hand over hand

chapter 2

"No, I- it's not like that, I, when yesterday, we m-"

"Okay, enough. You guys can talk about this after class, but remember, well, stealing is no good Ikari" the teacher said and left Shinji completely embarrassed and blushed, putting his hands together and muttering 'I'm so sorry' to Kaworu who was a few sits down and to the right of him and he gave him a 'don't worry' nod, or so he thought that was what it had meant.

The next 3 hours of the class went by pretty slow and after him being introduced as a thief, he saw the girl sitting next to him drawing her backpack closer to her so Shinji wouldn't steal anything from it. Great way to make a first impression, idiot, he thought to himself and decided to pay attention to his class while eating his cookies and drinking the green tea. All throughout the class, the teacher used stealing as a metaphor to explain some concepts for the class, which made Shinji really uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Class ended with the teacher leaving the classroom exactly at 11:00, in a rush to get on time to her next class. And now, the moment Shinji feared, returning the wallet to Nagisa. He gathered his notebooks and books into his backpack and rushed to get next to the white-haired's seat. "Hey, I didn't steal you wallet, it's just that when we crashed I thought it was my wallet, but here, again, I'm so sorry about this." Shinji handed the wallet and the guy took it with his eyes half-closed.

He stared at the cookies wrapper and the green tea can. "Did you buy that with my money?"

Oh shit. "Oh, I did, sorry, I was going to put the money back when a got back to my apartment and then I was going to the place we met to see if you would be looking for your wallet there, I'll pay you back tomorrow." Shinji was fidgeting with his sweatshirt's sleeves and wasn't able to look at Nagisa in the eyes.

"Tha's fine, you don't have to pay me back, and well thanks for giving back my wallet, now I can buy something to eat because I'm actually starving. And you can call me Kaworu, um..."

"Oh, Shinji is just fine, call me Shinji, Kaworu," he said with a shy smile finally meeting those big bright red eyes for eye contact. "And hey, let me buy your lunch, you know, for the trouble I've caused since yesterday, do you wan-. Wait, I don't have any money" Kaworu let out a laugh at seeing Shinji being all nervous and forgetting he had no money. Shinji smiled back "Oh shit I'm sorry, I forgot about that."

Kaworu got up from his seat and started putting his things into his backpack, making Shinji take a step back. "Don't worry about it Shinji," my name sound so good when he says it. Wait what? "Let me buy you lunch, well, if you're still hungry after those cookies" he said glancing at the empty wrapper in Shinji's hands.

"Really? Uhm sure, I don't have class again until 1:00 pm, so let's go" he gave Kaworu a small smile and walked along with him to the cafeteria.

Wait, I'm not gay, right? I mean, I liked Asuka for most of our childhood, until she said 'she' was gay. But I've never felt attracted to a guy before, well, not that I'm attracted to Nagisa, or am I? NO, no, I can't be gay, I like girls, you know? I've liked, Asuka, and uhm, and Asuka. I really haven't liked any other girls? That's weird, it's not like I'm going on a date with this dude, he's just my friend, well we're not even friends, yet, we're just classmates, and that's it. Jezz maybe I should go on a date with a girl, I've never done that, I don't know, could be nice.

***

"Asuka, I dare you to kiss Shinji," Rei said and the other two kids looked at each other with disgust, "oh come on, it's just a kiss, besides, you guys can practice kissing for when you give you actual first kiss."

"I don't know Rei, I mean I like Shinji and all, but it seems weird." Rei gave her puppy eyes and that was surprisingly enough to convince her. "Okay, fine, but only if Shinji wants to."