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Breathing in the air of the local park was different in its own way than it was in some other parts of Tokyo-3. It was something Rei could barely observe in the way the breeze felt upon her face and how she breathed it in from where she sat on a bench, but the air was almost clearer; fresher despite the dampening pollutants of the surrounding city.
Her crimson eyes took in the amount of green within it, a stark contrast from the various grey tones that made up the palettes of her apartment, her school, and Nerv headquarter of which she frequented. The natural vibrance of plants often seemed to catch her attention when she would gaze out the windows of her classroom. It was apparent to her as she sat surrounded by the nature of the park, just how lively it felt even without the bustling bodies of people moving about.
“Here you go Rei…” Her musings were interrupted by the sudden appearance of an object in her vision.
A hand appeared within her vision, grasping a kind of cone pointed downward and wrapped with a napkin with which a kind of textured and off-white substance in a shape reassembling a sphere sat atop its wide end that faced up.
Her eyes trailed from the hand and up the arm it was attached to in order to gleam a quick glance at the person offering it to her. It was already apparent to her that the person was to be the brunette boy with blue eyes whom she had grown close to, Shinji, who himself had a second object identical to the first in his other hand.
She quickly turned her attention back to the offered item and took it from his grasp, pulling it closer to herself to gaze upon it better, the brunette taking a seat right next to her.
“This is ice cream?” Rei asked, somewhat rhetorically as the boy had told her that he was going to go purchase some for her, but still she felt the need to confirm it.
“Yeah. I just got us both a scoop of vanilla since well, it's kind of just the basic go to and I like it, even if it's kind of just plain…” He said a bit bashfully before taking a bite, taking a glance at the blue haired girl who had yet to do the same and proceed to encourage her, “Try it…”
Giving one more cursory look at the confectionary, the pale girl complied and raised it to her lips and copied the bite she saw the brunette take.
Involuntarily, her eyes widened slightly at the sudden sweet and cold flavor as the bite of it melted in her mouth before she reflexively swallowed it.
“So do you like it?” Shinji smiled slightly with mirth, having watched her reaction eagerly and already deducing her answer.
“Yes.” She took another bite before then looking at the boy with a crease of her brow in incredulity, “This is considered plain in flavor?”
“Uh, well not exactly.” He blinked, a little taken aback, “Its not bland at all or anything, it's just a really common flavor of ice cream and is basically the default, they make so many other flavors of ice cream that it kind of just seems well… plain in comparison.”
“It is not considered bad by that standard, correct?” The ice cream had started to resemble less of a scooped sphere as the heat of the late afternoon and the two eating them had caused them to melt and lose such stable shape.
“Well no, but some people just don't think it's as… bold I suppose, as some other flavors. Maybe next time you could try one like that? You might like it more.” A shrug followed his suggestion.
“Perhaps… but I like this one.” Rei told him as she took another bite, “I'm not sure if something bolder would suit me as well.”
“Oh, I'm glad you like it.” Taking a look at her, he noticed she had gotten a bit more ice cream than intended with that last bite as evidenced by how some of it had gotten on the corner of her mouth rather than in it, “Ah, Rei you have a little bit of ice cream on you.”
“Hm?” His gesture towards his own face that he followed up with had her tentatively race a hand near her own with a minor amount of confusion.
“Here let me…” Using the napkin that had come with his ice cream cone, he reached out with his spare hand to gently wipe the corner of her mouth. Naturally his face had heated up a bit at such an intimate moment, but nevertheless he made sure that the excess ice cream was gone.
“Thank you, Shinji.” The pale girl ended up saying, though she herself had a faint dusting of pink on her cheeks.
“It’s fine.” He waved off.
Their conversation lulled slightly at that, with the two of them not knowing exactly how to continue any conversation as they say next to each other.
Shinji took a look at his own treat which was about half eaten before sagging slightly, “I-… I’m sorry that all I can do is just take you out for ice cream at a park. I don't really have the money to take you to dinner somewhere nice like other couples do…”
The blue haired girl hadn't been expecting him to confess something like that. Not having realized it was something that bothering him, let alone being an issue in general.
“Why should it matter whether you buy me dinner or not?” Was her simple question as she turned to look at him, his blue eyes meeting her red ones.
“Just… I want to be a good boyfriend and all and take you out to do couple stuff like one.” he lamented.
“Do we not do ‘couple stuff’ already every time we go out like this?” She asked him before quickly continuing, “Why should it matter if we are together here, or at a restaurant, or at my apartment? I enjoy spending time with you regardless of where we are.”
“Do you really mean that, Rei?” It stunned him to hear her say such things so plainly.
“I do.” It required no thought or consideration for her to respond.
“Oh, I'm… happy that you like me so much, Rei.” Shinji confided, a blush on his face, incapable of preventing himself from smiling.
“As am I.” Rei told him before somewhat hesitantly slipping her free hand into his.
His only response to her actions was to give her hand a light squeeze which she reciprocated before turning back to her ice cream and taking a bite.
Taking a deep breath of the open air made her all the more aware of the cold sweet taste in her mouth and the warm comfort inside her chest. The feeling of truly being alive had the corners of her lips tilting upward as she savoured it.