Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion copyright GAINAX. No copyright infringement is intended. This story was created for entertainment purposes only and if requested to be removed, it will be done immediately and without complaint.

Note: It's been a long time (years!) since I've last written anything in this category, so I apologize if anything seems spotty or off here and there. Also, this is meant to be taken humorously (and someone insane) and in no way seriously. For some reason this idea popped into my head one day and just wouldn't stop nagging me. This is the result, though I'm not quite sure of what to make of the ending of this since this story seemed to take on a life of its own as I wrote it.

Addiction

He had no idea he had been standing there stiff as a board while his first kiss—his first kiss!—was in progress. All he knew were his nose was uncomfortable pinched shut, his lungs were screaming for oxygen, he was pretty sure he was turning blue, and he could barely even feel Asuka's lips on his since his whole body was numb; must be a side effect of being oxygen deprived. Finally after who knew how long, since he long ago lost track of time, Shinji pulled away because his lungs' demands for oxygen was so great. He greedily gulped down a few lungfuls of air, never once paying attention to his roommate's strange spaced off expression until she suddenly bolted down the hall and into the bathroom.

Shinji felt confused and hurt because if his hunch was anything to go by, then those gargles coming from the bathroom definitely confirmed his suspicions. He was a lousy kisser and he had just ruined his and probably, but he wasn't so sure, Asuka's first kiss as well. He felt disappoint course through his body and was about to retreat to his room when Misato and Kaji suddenly made their entry into the apartment. Misato was asleep and Shinji could smell a faint smell of alcohol on his guardian. She probably passed out after having a few drinks.

He sighed to himself at the sight of his guardian and bid Kaji goodnight on the older man's way out. It was strange that Asuka never made an entrance when her precious Kaji-san decided to grace her with his presence. Was Shinji that horrible a kisser that it distracted Asuka that much? Shinji cringed at the thought and retreated to his room to listen to his trusty SDAT player.

Memories of the kiss repeated through Shinji's mind and each time he remembered the look on her face Shinji cringed some more. He had his head buried under the pillow and by the time at least an hour had passed, Shinji decided that he needed to sleep. That was if his mind would allow him any peace at all…

Sighing to himself, Shinji entered the bathroom and thoroughly brushed his teeth. He had no idea who drilled into him the habits of good dental hygiene, but he wasn't one to complain if it meant less visits to the dentist. After replacing his toothbrush in the toothbrush holder, Shinji opened the bathroom door to leave but had to stop immediately in his tracks at the sight of his roommate on the other side.

Asuka was looking at him weirdly with an expression he couldn't identify and Shinji didn't like it one bit. He could practically feel the sweat running down his face in a matter of a few seconds. Was she going to yell at him for something he didn't do? Or was she going to yell at him for being such a horrible kisser? Shinji gulped and instinctively took a step back. She took a step forward, causing him to reflexively back up while she took another step forward until he felt his back press up against the bathroom wall.

Uh oh… He was cornered and he had nowhere to go.

Shinji could only pray that Asuka's temper wasn't too bad at that current moment because he was still young! He had yet to see the world! He wanted to experience life outside of piloting EVA! How was he supposed to do that if he was dead? Shinji gulped again and closed his eyes to prepare for the onslaught of verbal and hopefully not, physical abuse. He could feel her hands grab the sides of his face. They were warm, but that was beside the point. He had a bad feeling in his gut and he didn't even want to think of what she'd do by holding his head still… slap him maybe? But if she were to slap him she didn't really need to hold his head still. So why…?

Suddenly a pair of soft lips was pressed against his. His eyes flew open in shock but his whole body turned rigid and refused to move even a muscle. Kami… what was happening?

After a while, she pulled away with that same spaced out look on her face, but this time she let out a little hum under her breath. It sounded approving? The kiss was shorter than the previous one. He knew because his lungs were grateful to be spared of abuse, but even then, his body was literally frozen in shock. Was he just kissed by Sohryu Asuka Langley? For the second time in a day? And willingly at that? He felt as if he was about to faint.

While his body rebelled and refused to move, Asuka casually moved over to the sink and brushed her teeth as if she hadn't done something out of the ordinary like kissing her roommate whom she bullied every day. When she was finished she merely cast him an amused look and walked out of the bathroom, leaving Shinji by himself, pressed up against the wall, wide-eyed, and gaping like a fish.

Oh boy… somebody tell him he was dreaming…

Shinji could barely sleep that night since his mind was on overdrive. It kept repeating images from the first crazy-oxygen-depriving-kiss to the scary-ambush-kiss for hours on end. He had no idea when he finally managed to fall asleep, but he bet that it was really late if his body screaming at him in exhaustion was anything to go by. Even after he woke up for the day, Shinji couldn't convince himself that yesterday was real. After all, what were the chances of Asuka kissing a wimp like him twice in one night? The first time still felt surreal. So, therefore it naturally must've all been a dream his deluded mind had concocted just to drive him insane. Yes, that was it.

Shinji busied himself with preparing the Asuka's and his bentos for the day. Misato still seemed to be sleeping off the effects of last night so Shinji didn't bother waking her up. After capping the bento boxes and wrapping them in handkerchiefs to keep them tied up tightly, Shinji went about cooking breakfast.

Asuka entered shortly after looking the same as usual. She didn't seem to let on that anything special had happened last night so Shinji could only assume that his mind was playing tricks on him. Again. His mind was so evil.

Breakfast was a quiet and quick affair as the two teenagers gulped down what they could before they had to depart.

Shinji was behind Asuka on their way out and he was in the middle of putting on his shoes when she sudden spun around on her heels to face him. He was caught off guard and almost fell backward. Luckily months of training for EVA had helped hone some of his reflexes so the amount of his embarrassing moments had declined, though not by much, Shinji noted wryly.

Asuka had this intense look in her eyes and it unnerved Shinji; it couldn't be anything good. They hadn't said much to each other that morning besides a casual exchange of Good Mornings. He was about to ask what was wrong when suddenly she lunged forward, scaring Shinji to no end, and pressed her lips solidly against his.

W-what just happened? Again? If his eyes weren't bulging wide enough last night, they sure were now! Especially after he had convinced himself that last night was nothing but a dream.

She pulled back and ran her tongue over her lips with a smirk.

Shinji looked on in both confusion and horror.

Sending one last amused glance over her shoulder, she left through the open door, leaving her stunned roommate standing at the doorway with wide eyes, a gaping mouth, and shoes that were halfway put on. Why did this feel familiar? He shuddered.

"Boy, you better close your mouth. You'll attract flies with how long you had it hanging open," said an elderly woman, Shinji recognized as a neighbor two doors down, as she walked past him. "You'd think he'd never been kissed before," she said under her breath as she continued down the hall.

He snapped his jaw shut, his cheeks red.

Shinji was almost late to school and luckily managed to squeeze in right before the teacher. He scurried to his desk, ignoring the bemused look on Asuka's face and the curious ones on his friends' faces. After going through the morning routine Shinji finally slumped onto his desk in relief for another boring day, except the day started off as anything but boring. He wanted to tell his friends of the kiss from that morning but he had a feeling that they'd either laugh at him until their sides split open or wouldn't believe him and call him out for lying. Shinji groaned. Sometimes it sucked having friends that didn't believe him.

Luckily the day passed by relatively normal and nothing out of the ordinary happened. It led Shinji to believe that Asuka was just playing some prank on him, which for the record was not funny at all.

"So why were you late this morning?" asked Kensuke. He and Touji had moved over to sit by Shinji to eat lunch together.

Shinji groaned and unwrapped his bento. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

That only functioned to pique his two friends' interest even more. "Try us," said Touji. Kensuke nodded in agreement.

Shinji opened his mouth to relay the events from this morning but then suddenly closed his mouth as he realized just how ridiculous it sounded after replaying the scenario in his head for the hundredth time.

His two friends noticed the delay and leaned forward eagerly to pump Shinji for information. Feeling uncomfortable from having his personal space violated, Shinji leaned way back on his chair.

"It sounds crazy and I'm still having trouble believing it happened. It's probably my mind playing tricks on me. It's not a big deal," said Shinji, trying to blow off the question.

Neither Kensuke nor Touji looked amused. If anything, they looked like they were going to try harder to pump him for information. "Nice try, but yer not gettin' off dat easy," said Touji.

Shinji groaned and let his eyes wander around in the classroom—anything to avoid his friends' faces. Ayanami had not gone to school today so her desk was empty. His other remaining classmates were goofing off in the in several corners of the room. Eventually his gaze landed on Asuka as she laughed at something Hikari had said. She looked happy and amused about something, but Shinji didn't know what.

His friends followed Shinji's line of sight and snickered.

"So you were admirin' da devil all mornin', huh? No wonder you were late. She's easy on da eyes but man her personality is hell," said Touji.

Kensuke sighed disappointingly at Shinji. "Shinji, Shinji, Shinji. You are so indiscrete. Now I know why you're always getting beaten to a bloody pulp."

Shinji shot a wry look at his friends. "Gee, thanks."

Kensuke grinned. "You're welcome!"

The rest of the day passed by relatively fast. Since neither Shinji nor Asuka had cleanup duty they left immediately after classes were done for the day. Another bonus was that today was a rare day where they didn't have any NERV business to handle, so they were free to spend it as they pleased. Originally Shinji planned to spend the rest of the afternoon with his friends but Touji had to back out because of his basketball practice and before Shinji could even make plans with Kensuke, Asuka had literally dragged Shinji away by the wrist. Kensuke was snickering at the role reversals as Shinji was pulled farther and farther away off the school grounds.

"Hey! What gives!" said Shinji once he had the chance to.

Asuka rolled her eyes at his demand, but didn't answer. Instead, she tightened her grip around his wrist and pulled him more forcefully in the direction that Shinji realized was opposite of home.

He furrowed his brows in confusion and was about to make a comment on where he was being dragged to when they suddenly stopped in front of a store. It was a new ice cream parlor that opened up last week so there were banners, posters, and specials posted everywhere. It also didn't help that the long was fairly long and growing.

"What are we doing here?"

Asuka rolled her eyes at him again. "Isn't it obvious?" She gestured at the new establishment and said, "To try it out of course! Hikari was telling me about it at lunch."

Shinji only looked at her blankly. He didn't see what any of this had to do with him. If Asuka wanted to try the new ice cream parlor so badly she could've just asked Hikari to accompany her.

At his blank look, she huffed in annoyance and pulled him inside to where the AC was running and the long line was forming.

Shinji knew that he was brought here for a reason when he ended up footing the bill. Sighing, he quietly licked at his ice cream cone on the walk home. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Asuka was nearly done with hers and he had just barely begun!

The walk home was filled with Asuka's blabbering about random things she found interesting. Shinji tried to appear interested, but being a boy, he naturally tuned out anything that didn't catch his interest. Shinji just finished his ice cream and they were waiting by the elevators of the apartment complex when Asuka suddenly reached out to grab his upper arm.

Fear filled his body and he couldn't help but reflexively take a step back, but was held in place by Asuka's strong grip. The look in her eyes was vaguely familiar and the last time she had whirled at him was this morning. And that had led to…

Her lips covered his in a matter of seconds. He let out a meek 'eep!' but that went unheard as Asuka pulled back after a moment with a smirk on her lips and a hint of chocolate ice cream along the corner of her mouth.

Shinji stared at her wide eyed. Didn't she have raspberry? He then realized that his lips felt strangely wet all around and that he couldn't taste the ice cream he had eaten anymore. His eyes widened even more. Did she just…?

Asuka was gone in the newly arrived elevator car while Shinji continued to stare.

"Is this going to be your normal facial expression from now on?" said someone to Shinji's right.

He jumped up in alarm as he realized that the elderly woman from this morning was staring at him in amusement. He was caught gaping like a moron twice in one day by the same person no less.

Oh Kami… open up the earth and swallow him up whole… He was sure his face was so red it could rival Unit-02.

It was the most awkward elevator ride up ever.

When he entered the apartment Shinji tried to muster up the courage to ask Asuka what the events of today and last night were all about since he was rather convinced that he wasn't hallucinating after the fourth kiss he'd ever received in his life was from the same person… and all in a span of twenty-four hours.

Asuka was in the living room in her home attire after changing out of her school uniform. She was flipping through the channels with Pen-Pen seated next to her and munching on a bag of chips she found.

All Shinji could do was stare. The scene and the atmosphere were just so normal!

Okay! Be brave, Shinji! You can ask her! You can do it! She won't eat you alive! That's what Angels are for!

He grimaced. Needless to say, his subconscious had a sick sense of humor for encouragement.

Shinji took a deep breath and opened his mouth in preparation to ask what the kisses were all about when suddenly a messy-haired, bleary-eyed Misato stumbled into the room and bumped into almost every piece of furniture they owned between the walk to the living room and the kitchen.

"Mornin', Shin-chan." And she had her head stuck in the fridge to rummage for beer.

Shinji closed his mouth. There was no way he could ask something like that in the presence of his guardian, not when she was the type of person to tease mercilessly and for days on end. If only Misato had better timing…

"Something wrong?" asked Misato, her trusty beer in hand.

Shinji sighed and shook his head, deflated.

Asuka smirked at him from across the room.

Shinji groaned to himself as he finished cooking the fishes in the frying pan and lifted them up to serve onto individual serving plates.

Misato had the day off and she didn't go to work the entire day. It was both nice and frustrating at the same time. It was nice because Asuka didn't treat him any differently than usual and there were no more surprise kisses. It was frustrating because he still wanted to know what that was all about! And he couldn't very well ask that in front of Misato…

Thankfully the evening came and went without anything amiss. Shinji was just returning to his room after brushing his teeth when he felt a hand rest upon his shoulder. It was small and warm, much smaller than Misato's. Misato was in the living room and it wasn't a flipper, not that it could reach as high as his shoulder anyway. That only left...

Asuka smirked back at him and before he could open his mouth or do anything at all, she had leaned forward and pecked his lips. "Good night, Third." And then she was gone through her bedroom door.

He blinked stupidly a couple of times before he realized what just happened. She had snuck in a surprise kiss again! And he was still no closer to asking than he was that afternoon!

"Argh!"

"Did you say something, Shinji-kun?" Misato called from the living room.

Shinji banged his head softly against the wall next to his bedroom door. "No," he said. "Not a damned thing," he added under his breath.

Shinji felt paranoid and overly cautious the next morning. He woke up bright and early—earlier than usual, made the bentos and breakfast, and was eating some toast when his other two roommates joined him. Misato looked better than she had yesterday, probably because she slept the day away. Asuka looked normal and nonchalant. She reached for the few pieces of toast on the plate and gobbled it down quickly.

She probably noticed him watching her every move as she looked at him from over the rim of her glass of orange juice. "What!"

He jumped at having been caught staring and muttered a small, "Nothing."

She huffed at him and resumed eating, but when Shinji dared to steal another glance at her, he realized that she was smirking at him from across the table. She knew exactly why he was jumpy and just why he was watching her. It unnerved Shinji.

Misato remained oblivious as she wolfed down her own breakfast with a can of Yebisu beer. "Do you two need a ride to school this morning? I don't need to report in until eleven."

Shinji felt rather tired due to his paranoia and his early morning and was about to readily agree when Asuka's answer dashed all his hopes.

"Nope. Me and baka will be fine on our own."

"Are you sure?" asked Misato.

He wanted to protest. Oh how he wanted to protest since walking alone with Asuka couldn't be good, not with how she suddenly developed a habit of kissing him out of nowhere. As nice as the kisses were, Shinji was more freaked out by the fact that the boy-hater, but Kaji-lover, Asuka, decided to suddenly ambush him with kisses than walking alone with her to school. They had walked to school alone many times, but all those times were before two nights ago when all the madness started!

A pointed look shot in Shinji's direction was all the answer he needed. "No," said Shinji, deflated.

Asuka wore a smug expression during their walk to school that morning. Shinji grumbled under his breath and purposely kept a large enough distance between them in case he needed to run for it. Asuka seemed to have other ideas because every time he seemed to reach a certain distance away from her, she'd just go and decrease it again. It was frightening.

"What's with yer face? You look like yer about ta crap in yer pants," said Touji.

Shinji grimaced at the mental image and discretely pointed a finger to his right.

Touji followed the direction he was guided to raised an eyebrow. "Da devil? What'd she do now?"

Shinji was about to answer when Kensuke joined the group and dropped his bag loudly onto his desk.

"So, what'd I miss?"

Shinji frowned. He didn't particularly want to voice out his fears, but if it meant having to repeat it one time less then he supposed it wasn't too bad. "You won't believe what I'm going to tell you, but I swear it's all true."

Both Kensuke and Touji looked intrigued. "Does this have anything to do with yesterday?"

He grimaced. Oh, it had more to do than just yesterday. It all started that night! "What would you say if Asuka suddenly decided she wanted to kiss me?"

As expected, the two boys guffawed at the question they assumed to be rhetorical.

"Yer jokin' right?"

Shinji grumbled under his breath. "I wish I were." He sighed and began his story. "Two nights ago, Asuka wanted to try kissing."

"Are you serious?"

He nodded. "Dead serious. As I was saying, Asuka wanted to try kissing. It was horrible because she pinched my nose shut and I couldn't breathe at all! I felt as if I was going to die of asphyxiation!"

"Wait, wait, wait! What does dat have to do wit' anythin'?"

Shinji groaned and put his head down on his desk. "It has everything to do with it. Later that night she ambushed me and kissed me again."

"With your nose pinched?"

"No! Not with my nose pinched!"

"Sorry. Continue."

"I thought it was all a dream, because seriously, what were the chances of Asuka kissing me of all people twice in one night after the first disaster?"

"As much as Kensuke's chances of gettin' picked to pilot an EVA?"

"Hey! I totally have a high chance of getting picked!"

Both Shinji and Touji decided not to comment on that.

"Yeah, I know right? Very slim chances. But here's the thing! The next morning right as we were leaving for school she kissed me again!" said Shinji.

Kensuke and Touji looked at him as if he grew another head. "No way…"

Shinji sighed. "See? I told you that you wouldn't believe me… Then on the way back home she stole another kiss! I wanted to ask her what that was all about but then right when I got the courage to ask, Misato ruined it. I hadn't been able to ask since."

Both his friends looked skeptical, as if they weren't sure that his story was true even though he claimed it was. "So…"

Shinji grumbled under his breath again. He knew that they wouldn't believe him. Maybe he shouldn't have told them after all…

"Was she a good kisser?" said Touji with a grin.

Shinji pounded his head on his desk. Hopefully Asuka hadn't heard a word of their conversation; otherwise it'd be hell when it was time to go home.

Shinji dreaded lunch time. His friends wouldn't stop making fun of him and his outlandish story, as they had come to call it. Sick of being teased, the moment he finished his lunch he left the classroom. The halls were sparse with very few people around. It was nice and Shinji drank in the peace as he strolled down the hall and away from the stuffy classroom.

He wasn't exactly sure where he was heading, but anywhere was fine with him. He allowed his feet to guide him around on the familiar school grounds.

Suddenly there were footsteps behind him. Shinji furrowed his brow. He thought that he was going to be alone and turned around to see who it was. His heart froze and jumped up to his throat. Coming at him was Asuka and she had that look in her eye.

He quickly took stock of his surroundings and realized that if he was able to run fast enough maybe he'd be able to reach the staircase and then make a run for it. Yes, that was a good plan. Shinji barely gotten in three steps before Asuka overtook him. Was he that unfit compared to his roommate? Apparently he was, but that was the least of his worries as she gripped the front of his shirt and looked at him with that look.

"A-Asu—"

Her lips descended upon his and his mind suddenly went blank and hazy. A wave of euphoria passed through him and for some reason he was having trouble standing because his knees felt weak, let alone remember what his name was. What was his name again?

A strangled yelp broke through the haze in his mind and Asuka reluctantly pulled away from him to look at the source of the noise.

Down the corridor Touji and Kensuke had their eyes wide open in disbelief and were making strangled noises in their throat, as if unable to even speak let alone comprehend what they had just seen.

Shinji expected them to recover any minute now and run up to them, demanding to know what was going on, even though he told them this morning. Instead, the two boys' eyes rolled up to the back of their heads until the whites were showing and then they fainted. Shinji's jaw dropped open in disbelief. Some friends they were!

During his distraction Asuka had yanked onto his shirt again until he faced her and then kissed him again. This time he definitely felt something wet in his mouth and he fainted.

"Asuka, have you seen Suzuhara, Aida, or Ikari?" asked Hikari. "Class is about to start."

Asuka shrugged and sat down at her desk. "They fainted in the halls."

"They what!"

She shrugged again. "I don't know. They must've seen something shocking."

Hikari was out the door in a matter of seconds and missed the amused smile on her friend's face.

The following synchronization test was uncomfortable. One, because Shinji could hardly concentrate and was being berated left and right for that; Two, every time he even so much as looked at Asuka, she'd send him this smirk and his face would end up glowing like a giant red light bulb. It was not pretty. And three, when he was asked by Ayanami, Misato, and Dr. Akagi why he was having trouble focusing, he had no answer to give. After all, it wasn't as if he could say 'Why, I'm having trouble concentrating because I keep thinking about Asuka kissing me!' Oh yes, that would go over well…

Shinji snorted at the thought and tried his best to calm his racing mind and to focus on the test. It was hard.

In the end, Asuka came out on top. He had barely scored above Ayanami who had scored rather constantly since they first began synchronization testing months back. Shinji felt his face burn in embarrassment when he was reprimanded for his lack of attention.

Asuka had been grinning the whole time, but no one noticed a difference and passed it off as her sadism for watching her co-worker get reprimanded.

Shinji sighed tiredly once he was allowed to go shower and change. It had been a long day.

"Cheer up, baka!" said Asuka with a pat to his back. Except her pats were more forceful than normal and sent Shinji stumbling forward a couple of steps.

Ayanami approached him from the other side and said, "Ikari-kun. It has come to my notice that you were not concentrating well at all during today's exam. May I ask if there is something bothering you?"

There definitely was something bothering him, but how was he supposed to respond? He didn't bother to look at Asuka to know what she thought. With a mental sigh, Shinji said, "I'm fine, Ayanami, just tired. Thanks for the concern."

She didn't look convinced and looked suspiciously at Asuka for a few moments. "If you ever wish to discuss anything, feel free to seek me out."

"I will, Rei." Shinji nodded gratefully and watched his other fellow pilot disappear with a small smile down the corridors to the locker rooms. Beside him Asuka huffed and stormed ahead of him. Shinji raised his brows in confusion. What'd he do now? He thought that declining Ayanami's offer was what she wanted so why was Asuka so huffy about it? Shinji shook his head disappointedly. He just didn't understand girls.

Asuka appeared angry with him for the rest of the week and refused to even acknowledge him. It was a quiet but very strained week as Shinji performed his usual household chores. He had long decided that the apartment was better off if he did them than allow Misato to take charge. He shuddered at the one time he came home after Misato's cleaning spree.

His synch ratio was back to normal levels and fortunately, neither Dr. Akagi nor Misato commented on it. The latest test showed that he had surpassed Asuka and that had put her in a surly mood all day, even more than usual. He supposed that that was to be expected since Asuka had prided herself on being the best, but it still hurt that she treated him so coldly these days. It felt as if he was the bane of her existence.

Shinji didn't have much time to contemplate it though because the next Angel attacked before anyone was ready and they were in their entry plugs in no time. The Angel was large and round with a giant shadow. No one was sure if they could even get close to the Angel.

In the end Shinji had decided to launch headfirst toward the Angel and he learned just how poorly his judgment was when he found his EVA sinking into that dark shadow with no way out.

"Shinji!"

He felt tired. Oh so tired. His eyes drifted shut but he willed them to open again. It wouldn't do to fall asleep now, not that his life was about to end. It was over twelve hours since he was sucked in and he had put his EVA into life-support mode. At best he'd last sixteen hours. A quick glance at his plug suit informed him that there was less than an hour left. The Angel showed no signs of moving and his umbilical cable and been severed hours ago. Was he going to make it? Probably not.

Shinji felt disgusted with himself for getting all arrogant because he had surpassed Asuka in the last synchronization test. It was one test out of many and he was still years behind in experience compared to her. She controlled her EVA so gracefully in ways that he could only dream of controlling his.

Speaking of Asuka, they hadn't exactly parted on good terms. She had still been angry with him when this whole fiasco had started and he'd hate to have Asuka hating him still as his last memory. But it wouldn't do him any good now. He was stuck and he was just so tired. He wanted to sleep.

"Baka Shinji!"

He jumped at the voice and looked around his EVA. There was nothing on the screens or channels. It was still on life-support mode and he was disconnected with the outside world. His eyes started drifting shut again.

"Baka Shinji!"

There it was again. That voice, except none of the communication channels were on.

"Baka Shinji! Come back, you bastard! How could you just go and run off like that?"

"How could you just jump headlong into something without thinking first? Just because you surpassed my synch ratio doesn't mean that you're better than me!"

Shinji rolled his eyes. He had no doubts who this voice belonged to. The question was, where was the voice coming from?

"You stupid bastard! You coward!"

Her voice sounded sad even as she screamed those things at him. Right now he didn't care where the voice was coming from, but if it was going to be his last few minutes of life he'd much rather hear anyone's voice, even Asuka's angry berating of him, before he left.

"You bastard…!" This time her voice sounded broken and hoarse as if she had cried. "How could you leave me like that!"

He didn't want to. He regretted getting ahead of himself and biting off more than he could chew. That was definitely a bad idea.

"I don't care if you have a higher synch ratio than me! I don't care that you're a stupid dumbass! I don't care if you like Wondergirl! Just get your ass back!"

If only he knew how. He felt exhaustion take him over and his eyes closed of their own accord.

There was silence for a few long moments. Shinji almost thought that the connection had finally cut, wherever it was coming from, and that he'd be left alone in silence in his last few minutes of life.

"If you want to know why I kissed you all those times, then get your ass back right now!"

Shinji smiled wryly. Of course he wanted to know. But how was he supposed to tell her that? How was he supposed to leave here anyway?

He opened his mouth as if to talk, even if the connection was only one-sided, he still wanted to try to get his message across. A great murky feeling entered his throat and he choked violently. The LCL in the plug was no longer the translucent amber he was used to seeing, but a murky brown with particles of something floating about. He choked and coughed violently as he realized that the LCL filtering system had most likely just crashed.

His world was starting to turn black and he couldn't stop coughing. Was this really the end?

His body felt tired and heavy. Even his eyelids felt heavy. Wait… how would he still be able to feel tired or the heaviness of his body if he was dead? Shinji slowly opened his eyes. The world was bleary and was that a ceiling? It looked sort of familiar. After a while his vision cleared and he realized with a start that the ceiling belonged to the NERV infirmary. If he was here, then that meant that he was alive?

He turned his head slightly and saw a head of red hair buried into his side.

"A-Asu…ka?"

She shifted in her sleep for a few seconds before consciousness took over and she looked at him with eyes full of mixed emotions that he couldn't identify. There was one that he was quite familiar with though.

"Ow!" He clutched his arm where she had hit him.

"You bastard!" She hit him again and this time he prepared to defend himself with raising his other arm. "You bastard! How could you! How could you just rush off like that!" She hit him again. "Did you know how close we were to losing you?" She held her index finger and thumb a mere half centimeter apart. "This close!"

He stared at her blankly. "…But the Angel…"

"Screw the Angel!"

Shinji cringed from the volume of her voice.

"If your EVA hadn't gone beserker you'd be dead and so would the rest of Tokyo-3!"

He stayed quiet as the full effect of her words sank in. He hadn't died and the Angel was destroyed… by his beserker EVA. Everyone was alive. Everyone was safe. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and sighed in relief.

"Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

There were tears in her eyes and Shinji realized that this was the first time he had ever seen her cry in all the months he'd known her. His mouth hung open uselessly as he tried to put together words, but failing miserably. Eventually he was able to croak out, "Sorry."

"I'm sorry. I was an idiot," said Shinji. "I'll never do something so stupid again."

"Damn right you won't!" She hit him again, but he didn't protest. He knew he deserved it.

What she did next surprised him. She launched herself at him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

All the breath left his lungs, but he didn't care. His brain was still trying to wrap itself around the idea that Asuka was hugging him! "Don't you ever leave me again," she said softly.

He nodded dumbly, but then he remembered her words.

"How could you leave me like that!"

"I don't care if you have a higher synch ratio than me! I don't care that you're a stupid dumbass! I don't care if you like Wondergirl! Just get your ass back!"

"If you want to know why I kissed you all those times, then get your ass back right now!"

Did he dream all of that up? There was only one way to find out.

He gulped nervously. "Did you really mean it, Asuka?"

She pulled away to look at him in confusion.

"Do you really not care that I beat your synch ratio? Or that I like Ayanami?"

Her face turned pink. "Y-you heard that? I thought your communication system was down."

"I thought so too, but I guess our channel wasn't fully closed from before I jumped in and it was the only channel to stay open…"

The next few moments were awkward as Asuka turned pink from realizing that her desperate pleas to Shinji had been heard and Shinji blushed in embarrassment as her last line continued to repeat through his head. Shinji hadn't realized that Asuka blushed until now since she made it a goal to never be embarrassed. So the only times he had ever seen her face pink from anything was from the sun and from anger. Now though, was something totally new and alien to him. She looked cute.

"Asuka."

She hesitantly met his gaze and was surprised to see it soft and warm.

"My ass is back."

She stared blankly at him. What was that supposed to mean?

"My ass is back." He leaned forward slightly and wrapped his arms around her waist while hers hung loosely by his sides from earlier and prevented her escape. "So, care to tell me why you decided to go on a kissing spree?"

Her face turned pinker and she tried to pull away but he had anticipated that action and pulled her back toward him, effectively preventing her escape.

"I did say that I'd tell you why, didn't I?"

Shinji nodded.

Groaning in embarrassment, Asuka averted her gaze to a spot over his shoulder. "I kissed you all those times because…"

"Because…?"

Her eyebrow twitched. He wasn't going to make this easy on her.

"If it was for a prank, it's not funny."

"It's not a prank!" Her face turned even pinker, if that was possible. "Though your face was priceless and was half the reason I continued to kiss you."

He rolled his eyes at the latter comment and purposely chose to ignore it. "Then?"

She bit her bottom lip softly in her unease. "Because I like you," she finally said in a small voice. "It took me a lot of courage and I had to put aside a lot of pride to admit that, so I hope you're happy!"

Shinji could only blink and look at her in amazement.

"After our first kiss… I sort of admitted to myself that I liked you and somehow I ended up wanting to kiss you more."

"So you attacked me."

"I didn't attack you!"

He shot her a pointed look, which was strange on Shinji, but suited the situation.

"Okay, maybe I did once or twice."

He shot her another pointed look.

She glared at him. "Fine, more than once or twice!"

"Why Asuka, I had no idea you liked me so much," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Your ego is getting too big, Ikari."

He merely grinned back at her and then leaned forward until their foreheads were touching. "What would you say if I liked you too?" He could hear her breath hitch in her throat and let out a soft chuckle. "If you liked me, all you had to do was say so. You didn't need to attack me with kisses, though that isn't so bad now that I think about it…"

She hit him.

Shinji leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers and instantly he could feel her body relaxing. When he pulled away, there was a large grin on her face.

"I believe that was the first time you've ever initiated the kiss and damn, you're good."

"Oh, good! And here I thought I was so bad that I scared you away after our first kiss."

She grinned and leaned in for another kiss.

A large shriek was heard from the side of the room. The two teens broke apart and turned to the doorway where their guardian was standing with wide-eyes and her mouth looked as if it was going to unhinge herself any minute now. "Y-y-you t-t-two…" Then, she fainted.

"How long do you think she was standing there?" asked Shinji.

"Long enough for a heart attack…"

"Oops."