sees himself?”
Asuka continued to stare at him, resting her chin in her hand, she could feel her smile growing ever so slightly. After a moment though, she noticed Shinji’s eyebrow start to raise, and his smirk faded. She realized she was staring at him. Quickly looking away to hide the blush filling her face, she leaned back into her seat and avoided eye contact.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Shinji relax again, and he returned to staring at the ceiling. The rest of the ride was silent.
The trek to Kaji’s cabin was arduous. The artificial sun in the geofront, while less harsh than the real thing, was still oppressively hot today. A slight breeze from the wind generators did help to keep them relatively cool. Asuka still wasn’t sure how they were able to replicate something like the wind, and keep it out of sight, but she wasn’t going to complain.
As they rounded the last bend, the quaint cabin and its small patch of crops came into view. Asuka was again quickly hit with a flood of memories. Her grandmother's cabin in the woods. Walking up the long path from her driveway, in the blistering heat swatting at mosquitoes. The sweat that trickled down into the corners of her eyes, and her parched throat snapped her back to reality. She pressed on.
“Thank god.” Asuka thought to herself as she opened the door to the cabin. It was unlocked. Kaji wasn’t home, to her dismay, but nevertheless they used the opportunity to cool off and rest, refilling their water and using the bathroom. After a few more minutes of sitting around, Asuka shot up to her feet and headed towards the door.
“Let’s go, Shinji! Off your ass! We can’t afford to waste any more time!”
“Wha-? Hey! You were sitting down too!” He started to yell back at her, Asuka pretended not to hear him as she walked.
“Alright, I think I saw some bushes over there, by those trees.” She pointed off into the distance, about a quarter mile away. “Let's go find out what we’re dealing with, follow me.”
As they entered the treeline, the thick undergrowth began to make itself known. They started to tread a path through the thick weeds, stamping down tall grass, brushing aside low branches and thicket. Asuka was thankful she had them wear the long sleeves and pants, though she was still getting scratched through the thin shirt. Eventually they came upon one of the berry bushes. Asuka approached and kneeled down next to it. She hesitated.
“Black raspberries?” She thought to herself as emotion instantly poured over her. She could feel something in her throat and butterflies started to form in her stomach. “But, how…? These are from America… They don’t grow in Japan, do they? Why would they bring them here?” It didn’t matter why, she thought, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world right now. Slowly, she reached out for one and felt it. The small fruit was delicate in her fingers. Any more than a light squeeze, and it would break apart. The smooth skin of the fruit was broken up by the small pistils between each of the fruit’s bulbs, and a thin layer of fuzz. It was dark purple in color, almost obsidian. They were perfectly ripe. Asuka smiled as she held the berry, a ten year old memory flashed through her mind again. Lost in thought, she remembered her mamaw’s love.
“Asuka?” The voice of the boy brought her back to reality. “Are you alright?” She could hear his footsteps start to move through the brush.
“Yeah!” She shook her head for a second and closed her eyes, trying to suppress the sentimental memory that was leaking back into her mind. “Yeah I’m alright, let’s get started.” She shifted aside to show him the berries. “You’re in luck today, Third Child.” Shinji knelt down next to her. “These are black raspberries. They’re native to North America, I’m not really sure why they’re here, but I’m not gonna complain.” She carefully tugged up the berry and it slid off the stem with ease. “Be gentle when you’re picking these, they’re pretty fragile. If you squeeze’em too hard, you’ll crush’em. Oh, and watch out for thorns, these bushes are covered with them.” Asuka continued to pluck the berries from the bush in front of her, Shinji moved a few feet over and found another cluster, she could see him slowly, methodically take each berry off it’s stem and carefully place it in his paint bucket. “You can go a little faster than that, idiot. I don’t wanna be here all night.”
“Right, uh, sorry.” Shinji picked up his pace slightly.
The pilots made their way from bush to bush, slowly filling their respective containers with more and more berries. As Asuka started to work on the next bush, she started to switch to autopilot, mindlessly picking berries.
“Ow! Damnit!’” She yelped out as she pricked herself with a thorn. Her basket plopped on the ground, sending berries flying out from the top. “Scheiße!” She crouched down to try and collect the scattered fruit. Shinji ran up next to her and slid to his knees.
“Asuka! Are you alright?” He sounded distressed.
“I’m fine, relax Shinji.” Asuka said, though she couldn’t mask her pain very well. Her voice was strained, and her face was wincing as she picked up the fallen berries with her good hand, holding the wounded hand close to her chest.
“Did you get stuck by a thorn?”
“Yeah, but it’s fine. It barely hurts, I just don’t want to lose these berries. You wanna give me a hand or just sit there looking like an idiot?” Asuka snapped at him. She wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“Uh, yeah, sure.” Shinji started to help retrieve her stray fruit. After they’d collected all the berries they could find, he reached his hand out to her, palm open. “Can I see?”
“I’m fine. I don’t need your help. It’s a thorn, I didn’t lose an arm.” She didn’t get up, however.
“Asuka, please? Just let me take a look.” She glanced up at his face quickly, he seemed… Genuinely concerned. Worried, maybe? She couldn’t tell, all Asuka knew was that her finger was burning with pain, and the boy she forced out here wanted to help her. No matter how stupid he was, she could at least appreciate his offer.
Reluctantly, she extended her hand out to him, pointing the afflicted finger to separate it. A small thorn protruded out from her skin, but the majority of it was buried deep. Carefully, Shinji slowly took Asukas hand with his left. He seemed almost afraid to touch her, like she was made of fire. His skin was soft, she thought, as he began examining her grievous wound. Both of their fingertips were stained purple from the berries after all the picking they’d done, and were sticky with juice and sweat.
“Idiot.” She thought to herself as she glanced back and forth between his face, the ground, and her hand. The butterflies were back.
As carefully as he could, Shinji grabbed, and slowly extracted the thorn from Asuka’s fingertip. He reached into his pocket and retrieved antibiotic ointment and a bandage. In just a few seconds he’d cleaned off the skin and bandaged the wound.
“Don’t wanna get an infection right?” He said with a cute smile. “Cute,” yeah, cute. He was cute. Cuter when he took initiative like that. Asuka just wished he’d do it more often, and not just when he piloted his Eva.
“Right, thanks dummy” She stood up, but didn’t walk away, just stared down at him with a small smile. “You have no idea how lucky you are, Third Child.” Asuka grabbed her basket and spun around, heading off to the next bush.
After another hour of picking berries, the two roommates were exhausted. Cut up from the brush, thickets, and thorns, sticky with partially dried sweat that was making their clothes stick to their skin, and just tired; the pilots decided to head home. They stopped at Kaji’s once more to get some water and rest, then they started back to the train station.
They had quite the haul, both of their buckets were filled to the brim with berries. The sun had started to set by the time they reached the train. The cool air that breezed over their skin as the doors opened was soothing down to the core. Shinji reminded Asuka that they needed to stop at the store on the way home, and get some pectin and jars. Asuka sighed heavily, but didn’t protest. She simply regretted not picking up what they needed before they had gone to the geofront.
Once they arrived back at Misato’s apartment they placed down their goods and collapsed. The apartment was no longer hot, but instead felt nice and cool thanks to the setting sun, which by then was almost completely hidden by the horizon. Shinji started to get things ready, preheating the oven, and putting a pot on the stove. Asuka showered first, changing into a pair of short shorts and one of Misato’s t-shirts that were a bit too big for her. Shinji cleaned up next, and put on another tank top with a pair of basketball shorts.
“Ok, well, this’ll be done in maybe thirty minutes?” Shinji said as he started to wash out and clean the sink.
“What’re you talking about?” Asuka retorted, with a hint of disdain in her voice.
“Uh, I mean, I’ll have some ready for you in about thirty minutes. Aren’t you gonna go watch TV or something?”
“No, I’m going to help, this was my idea after all. You’d probably just screw it up anyways if I left you alone in here.” Her classic haughty expression was back, though weaker than normal. Her hands proudly rested on her hips as she insisted on helping.
With low eyes and a genuine smile, Shinji’s face flushed ever so slightly. “You want to… help? Ok, Asuka, we can do it together then, if that’s what you want.”
Her eagerness to cook with Shinji was too strong, Asuka couldn’t maintain her air of smug superiority. “Then let’s get started, I’m starving.” A feeling she’d somehow ignored most of the day, skipping dinner, and only having a small snack for lunch before they departed.
Shinji prepared the ingredients, getting out the pectin and sugar. He placed the jars in the oven to sterilize, and dropped the lids in a pot of boiling water to do the same. Asuka finished cleaning out the sink. Once it was scrubbed down with soap and water, Shinji came over and filled it almost completely full of water, and together they dumped all of the berries into the sink. They took turns swishing them around in the almost freezing water to get the dirt and bugs off their harvest.
After a few minutes of swishing, Asuka grinned deviously. When Shinji was about to relieve her, she scooped her hand and threw up a puddle of berry infused water into Shinji’s face. He shot back, arms raised to his side and flicked his hands to get the water off of them.
It was his turn now. Shinji reached into the sink and splashed Asuka who mirrored his gesture. She was smiling. She could see him smiling. She grabbed a handful of berries out of the sink and started pelting him, and he did the same. The situation in the kitchen quickly devolved into a horribly staining, berry flinging war. Asuka couldn’t help herself but to start laughing - when was the last time she had so much fun? That was real fun. Genuine, childlike fun. After they’d spent the last of their ammunition, they stood up and declared a truce. The scars of battle were unmistakable purple stains on their skin and clothes, not to mention, the floor, walls, and furniture. After they realized the extensive damage they’d done, both of the pilot's eyes grew wide.
“Misato’s gonna kill us” They said in unison. Asuka and Shinji’s gaze met each other once more, and they broke out into laughter again.
“Alright, let’s finish this up. I can’t wait anymore.” Asuka said after collecting herself.
“We still need a way to strain the juice out, if you still want it that way. Maybe Misato has some cheesecloth around somewhere?” Shinji said, as he trailed off, opening the drawers under the countertop.
Asuka meanwhile, ran off to Misato’s room. After just a minute, she pilfered some pantyhose from her dresser.
“Forget that, this works way better, trust me.” Asuka said, as she proudly held the hose inches from his face.
“Misato’s definitely going to kill us.” Shinji said, with a devious smirk on his face. A look Asuka had very rarely seen before, but found herself enjoying.
They returned to the stove, Shinji squeezed as much juice as he could into the pot, measured out the pectin and added it to the pool of juice. Asuka held it in place, trying to feel helpful. She watched as Shinji raised the heat. Once it started boiling, he poured in the sugar and slowly stirred. Asuka, feeling as though she could help finally, snatched the spoon from Shinji’s hands, and started to stir. After letting the jelly boil for a few minutes, Shinji took the pot back from her. She watched as he skimmed the top layer of foam of the liquid and poured it down the sink. He then began to pour the still liquid jelly into the prepared jars. Asuka was ready with the lids and a funnel, moving the funnel from jar to jar. As he poured, she sealed the filled jars. They looked like a well oiled machine, working in perfect synchronization. Once they were finished, they repeated the process until they were out of berries.
They stood side by side, inspecting their work. Twenty four jars of homemade jelly. Despite her accolades in life, Asuka felt more accomplished with her work in front of her, than almost any other time in her life. And she had done it all by herself. “Well,” She thought, as her eyes shot to her right, “almost.” She smirked, gazing at the spent boy next to her. It was a long day, and now they got to reap the fruit of their labors.
Asuka quickly made some toast, and they sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. A jar of the jelly opened between them. Asuka took the first bite of her toast with the jelly spread over it. As she bit into it she closed her eyes. Her toes curled and she let out a quiet moan of pleasure and satisfaction. A grandmother's love poured over her as she was overwhelmed by the rich, sweet, and slightly tart flavor. It was the sweetest thing she had ever tasted. When she finally opened her eyes, and snuck a glance at Shinji, she could tell he shared her sugar-filled ecstasy.
They sat and ate their treat for a while longer. Savoring every bite.
“We’re gonna have a lot of jelly, Asuka, maybe we should give some away? I’m sure Toji and Kensuke wouldn’t mind some.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I could see if Hikari wants a jar.” she said as she turned her head away slightly.
Asuka slowly looked back toward him, with a serious, and genuine look of affection on her face “But we made this, Shinji. It was hard. I want to savor it.”
She continued to eat her toast. Suddenly in one swift move, with the deftest hands she had, she rested her hand on his. He froze. He didn’t recoil however, though she could feel his body tensing up. But after what she could only imagine was him realizing that she didn’t do that by accident, she felt him relax, slowly.
He was warm. She felt his fingers open up, and his hand slowly rotated. Her hand fell into his with such ease it was like the last piece of a puzzle sliding into place.
They sat and ate their toast. And then they sat some more, in silence, pretending to watch the TV. It wasn’t until several hours had passed before either of them even considered moving. Neither of them wanted to ruin the moment.
“I had fun today, Shinji. I liked this.” Asuka said, breaking the silence. Her face was almost as red as her hair. It took all of the courage she could muster to look over at him. As she faced him, her eyes locked on his, he was already looking at her.
“I did too, Asuka.” He replied quietly, barely more than a whisper. “I really liked it.”
She smiled. He smiled. It was sweet.