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"I still can't believe you chose there of all places." Asuka shook her head as she walked beside Shinji.
"Huh? What was wrong with it?" Shinji asked with a slight frown.
"It was a bar!" The redhead pointed out to the dark haired man.
"And grill." He added.
"It was a bar that served bar food." She amended with heat in her voice.
"Exactly, it was the perfect place to take Misato for lunch." Her once roommate defended his choice of locale that they had just been to with their older former roommate.
"Yeah, if you want her to be wasted by noon." Clicking her tongue, the German woman shook her head once more.
"She's not as bad as she used to be." Their former roommate was notorious for her drinking habits, having been known for how she used to start the day off with a can of beer.
"She had three drinks in the hour that we were there, all of which were way stronger than that soft liquor yebisu crap she was always drinking when we were staying with her." Of course she herself had a beer as well, but only the one which paled in comparison to the amount of alcohol the mentioned older woman had thrown back during their lunch, "And they were expensive to boot."
"You know that back then she would have had at least double that and still have said she's fine to drive. At least she let us drive her home. Besides, you didn't even pay for the drinks." Shinji sighed as the drinks were indeed very expensive and he had ended up paying for them.
"Hmph! it's just the principle of the matter." Asuka huffed as she crossed her arms, "No self respecting person, let alone a woman, should be sitting in a bar and knocking back so much this early in the day. Especially not somewhere like that, might as well have chosen a dive bar."
"It was a lot better than a dive bar and like I said, it was the perfect place for Misato." The brunette smirked, "It was just somewhere to take her for her birthday since we won't be having her party until this weekend. We took you out for lunch to somewhere you liked on yours after all."
"My tastes are just objectively better for anyone with any shred of dignity." Giving another huff, the redhead tilted her nose upwards in a sign of disapproval as she then cut him off before he could retort, "Yes I know, you've made it pretty clear that we're talking about Misato, doesn't mean I should have to put up with the same indecencies she does."
"If you know, then why are you still complaining?" The two stopped in front of the door of Shinji's home as he pulled out the keys to it from his pocket.
"I'll do as I want." Her petulant answer was mostly disregarded by her once roommate as he unlocked his front door and opened it.
Stepping inside, the brunette took his shoes off in the foyer and put on his pair of indoor slippers that had sat nearby, the redhead followed behind him and closed the door. She did not remove her shoes as she didn't intend on staying very long, but still she wiped the soles off on the mat that was in front of the door.
"I'm home!" Shinji called as he stepped further in his home, Asuka following behind him.
Right beyond the foyer was the living area, where they were greeted by the other owner of the home.
"Welcome home, Shinji." Rei greeted her husband as she made her way to him. The two leaned towards each other to share a kiss.
Asuka snorted and shook her head slightly at the display before then letting out a cough to remind them of her presence.
"Rei." Asuka greeted with a raised hand and nod of her head as the other woman separated from her husband and turned her attention towards.
"Asuka." The blue haired woman gave a nod back in acknowledgment. It was then that the former Second Child noticed a lack of another individual.
"Where's my brat goddaughter at? The tyke's usually wrapped around my legs by now…" The redhead questioned as she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, where is Megumi?" Shinji asked his wife who let out a breath.
"She is currently in her room sitting in time out and writing an apology for getting sent home from school." His wife answered a bit sternly.
"What did she do?" Her husband sighed with a sag of his shoulders, their daughter had a bit of a more rambunctious streak that had gotten her in trouble at school before. Though she had only been sent home one other time.
"She had struck another student who was making mean comments about her." Rei curtly explained.
Asuka let out a boisterous laugh, which had the two parents sighting and shaking their heads.
"That's not good…" Shinji told his wife, "But she's probably heard Asuka by now, so can she come out and say hi?"
Rei nodded as she turned towards the direction of their daughter's room.
"Megumi! You may come out to greet your Aunt!" She called out to her daughter, which was shortly met with the sound of an opening door and the pitter patter of feet moving.
A small blur of brown hair bolted into the German woman not long after.
"Auntie Asuka!" Megumi cried out as she hugged the woman's legs.
"Heh, looks like you're really starting to sprout up huh?" The redhead patted the little girl's head as she took note of how she was taller compared to her waist than last time she had seen her.
"Mhmm!" The young brunette let go of her legs and started to bounce in place, about to ramble on about her recent growth before being interrupted.
"Don't think you're not still in trouble just because your Aunt's over." Her father cut in to remind her, causing the young girl to stop bouncing and pout.
"...'s not fair…" Megumi grumbled as she stomped her foot.
"No stomping inside." Her mother chided.
"But it's not fair! They were making fun of me!" Puffing out her cheeks, the adolescent girl repeated herself much clearer.
"As I've said, that is no reason to kick someone in the chest." Rei reiterated to her daughter, having made sure to have told her a variation of this when she had been called into the school earlier.
"You should have gone and told your teacher." Her father's reprimand had the girl turning her head away, knowing that he was likely wearing a disappointed look which always made her waver when she saw it.
"They were busy and didn't see them being mean…" The little brunette was trying her best not to let her voice crack as she was starting to get a little overwhelmed.
"Sounds like hitting them was fair to me then." Asuka stated, earning a groan from the only male in the room and a reproachful look from his wife.
"Asuka…" Shinji tried to voice his own disapproval.
"You gave them a kick right?" She continued on while ignoring the girl's parents, "Show me."
Crouching down, the red head held out her hands with her palms open at about the shoulder height of the young brunette.
Megumi blinked away some of the moisture that had begun to accumulate in her eyes and grinned at what her aunt was suggesting.
With barely concealed excitement, the young girl delivered a firm enough kick to one of her aunts' open palms, it being a familiar action as it was her aunt who taught her how to properly kick.
"Hey, that one was pretty good. I taught you well." Asuka smirked and shook the hand that was kicked as it stung ever so slightly.
"Her form is not the problem, but how she is utilizing it, which does not deserve to be praised…" Rei scolded both her daughter and the godmother of said daughter before then focusing on the former, "If they had struck you first, then I would be less upset with your response, instead you escalated the situation when you shouldn't have and will be apologizing for it tomorrow."
"It's not fair! How come I have to say sorry but they don't? They started it." Megumi scowled as she felt aggrieved.
"They will." Shinji told her as he stepped down on to a knee to be more at his daughter's level, setting a hand on her shoulder, "When I take you to school tomorrow I'll be sure to tell your teacher that they need to apologize and make sure not do that again, but that means you do too."
"Heh, I doubt they'll be picking on you anytime soon after that kick." The redhead told her goddaughter with a grin, earning even more exasperation from the other two adults.
"Really Asuka?" Shinji sighed with admonishment as he stood up.
"Please do not encourage her to think violence is a viable solution, it is unbecoming of you to be a bad influence upon her." It was with a weary vexation that the pale woman scolded her daughter's aunt once more.
"Don't get yourself so worked up… wonder woman." Giving Rei a smug grin as she referenced her old nickname for her, the German woman only received a scowl much like the one Megumi wore, "Besides, I was just about to head out and leave you to your child-rearing."
"You're leaving?" Megumi whined as she adopted a disappointed look.
"Yep. I have my own stuff to do, I'll be seeing you this weekend anyways." At the forlorn look on the young girl's face, the redhead decided to add: "Maybe I'll take you out to do something as well."
"Please don't be rewarding her for this…" Rubbing a hand down his face, the brunette man groaned as his daughter perked up with some anticipation towards her aunts words.
"I'm not." Asuka sent her goddaughter a wink that was not missed by the girl's parents.
"Go say your goodbyes Megumi, then finish up your apology letter." Rei told her daughter in a gentler but still stern voice as she lightly prodded her back forward, the little brunette grumbling but complying.
"Bye Auntie Asuka…" Megumi said with less enthusiasm than her initial greeting as she hugged the woman.
"See ya around kid." The redhead rubbed her hand through her goddaughter's hair and gave her a pat before the adolescent girl separated.
With some gloom, Megumi trudged her way back to her room to do as her mother had instructed of her.
"Hmph, an apology letter? That's honestly pretty ridiculous." Asuka shook her head.
"It is a constructive punishment to help her to reflect on her actions while also still helping her practice her literacy." Rei argued, having been the one to implement it.
"Pfft, she kicks another little brat and you have her writing that she's sorry." The redhead gave a nonchalant snort.
"It's more than appropriate, especially since she was not the one to initially instigate. Even then I would not ever punish her in any way severe enough that it would deprive her of necessities or implement corporal punishment." The mere idea of doing any such thing to punish their daughter was one that neither she nor her husband would ever entertain.
"Well of course not." Asuka waved a hand in dismissal, knowing full well that they were not the kind of people to do such things, "I'm just more surprised that you've done anything beyond a ten minute time out, you two are usually such pushovers with her; you spoil her too much."
"Well, she's usually a good girl and doesn't do anything to deserve a long time out. Besides, it's not like you don't spoil her even worse than we have Ms. 'I'm going to be taking her out for ice cream this weekend'." Shinji pointed out, to which he was met with a grin.
"I never said that." The redhead denied in an unconvincing way.
"We are well aware of your meanings, even if you don't directly state them." Rei crossed her arms with a deadpan expression, "We do not need Megumi to start believing that she'll get rewarded by hurting others because it impresses you, it will build bad habits."
"Sheesh, don't worry so much. I'll let her know not to expect anything if she does it again. Happy?" Her attempts at placating them was only met with mild exasperation.
"You're not the one that has to deal with it every time she gets too rowdy..." Her once roommate sighed.
" Yeah well, she's not my daughter so I don't have to worry about it, that's your problem." The redhead smirked as she started to walk towards the foyer with the other two adults following behind her as she opened the front door and gave a wave, "See ya later, suckers."
Asuka stepped outside and closed the door behind her, leaving the two parents to shake their heads with some fatigue towards her antics. Neither would admit that deep down they both felt a small amount of fondness, lingering for only a moment before they turned back to further brave their own domesticity.