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Perceptions

(EVA Echo)

Part 5 – Disappointment(s)

By Random1377

Shinji had never liked the lion cages in the zoo. He knew some people felt sad watching the huge cats confined to such a small area, but as for himself, he was never comfortable with all that power being held in check by what he considered flimsy locks and weak bars. Somehow, he just knew that if they were truly determined the lions could get out and kill everyone they could get their paws on.

Watching Misato pace back and forth in the kitchen was giving him uncomfortable flashbacks of his last visit to the zoo.

"Two days? Seriously?" the woman muttered under her breath, giving the phone a scathing glance. "Two days?"

Discretely, Shinji eyed the stockpot on the stove, convinced that at one point in her mumblings the woman had said, 'I will not be ignored!'

"Ahh!"

Shinji jumped as Misato came to a stop directly in front of him and pounded the table with her fist.

"Why hasn't he called me?"

"Er…"

"You're a guy, right?" Misato asked, sounding as if she needed him to confirm this fact before proceeding. When Shinji slowly nodded, his guardian leaned forward and pulled her shirt open almost far enough to completely expose herself. "Anything wrong here? Hmm? Nice, right? Good size? Nice shape? Firm? Why—in God's name—would you not call if this was on the other end of the line?"

For the first time since Asuka had moved in, Shinji found himself wishing she would make one of her patented 'bad timing' entrances and save him by offering some quip about getting a hotel… though he would have settled for her decking him and calling him a pervert, if it would get him out of that situation.

If he stared… he was a dead man (and oh he wanted to stare, because they were nice, and they did have a good size, and they were firm), but if he pretended that he couldn't see the lovely, perfumed skin being shoved almost literally in his face, he would be just as dead, because Misato—God have mercy on Keitaro's soul—had lost her patience.

Not that she had much to begin with, but what she had was long gone now.

Clearing his throat, the Third risked a brief, heavenly glance before looking Misato in the eyes (always the eyes, a voice in the back of his head screamed) and stammering, "I'd… I'd call…"

Misato rolled her eyes. "Well of course you would," she muttered, "you have some common sense!"

Shinji wasn't sure if he should thank her for this 'compliment' or not.

Letting her shirt fall back into place (to Shinji's mixed relief and disappointment), Misato resumed pacing. "It's those girls," she theorized. "I'll bet you anything. He says they're all just tenants, but I'll bet at least one of them has a thing for him."

Thinking of Su, Shinji said, "Umm, they might just be all friends, Misato. I mean, they all live together… wouldn't, umm, wouldn't one of them having a crush on him make the others, I dunno, jealous…?"

"Maybe," Misato conceded, "but that doesn't mean they don't—and I wouldn't put it past that brunette one to do something about it. She was practically Asuka part two, and we both know Asuka doesn't know when to quit."

Shinji immediately looked towards the door, but of course, Asuka wasn't there.

Figures, he thought dismally. She'd only turn up if it made ME look stupid.

Grinding her teeth, Misato proclaimed, "I'm going out. Here's a couple bucks for lunch and dinner."

"Er, thanks," Shinji murmured as she thrust a small handful of bills at him. "See you later."

As he counted the money, he figured there was about enough for one small meal. For one.

No drink.

Some things never change.

( 0 0 0 )

Oddly enough, Shinji ended up using the money to buy himself some ice cream. Since Second Impact had rendered Tokyo a permanent summer wonderland, ice cream was never inappropriate, though he himself had never had much of a taste for the stuff. That day, though, it just felt like the right thing to do.

Makes me think of that girl, he thought as he walked down the street and worked on his cone. Su. She's strange, but…

He tried to put his finger on what he wanted to think. He wouldn't say he liked her, necessarily, but she certainly had a lot of energy. It was like being with Asuka… only in a nondestructive way. Su's energy was positive and forward, instead of scathing and wry.

The more he thought about it, the more he decided that Su wasn't like anyone else that he knew. She wasn't the polar opposite of any one person, but she was a perfect complement to just about everyone he knew. Energetic like Asuka, thoughtful like Ayanami, bright like Horaki, bold like Touji.

"She's still weird," he muttered to himself, "but I guess-"

"Weird is talking to yourself."

"Gah!"

Shinji threw his hands up defensively as a deeply tanned face appeared literally in front of him. It took him a moment to register what, exactly, was wrong with the picture, since he was still in a state of mild shock, but after blinking a few times he realized that what had struck him as odd was that the face was upside down.

"S-Su?" he stammered, looking up and then quickly away as he was treated to the sight of the girl's exposed panties. "What are you doing?"

Su grinned, unhooking her legs from the signpost where she had been hanging to drop lightly onto the ground in front of him.

"Isn't it obvious?" Su said brightly. "I came to see… you."

Shinji half expected her to punctuate the 'you' with a poke in the nose… and Su didn't disappoint, making him go cross-eyed as her forefinger made contact with his face.

"You look like a monkey when you make that face."

Shaking his head to clear it, Shinji said, "I'm not the one hanging around and scaring people." Glancing down, he found Su looking like she was on the verge of tears. "What? What did I say?"

Su's lip trembled. "You… you…"

"I'm sorry," Shinji said reflexively.

Ignoring him, Su crouched down, a mournful expression on her face as she whispered, "You wasted it…!"

Shinji followed her line of sight, finding the remains of his ice cream cone melting on the hot sidewalk at her feet.

"Umm…"

Abruptly, Su turned on him. "I didn't even get any," she sobbed, her face a mask of miserable sorrow. "I just wanted a lick, but you wasted all of it… you're mean!"

Shinji was about to offer to buy her a replacement before realizing that he was the one who should be upset. "It was mine," he pointed out, feeling flustered and confused as Su stood up and stared at him with her hands on her hips. "I bought you some before, remember? I'm… I'm not mean…"

This last was spoken with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the street in front of him. When he looked back up after a few seconds of silence, he found Su staring at him with a pleased grin on her youthful face.

"You're fun to tease."

Before Shinji could respond, Su stepped closer to him and studied his eyes closely before nodding to herself in satisfaction.

"Yup," she said decisively, "you can take me on a date."

"W…what?"

Su looped her arm around his and started pulling him down the street, her voice smug as she said, "A date. Everyone does it, even Keitaro, I guess… so you can take me on one, because I like you."

The world spun slowly around as Shinji found himself dragged along behind the bubbly foreigner. 'I like you.' When was the last time someone had said that to him? Could he even remember?

Why? he thought. What's to like?

He bit his lip before the words could escape, suddenly afraid that if he asked, it would be rescinded… and, for the time at least… being liked was even more refreshing than the now-forgotten ice cream melting in the hot summer sun.

"So damn hot today," Misato complained, accelerating past a car full of what looked like first impact survivors. "Yeah, get off the road, lady! You kiss your grandkids with that mouth?"

Mumbling a few more choice curses under her breath, she turned the corner, heading towards NERV central at what would politely be called a 'brisk' pace.

Three days now, she thought, slowing down as she approached an intersection. Did I not give enough hints? I thought it was pretty clear that he was going to get lucky, so why-

"You're kind of being a whiny little bitch, don't you think?"

It was fortunate for Misato and Asuka that the car was at a red light when Asuka offered up this little pearl of wisdom, because her guardian looked at her so sharply that anything in front of the car would surely have been flattened had they been in motion.

"Wanna run that by me again?" she growled, giving the redhead a flat, dangerous glare.

She didn't need to ask what the subject was. Before the red light, she had been checking her phone every block or so to see if she had missed a call, and she knew Shinji wasn't good at keeping secrets, so of course Asuka knew what was under her skin.

Confronting her about it, though, was about as good an idea as waking a hibernating bear. With a pair of cymbals. And a cattle prod.

"Whiny… little… bitch," Asuka said clearly, half-closing her eyes and nearly drawling the words. "Mooning over some other guy while you've already got Kaji—plus the fact that you're mooning over a loser. Geez, just do something about it already. This is just sad."

Misato flushed. "Because you're such an expert on relationships now?" she snapped. "Mind your own business."

"Well I would," Asuka said, rolling her eyes in disgust as she turned to look out the window, "but you're moping all over the damn place and acting like a little kid. So this loser lives with some other girls—big deal. Lay down the law, for god's sake! That's your man, right? Even if he is an idiot, you need to let those little girls know who's boss! Take what's yours!"

For a moment, Misato said nothing. Then, slowly, she muttered, "You're just trying to get me out of the way."

"Maybe," Asuka admitted with a shrug, "but even if I wasn't, I'd tell you the same damn thing. I can't stand seeing someone I respect acting like a two year old who didn't get any cookies."

Pursing her lips, Misato said, "You respect me?"

Asuka turned and looked her in the eyes.

"I used to."

Nostrils flaring, Misato looked up to find that the light (which had been green) was turning red. Hitting the gas anyway, she grumbled, "Great… now I'm taking advice from a kid."

With a snort, Asuka said, "Doesn't matter who it's coming from. It makes sense, and you know it. That's why you're so mad."

"Shut up."

"Bite me."

For a moment, Misato considered hammering the brakes and giving Asuka a piece of her mind. She held off, however, as one thought crossed her mind: Goddamn it, she's right.

This really wasn't her style at all. What was the matter with her? She had decided to go out with the shy artist because she wanted something uncomplicated and easy (and maybe another reason she wasn't willing to face on a conscious level), and now it was just adding stress to an already complicated life.

Screw it, she thought. You asked for it, Keitaro.

In the passenger seat, Asuka suddenly shivered, cupping her elbows as she gave her guardian a furtive, sideways glance.

And smiled.

Continued…

Hawker-748 took a few minutes out of his otherwise busy schedule to pre-read this chapter. Thanks man. Now get back to work!