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Ayanami caught him this time. The built in life support of his suit had saved his life once so he wasn't going to complain, but he still wasn't used to the weight throwing his balance off. It was fine when he was sitting in the Eva but after a long test with no physical movement, he had to convince his legs they weren't twenty meters long and the uneven weight did not help.
At least Ayanami pressing against his side was a more pleasant distraction from the drying LCL on the exposed parts of his skin and the drying sweat on the inside of the suit. He hadn't moved but it felt like he'd spent the last hour running while lifting weights. Probably. He'd at least done the running part. And the feeling guilty about touching Ayanami part. She really didn't seem to mind but she also didn't know what he was thinking. Which had as much to do with the way she was holding his hand to keep his arm in place over her shoulder as it was imagining neither of them were still in their uncomfortable suits.
"Get a room you two!" snapped Asuka from behind them in a familiar irritated tone.
"Will the male changing room be sufficient? Pilot Ikari I can accompany you to prevent further injury. If you require an exchange again there is a spot on my back the plugsuit is irritating and I cannot reach."
After she'd saved his life, then nearly given him a heart attack by smiling at him, he'd offered to do whatever she'd like to thank her. He'd been expecting dinner, or even flowers, girls were supposed to like flowers. Instead she'd asked him to help her out of her plugsuit because it had started to stick to her skin with the combination of heat and drying LCL. At least she hadn't asked him to help her to the shower that time.
"Belay that! Who knows what weird thing he'll do to you if you're alone."
He waves the hand that isn't around Ayanami's waist down the corridor, "That was weird. I just want to get this stupid thing off before I fall over. I did enough of that the first time. If Ayanami has an itch she wants me to scratch I can manage that much."
"Hentai! Use the screen in our room so I can see... hear... not hear anything because you won't be doing anything for me to hear!"
A few minutes later he was the one hearing things from the other side of the screen. Not just the faint thud of a suit hitting the floor but the long relieved sigh that came after it. He'd offer to scratch Asuka's itches if he thought his eardrums and blood pressure could survive it.
He wasn't sure if he was going to survive Ayanami for different reasons. At least she told him what she wanted and was clear and precise in her instructions. She'd also just calmly peeled off her plugsuit and sat straddling the bench with her back to him.
"I'm starting to hate these things," grumbled Asuka loud enough to be heard over the partition, "it's stuck again."
"Do you need help?"
"Not from you baka!"
"If it is adhered to your calf again, Pilot Ikari is more skilled than I at peeling the..."
"I'm fine! And I don't need to know what the pervert is doing!"
"Ikari, I require assistance."
At this point he was almost ready to ask if they could not wear the suits. He'd managed without the first time. That had been a disaster for other reasons than he didn't have a plugsuit.
Unfortunately Doctor Akagi had the data to prove that the plugsuits had a significant impact on their sync scores and he could guess what would happen if he suggested they didn't wear them. He'd gradually become used to Ayanami seeing him naked but he didn't want anyone else to. It was going to take a bit longer to adjust to Asuka doing so, she was vocal about her disgust even while he was helping her with her own suit.
"On my way," he kicked the suit off his foot, sending it arching towards the disposal. It was always a good idea to let them know before he went around the divider. The one time he hadn't Asuka had slapped him twice - once for seeing her with the suit half off her hips and once for staring at her as she slapped him the first time. Asuka in motion was beautiful to watch. Asuka in half naked motion had caused a subsequent wet dream. He'd felt guilty about that, but she'd started to ask for his help more often afterwards so he tried not to think about it too much.
Fortunately this time Asuka, while obviously naked given the red plugsuit on the floor, had already left to go over to the showers. So he just had to cope with Ayanami.
"I said release not inflate!" Asuka's shout came barely in time to act as a warning before the partition was felled by her expanding plugsuit.
Unfortunately the expansion also immobilised her so she had a clear view of Wondergirl's bare arse, again, and the Idiot's torso. Thankfully the rest of that was obscured by the back of the girl's head as she attempted to get his suit over his hips.
There was definitely something wrong with the things as they were malfunctioning! There was definitely something wrong with Wondergirl if she could be so calm about this. There was definitely something wrong with the design if the emergency release for the accidental inflation was in the middle of her back where she couldn't reach it even if she could move her arms. Which she also couldn't do.
She closed her eyes and waited. She didn't bother hoping whichever of them came to deflate her would bother putting anything on first.
"I think Akagi did this on purpose," grumbled Asuka, "and Misato probably helped."
"Yours was the only objection to the test."
"I can't navigate all the way to my Eva blindfolded!" Asuka sulked vocally, "I don't need to see Shinji's dangly bits again and he does not need another excuse to stare at my naked arse."
Shinji snorted in amusement. The first time he'd seen her bare oshiri had been entirely accidental on his part, though given what he'd learned of her personality since he'd begun to doubt it was on hers. This latest occurrence had come with just as vocal protestations and complaints, but he'd seen her stalk away in anger before and that was not the way she was walking when she strode ahead of him to get to their Evas.
"I thought you liked showing off."
Asuka throws one of her gloves at him. It bounces off his narrow chest and Asuka wrests her eyes away from it's trajectory. She really doesn't need to see. He does need more exercise though.
"Shinji, pass me the shampoo, I'm out."
Rei's arm brushes her back as she hands Shinji the bottle to pass to Asuka. Hopefully it was her arm. Why the girl couldn't have just handed her the bottle herself was anyone's guess. Her own was that either she wanted an excuse to see Shinji, as if she needed one, or she was being literal in following the request that Shinji be the one to pass it to her.
Their fingers touched as he handed her the bottle while pretending not to look. He'd even knocked on the entry to the girls' side of the changing room, as if he wasn't there to help Wondergirl out of her plugsuit and stare at her arse again.
It was Shinji's turn to dry her hair. He was better at it. Rei had required lengthy instructions on how to do her own short hair and still ended up asking Shinji to dry it. He had a knack for picking the fluffiest towels out of the pile, so she couldn't exactly blame her anymore.
He hadn't even bothered giving her one to cover her lap today. But then she had been standing in front of him with her hand on her hip tapping her foot waiting for him to finish. She was annoyed. Not because it was taking him so long. Not just because it was taking him so long. She couldn't even toss her hair properly while it was wet. He wasn't even blushing.
She handed Shinji the folded pile of clothing and watched him get dressed. Rei would be here in a few minutes, not that him still being naked when she arrived would bother her, but she was taking them both shopping for clothes today. The Idiot was so boring even his underwear was plain and Wondergirl didn't even have anything that wasn't a school uniform or a plugsuit!
"Misato's home." The Idiot pushed her back into her room. "I like seeing you like that but do you want to explain it to her?"
She blushed. Not because he had his hand on her bare shoulder. She'd become accustomed to his casual touch on her bare skin. She had started to think he didn't find her attractive anymore. Not like he very obviously had the first time he'd been the one to help with her stuck suit. He was even more casual around Rei, even if he still insisted on calling her Ayanami when she was leaning against him with his arm over her shoulder, both of them as naked as the day they were born. Or decanted. Or whatever it was that produced a girl with naturally blue hair and skin not quite albino white even after they'd all sat on the balcony an entire afternoon with the endless summer sun on their bare skin.
She turned and picked up a t-shirt off the end of the bed, then reconsidered and decided that Misato might be even worse if she went out to the living room flushed and bra-less. So she picked out one of the bras she'd bought on their shopping trip. That it happened to be one he'd picked, calmly saying it would look good on her, was entirely accidental deliberate. She almost bent over to pull her knickers on, before catching herself. There was a difference between being comfortable and giving him a lot more than the panty-shot he'd gotten when they first met.
"Huh!" Asuka's exclamation of surprise was loud enough for two faces to peer around opposite sides of the screen. She was not embarrassed. That was not why the screen was up today. It was, like she suspected the malfunctioning plugsuits where, Misato's fault. The annoying woman had asked, ever so sweetly, if it had taken her so long to come to breakfast because Shinji was helping her dress and they'd both blushed and denied it in perfect unison.
That wasn't what was bothering her though. They'd handed each other clothing before. They'd helped each other undress multiple times now. Stupid Suits. What was bothering was not the thought of Shinji helping her dress, she had one outfit that fastened at the back where that would actually be helpful, but the thought that she wanted him leaving kisses on her bare skin before he covered it.
She stepped out of the suit pooled at her feet and dashed to the shower. Cold water on her face would help her return to being a normal nudist before someone offered to wash her hair. Somehow that sentence actually made sense.
Asuka was the last to finish the test today - despite his name the Third had not been third - and as she walked towards the changing rooms she was torn between hoping the other two had left, even if it was together, so she could shower in peace for once and hoping at least one of them was still there and could rub cream into her back. The suits might have stopped sticking as much but now they itched once they'd been soaked in LCL and started to dry.
She turned the corner of the zag that stopped people outside seeing in and stopped.
Rei opened her eyes.
"I am comfortable and he is not currently erect."
Asuka swallowed. They were both still naked, which was fine, except Rei had her head in his lap looking relaxed and the Idiot's hand that was not stroking her hair was resting on her bare hip. At least it was on the outside curve, he was only supposed to... she stomped on that thought before it could reach her face. Rei really did look comfortable. Now she wanted a lap pillow. After she got out of this damn suit.
Shinji wasn't sure what had prompted the transition from being partially or entirely naked around each other as they struggled with one or more of their plugsuits to doing so at home too but it probably wasn't actually the laundry.
Asuka had come into his room and loudly demanded what he'd done with her yellow shirt. He'd stared at her for far too long. Asuka was beautiful when she was angry, he already knew that. But she was also rather hypnotic when she was both angry and wearing nothing but a thin pair of panties. He'd swallowed a few times and committed the sight to memory. He also made a mental note to suggest she buy new underwear, sometime later when it was safe and they were going shopping. Her wearing something that didn't look like it would fall apart wouldn't stop him knowing what she looked like without them, but it might stop him imagining things he shouldn't.
Eventually he had managed to suggest she check Misato's pile. It was her shirt after all. Had been her shirt. Even Misato didn't argue with Asuka's acquisitions.
Asuka had stomped off in the direction of the kitchen. The only person who braved Misato's room was PenPen and PenPen didn't put laundry away. Neither did Misato but that wasn't his problem, he just made sure they started out clean.
That had been two days after Ayanami had sat on the bench between himself and her neatly folded pile of clothing and instead of putting them on had leaned her head on his shoulder. He'd put his arm around her, it had seemed the appropriate thing and she'd moved a little closer, pressing into his side. He'd helped her out of her plugsuit several times by then, so it wasn't as if they hadn't touched since the first time he'd seen her without clothing, but she was smiling not blank with exhaustion from the long test like he was.
He was somehow almost used to the sensation of Ayanami's skin as he helped with her suit, or her touch as she helped with his, but he'd probably be dead before he got used to her smile.
Asuka, on the other hand, was not smiling when she emerged from the shower stall with her hands up rubbing her hair with a towel. In fact the intensity of her glare could have defeated Geometry-kun without the need for most of the power in Japan. He hadn't thought that 'stunningly beautiful' was anything other than metaphor but he'd just stared, not even hearing what she was saying, until Ayanami had sat up, pushing herself upright with the hand that had been resting on his leg.
Several days after the laundry incident, she had calmly walked in on him while he was taking a bath, sat down next to the tub and complained about the pointlessness of her going to school when she already knew everything until the water had started to get cold. She'd shown no signs of either leaving or pausing long enough to let him ask her to so that he could get out. Eventually he'd just stood up and waited for the yelling. But she'd just passed him a towel and asked what he was making for dinner.
Asuka was happy. She was very annoyed about this. She should not be happy about this.
She could blame this on Rei, or Shinji, but she was the one who'd laid down where they suggested. She was the one who had ordered him not to move after Rei had asked her to roll a little so she could work the cream into her back more effectively. Which was soothing long past the point it had stopped itching. She could have told her to stop but her hands were soft and gentle and helping her relax after the stressful test and the annoying plugsuit. Which was still where she'd dropped it near the entryway and had not immolated itself for it's insult.
Shinji had, for once, done what he was told and not moved. Not that that was helping, because the position he was in when she told him not to had included his fingers massaging her scalp through her hair - which was soothing in a different way than Rei's fingers - and a hand that had been on her hip, warm and out of the way, but had slid down, or up, or whichever way it had ended up cupping her breast. He wasn't doing anything, he seemed as startled as she was and was almost still before she'd snapped out her order. She was breathing. Slowly again now. Which was resulting in a slow rhythmic tug on her skin.
She could tell him to move, but he'd do it wrong and stop touching her, or knowing her luck, cause her to roll onto the floor and neither of them would be happy then. Besides, this was weirdly soothing too. Allowing herself to be touched had been even harder than adapting to the shared nudity required to get out of the Stupid-Suits.
Or to put them on in the first place in Rei's case. She would have suspected she was being difficult just to get Shinji to do it, but the suits stuck in the most ridiculous and inconsistent places and the girl didn't seem to care which of them helped.
She'd taken them on a second shopping trip just to find something comfortable for the girl to wear around the apartment in case Misato came home before she left. Which was most days Misato actually came home. Something that wasn't the green t-shirt that she'd stolen that clashed horribly with her hair, or one of Shinji's shirts which she wore without underwear and kept distracting the Idiot. She had noticed that the intermittently glimpses of blue was far more attention grabbing - for the Idiot - than Rei wandering around wearing nothing at all. The apron the girl wore while helping Shinji cook had the same effect.
Rei was still allowed to help cook, as long as she wore at least the apron for protection. She was banned from the kitchen unless she was fully dressed, including the apron and a bra, otherwise Shinji burnt dinner. She was annoyingly happy about that too.
Asuka was going to buy a couch. They couldn't be that expensive, she had plenty of money - actual money that didn't need too many zeros to be worth anything - you couldn't fit three naked people on any of the chairs and she was tired of sitting on the floor. Which wasn't why she was sitting on Shinji, she just wanted to. That wasn't something she'd have even thought a couple of months ago, but they'd been through a lot together. Some of it had even involved clothing. But a couch would let her sit next to him with Rei's head in one of their laps, which would be more comfortable than the current arrangement.
His arm kept brushing her side as he stroked Rei's hair, she'd had to put her hand on his leg to keep it out of the way. Unfortunately, probably, they still did things in time with each other, especially if the motion was repetitive. Like chopping vegetables (dressed) or stroking Rei (undressed). So she had found herself stroking Rei's breast, which is where her hand had ended up when the girl shifted slightly, and she'd tried to stop, or at least move her hand somewhere else, but Rei had let out this soft whine. Which was an entirely different kind of protest than the one Shinji had uttered at much higher volume and slightly higher pitch when she'd put her hand on the floor earlier to leverage herself upright to get a drink.
"Are you showing off?"
"Yes?" Rei's response was tentative, "Am I doing it wrong?"
Asuka sighs, "At least move a little! My legs hurt just from watching you hold that pose."
"It is showing off five muscle groups and my breasts in the way both you and Ikari appear to admire most often. I would raise my leg a little further but I have observed you are careful not to expose your labia to either myself or Ikari and I am attempting to do the same."
Asuka shakes her head, "Please don't do that. Nose bleeds are messy and erections are awkward."
She really wasn't sure which was worse, Shinji not reacting to the fact that she was clearly the hottest girl he knew, or Shinji walking across the living room with half an erection bouncing in the most ridiculous way. He'd gone back to wearing shorts for a while after her extensive fit of giggles. Which had been annoying, she'd gotten used to the feel of his bare skin against hers as they sat together on the couch. It was warm and reassuring in a way that clothed contact was not.
"Don't touch me!"
"Sorry."
Shit. He sounded like his even more annoying old self, before all this happened. No, more like after some of it had happened, he hadn't practically whimpered an apology like that until after... nevermind. She already missed the way he challenged her the day they met.
She'd been irritable for days. Any fabric on her skin was irritating, Shinji was irritating, Wondergirl was irritating. So of course she'd had school, sync tests, Misato had been home, and the only time she didn't feel like tearing her own skin off was when she was sitting in her Eva. That was always the one place that was safe. Until she had to get out and the LCL started to dry and the plugsuit tried to eat her bones.
It wasn't that bad. Really. It had just taken both Shinji and Rei to get her out because she would flinch if either of them touched her skin so they were peeling her like a grape while keeping their hands as far off her as they could. With how snugly the suits fit that was nowhere near far enough. She should have been embarrassed or violently annoyed at having Shinji sitting seiza with his face close enough to her naked arse that she could feel his breathing places he shouldn't even be anywhere near. Instead she was just relieved, to be out of the Stupid Suit, and that he'd managed not to touch her skin since his fingers had brushed the back of her neck and she'd screamed loud enough Rei had put her hands over her ears.
At least she hadn't started bleeding until after they got home. That would have been too much.
So she was wearing knickers, to hold the pad, and shorts, to hide the bulge, and Rei's shirt, because it was comfortable. Not comfortable enough to stop her snapping at people apparently. She'd made Shinji explain to Rei what a period was, which apparently she hadn't started, lucky her, or learned about, somehow, and that had been entertaining enough to take her mind off the pain for a while. It hadn't settled her hormones but had been an improvement for a bit.
She lay on Shinji's bed topless, which was the second worst idea Misato had had after Rei had preemptively answered her, possibly first time ever, question as to if she was alright. Of course she wasn't alright. Shinji had nearly died and she couldn't curl up naked with him anyone until she stopped bleeding! Well, she could, but if she left blood on Shinji's sheets a whole differently incorrect set of accusations and assumptions would be made.
Rei might not mind the sight of blood, but she wouldn't make it that far and the girl would want to cuddle. Shinji was better tuned to her reactions so while there might only be slightly better odds of this working than pulling out of a mathematical singularity after running out of oxygen five seconds before it was obliterated by enough explosives to flatten the entire east coast, Shinji had pulled that off yesterday so maybe he could make this work too.
As long as he didn't get it into his perverted brain to try Misato's worst idea.
As long as she could get it out of her own brain. Misato would pay for that later. Somehow.
She flinched as his hand touched her lower back but he just increased the pressure slightly until her shoulders slumped.
She'd had to turn her head to direct him a couple of times but she was feeling so much better she could kiss him. Not that she was going to. Having her first kiss be followed by stabbing pain or blood was not likely to lead to a second one.
That that was the only reason that came to mind would have been enough for her to bang her head into her pillow. Except to do that she'd have to lift her head and there was a naked Idiot sitting right by it stroking her hair. He wasn't doing either of those things to annoy her. Stroking her hair wasn't as relaxing as the pressure of the massage but it was helping. He had carefully not said that the nudity was to leave him as vulnerable as she felt. He probably wasn't smart enough to know that's what he was doing. He was smart enough to not suggest she felt as vulnerable as she did right now. And hopefully to latch the door.
The couch, Asuka decided, was one of her better ideas. Even if it was too small and still took up too much room, they could all fit and she could still sit leaning against Shinji with one of his arms around her waist while she read. Frequently that meant that Rei ended up lying with her head in her lap but that wasn't so bad either.
Right now was not one of those times. Shinji had gotten up for something, the bathroom from the sounds she was ignoring, she'd partly shifted into his spot and Rei had moved up. Which meant the girl was currently lying on her with her head on her breast and an arm wrapped around her back.
She sighed and rested her book on top of the girl's head. She was trying to be annoyed but it wasn't working. Rei was smiling. Shinji had taught her to do that when she was happy and she obviously was. Happy. Comfortable. Naked. Shinji hadn't taught her that last one but he certainly appreciated it.
It had taken her a while to work out that Rei hadn't objected to being naked because she didn't care. About being seen. About herself. She wasn't concerned about being objectified because she considered herself an object. To be positioned in whatever manner was necessary.
Shinji was the one to fix that. He wielded compliments to devastating effect. Rei could be sitting around unconcerned that she wasn't wearing a thing, and blush furiously just for being thanked for helping make lunch. She wasn't immune either, which had seriously annoyed her. It hadn't taken much more than "I like your hair like this" for her to leave her headset off while they were home. She got undressed and that now included her headset as well as her knickers. That she wasn't sure which of those left her feeling more naked had been distressingly unsurprising.
The girl would even wear something that wasn't her uniform unless they were actually going to school, but right now she was, as usual when they were alone, wearing nothing at all and weighing considerably more. The weight was nice actually, not because she could see the girl's naked arse over the top of her book, but the pressure. Perhaps it was why she used to like wearing her plugsuit even when she didn't need to. Later she might get Shinji to put some underwear on and try it to see if it was the same or if this was just a Rei being weird and comfortable thing. Nude would normally be better but as much as she apparently trusted him, having him lie on top of her with both of them naked was not happening.
Asuka dove into the pool with only slightly more of a splash than Rei had a moment before her. Shinji had insisted on using the boys changing room to get undressed. As if that would hide anything from them, or from Misato if she came down to check on them. At least Misato had assured her there were no cameras down here, in the pool or the changing rooms.
Shinji had just nodded when she'd relayed the information but Rei had smiled. The girl was wearing more and more different clothing outside the apartment, trying to find things she liked and that her friends liked to see her in, and her style was rather eclectic. She'd taken to making a show of undressing in front of them too. But not today. She'd stripped down with rapid efficiency and raced her to the pool, arcing into the water and disappearing with less ripple than an Olympic diver. She was definitely showing off but two could play that game.
She was an arms length ahead by the time they reached the far end of the pool and turned to tread water and watch Shinji walking down the side to meet them. That still looked ridiculous but she had seen him often enough now to manage not to laugh out loud. Accidentally. Sometimes she still did so on purpose.
"What's that?" Asuka asked suspiciously as Shinji set a white container down next to his plugsuit.
They had a routine now, for getting suited up. Who helped who get out again depended on who was the most uncomfortable. But for changing into the suits, Shinji always went first. It was training. In case it was an emergency. Because if either she or Rei went first, especially if they needed help, even if it was only someone to lean on, but almost certainly if it was one of those days that the suits inexplicably refused to pull up past someone's hips, then they had to wait for at least five minutes for Shinji's erection to go down before he could seal his suit.
She'd instituted the routine after Rei had offered to help, then gone into explicit detail all the ways she had researched for solving the problem faster. Admittedly describing a couple of those had actually worked but the others had made it worse. Male anatomy was absolutely stupid but she'd had weird dreams that night that she had no wish to repeat, or remember past waking.
"Baby powder. I thought it might help."
"What aren't you telling me?"
"What Misato suggested."
"Oh. Thank you."
That explained the sudden return to awkwardness that only started to fade as she watched him get undressed. If this were actually an emergency and not just another test, she'd be undressing at the same time. Also security would be rushing Rei here faster than they were. Instead they had a few minutes to spare with just them and they could test out Shinji's idea while they waited.
Rei was always in the middle of the routine, even more often than she was in the pile of bodies and limbs on the couch. Mostly because when Rei got stuck getting suited up it often required ungloved hands to unstick her and there was one time Shinji had gotten his hand wedged between Rei's arse cheeks that was not going to be repeated. Even if his reaction had been hilarious.
"Pass me the container, I'll sprinkle you as you pull up." There was no point putting it on either him or the suit before hand, it wouldn't stick to either and the suits rarely stuck to their feet.
She had been right, and had gotten far to used to the nudity and casual touches. Which she realised as she moved that part of him out of the way and it started to swell in her hand. Worse it took her a moment to realise what was happening. Far, far worse, Rei arrived before she could react.
"Method 17. Or are you attempting 23 or 26?"
Rei calmly walked over the bench, put down her bag and started undressing.
Asuka let go of both Shinji and the container of powder. The former bobbed in front of her face. The latter crashed to the floor and kicked up a cloud of white dust around them.
"I wasn't! Any of them! He was just in the way!" Her protestations were cut off by a fit of coughing. Her coughing was cut off by being poked in the eye.
"Ouch! Idiot! Keep that thing to yourself!"
Shinji dropped back on the bench with a thud, the suit pooling back around his ankles and throwing more power into the air, and buried his face in his hands.
"Do either of you require assistance?"
Rei folded her school dress into a neat pile, leaving her in what looked like it was actually one of Shinji's shirts given the tightness of the fit, and a pair of panties with a skiing snowman on the front. Asuka looked at her with red eyes - not Rei red, just as irritated as she felt. Rei nodded and walked over to the shower to wet a washcloth.
It was, Asuka thought, a truly ridiculous looking scene. She was kneeling on the floor. Rei had gentle hold of her chin and was staring into her eyes. Shinji was sitting watching them, with the largest erection she'd ever seen him have. Everyone was smeared with white streaks.
Then Rei very carefully wiped the dust from around her eyes, flipped the washcloth over and wiped the rest of her face. It would have been more soothing if Rei hadn't kept moving her by the hand holding her chin to inspect her handiwork. It felt nothing like the gentle casual touches that resulted from them working together, or cuddling on the couch. Unfortunately it also cleared her eyesight. Which meant she could see Shinji watching them.
"What are you staring at, Idiot?"
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine! The power got in my eyes instead of your suit."
Shinji smiled.
"What?!"
"Most of the rest of you is covered so if you can manage not to move while we get you into your suit you can see if it works."
It helped. A little. It just felt really weird having the suit peeled off her. She didn't itch but seeing what looked like the outer layer of her skin peeling off afterwards was a different sort of sensory hell. It was made worse by having seen herself in the mirror with Shinji on one side and Rei on the other and her skin a mottled combination of each of their colours.
The showers afterwards were worse. She'd looked up from trying to get the tangled mat created by the combination of powder, LCL, and nothing else out of her pubic hair to see Rei washing Shinji as if it was the most normal thing in the world to do. That it was left her with an ache in her chest that she didn't understand.
Asuka was lying on the couch with her head in Shinji's lap and staring at the ceiling. Her feet were dangling off the arm and her butt resting against the side of Rei's leg. Shinji's fingers were running through her hair as the often did when they sat like this, but Rei's hand was resting on her stomach which was less usual and the synchronised motion of her fingers was slightly distracting.
"Would you like us to wash you?"
She tried to lift her head but it didn't work.
"You looked sad. We did not intentionally exclude you. Your hair takes longer to wash. You enjoy him stroking it. He could wash it for you. I could wash the rest of you. You would feel included. We will care for you as you care for us."