"Chin up, Third Child! Winter is coming!"

Asuka almost skipped as she moved forwards. Shinji loved it when she was happy. It was vastly preferable to the alternative.

"Here, hold this," she said, handing him another heavy coat. Shinji awkwardly shifted his hands to accommodate an additional thick, woolen burden. Asuka moved to the next clothing rack and started quickly sorting through garments. Hikari, evidently, was busy today. Girl time defaulted to the second most feminine friend.

"I don't know if I like this. Do you like this?" Asuka showed Shinji a bright pink overcoat. Fur lined the hood. Shinji shrugged.

"It's a bit much," Shinji said. "Don't you think this is all kind of premature?" Asuka looked at the coat reproachfully.

"Yeah, me too. Let's just go try things on." She strode boldly for the side of the store, Shinji in tow.

The girl behind the fitting room counter selected a number and lead Shinji and Asuka to a vacant area. Shinji placed the pile of coats on the bench and stepped back out of the door, closing it softly behind him, leaving the German to change. Truth be told, he'd never really been clothes shopping with a girl before, and wasn't sure on the protocol of sharing a changing room. He was fairly certain it was illegal somehow. Out in the hallway, Shinji saw mothers and other young people waiting. There has to be a chair around here somewhere...

"Hey," a voice behind his back made Shinji jump. "What are you doing?" Asuka grabbed his elbow and tugged him back into the booth with her. She pulled the door shut, cutting off Shinji's innocuous world of other bored, waiting people.

"Hold on, Asuka," Shinji protested. "I don't think-"

"Come on, you pervert. They're just coats. It's putting on clothes," Asuka rolled her eyes. "Leave it to Baka-Shinji to not bat an eye at a plugsuit, but get all bashful when we're dressing like nuns."

"I... I wasn't thinking of that!"

"Uh-huh. Sure you weren't." She selected two coats. "Which one?"

"Um... they're both so..."

...red. After a moment, Shinji pointed to a white one on the bench behind her. Asuka's eyebrows arched. "Really?"

"If you'd like," Shinji handed her the coat. "I don't know. I think it looks comfortable." After a moment's consideration, Asuka shrugged and slid it off the hanger. As she looked in the mirror, Shinji averted his eyes. Even though she was right, he still felt weird watching Asuka dress. It felt... intimate?

Is this what couples do? Shinji found himself having to ask that more and more lately. Every since the announcement, Asuka had noticeably softened.

A team of scientists was going to engineer a winter – the first in their lifetimes. It meant their battles against the Angels were doing real good. They were slowly but definitely restoring a broken world.

The first step was the seasons, and for two children of summer, it meant the first snow of their lives. Just in time for Christmas.

Clothing companies capitalized on the sudden revitalization of a dead winter market, and for reasons that utterly escaped him, Asuka was determined to be stylish. Shinji watched as she pulled the coat snug against her slim body. He swallowed, averting his eyes again.

"Don't you think this is a little premature?" he ventured again, intently staring at the bench. "It hasn't even snowed yet, Asuka."

"Do you want to caught in the first blizzard since the Second Impact without a coat? Be proactive!" She turned, modeling the outerwear. "What do you think?"

"It needs a scarf," Shinji answered. The small opening at the top of the buttons provided a clandestine window down Asuka's bust, and he was trying desperately not to look. She must have noticed. Was she doing that on purpose?

"Well, yeah, we'll get to the scarf," Asuka waved away the comment. "Don't worry about that. Just the coat, how's it look?" She spread her arms and turned around so he could see both sides. "Scale of one to ten."

"Really... warm." She really was athletic. It fit her like a glove. Asuka cocked her hip, placed her hand on it and sighed.

"Really? That's what you're going with?"

Shinji shook his head, annoyed. "I don't know, Asuka! What do you want from me?"

"What are you, stupid? This isn't hard, Third!" her voice raised. "I just want a second opinion! Now do you like the damn coat or not?"

"Yes!" Shinji exploded. "It looks great on you! Of course it does! You could look great in anything, Asuka!"

For a moment, she stared at him, totally taken aback. The door to the stall cracked open.

"Excuse me, sir," a sales girl poked her head into the booth. "Please lower your voice. There are other customers here, too."

Shinji turned to her, totally embarrassed. "Y-yeah, I'm sorry. I'll be quiet."

"Fantastic," the sales girl said icily. "If I have to talk to you again, you and your girlfriend will have to leave the store." The door shut softly, leaving the two to their thoughts.

Shinji stood still as a statue. Asuka was facing away from him, feeling the coat under her fingers.

"Hey," she said. "Why don't we head out?"

Shinji blinked. "What?" he said, "What about these others? Don't you want to try them on?" Her red hair bounced as she shook her head.

"No, I like this one." She turned to him, cracking a wry smile. "Besides, she's the one that's going to pick up all the extras." Shinji couldn't help but laugh at his friend's pettiness. "Want to go?"

"Yeah, sure."

Shinji shivered outside of the store, clutching his arms and waiting for Asuka to emerge. It had been a good half hour since she left him in the store, and he was starting to get annoyed. How long does it take to find a damn scarf, anyway?

As if on cue, he sighted her walking out of the storefront. She was wearing her new white coat, complete with a red, yellow, and black scarf. Germany. Natch. Shinji smiled despite himself.

When she got closer, Asuka tossed the bag at him, and he was surprised to find it had weight when it hit his chest. Shinji looked inside and pulled out another jacket: purple with green trim. He looked up at his friend, who had her hands in her pockets, and was busy studying something off to her left.

"Try it on," she suggested. "I still have the receipt if you don't like it..." Her left foot kicked absently at the ground.

Shinji didn't know what to say. He felt a surge of warmth for this person, his friend. Girlfriend? She hadn't exactly protested at the sales girl's mistake. Maybe she was. Who cares? He smiled as Asuka turned to see what was taking him so long to test her gift.

"...what?" she demanded, turning a slight pink. Her breath came out in a puff. Shinji laughed as he pulled on the coat.

"Nothing," he said. "It fits perfectly. Thank you, Asuka." She blushed harder, and Shinji pretended not to notice.

"W-well good," she muttered, turning for their home. "I would have looked like a total loser if I walked back in the front five seconds after leaving."

"Not sure how I feel about the color, though..." he admitted.

"Oh, come on." Asuka poked him in the side with her fist. Shinji barely felt it through the outer garment. "Wear your colors. Have a little pride." She pointed at the A10 clips in her hair and grinned.

They were passing by the park when it began.

Asuka gasped, laughing out loud. She stepped into the park, spinning with her arms out, as if trying to catch all the flakes in one giant embrace.

"Shinji," she called, "Shinji, we did it! We did this!" She stopped spinning and turned to him. "We did all of this this! They're ours!"

Asuka beamed at him, laughing for pure joy. Shinji realized he had never seen her so happy. He walked towards her as she watched the flakes begin to collect on the ground around them.

"We did it. We changed something. We changed everything. The world." Asuka clasped her hands in front of her mouth and closed her eyes. She drew a long breath in, feeling moment completely, and gently exhaled it in a plume of soft smoke. She looked at Shinji right in front of her, and smiled. "We really did it, didn't we?"

Shinji nodded. "Yeah, I guess we did." He was rewarded with a mischievous grin.

"Betcha I can catch the first one! Bet I'll be the first one in the world!" Asuka turned away from him and opened her mouth, but all the flakes expertly evaded her tongue. After several seconds, she became frustrated. "Damn it! This is way harder than I thought it would b-"

She was totally taken by surprise when Shinji embraced her from behind. He buried his face in her hair, wet from the snowflakes already. Maybe the experiment would fail. Maybe the Angels would prevail and all this time and effort to restore the world would be for naught.

But for right now, it was snowing.

Shinji leaned forward and kissed Asuka's cheek.

"H-hey! You idiot! What're you doing?" she yelled, struggling halfheartedly against his grip. "It's just a coat, okay? It's not like it means anything!"

Shinji nodded, locking his arms around her. "Okay. Promise I won't tell anyone."

After a moment, Asuka leaned back, letting him hold her completely.

"Dummy..." she muttered, placing her hands on his arms. "Tell everyone for all I care."

Shinji smiled, and looked up at the snow gently wafting earthwards. Winter was coming.