Rien generally had several days of notice when he was being sent out on a mission, but once in a while there were special circumstances. He got a call of the kind he had begun to dread just a few days later – in the middle of the night. That was never a good sign, [...]

Rien had walked until he felt a little more normal again, going to sit on the swings like Kippei had suggested, because Kippei knew him a little too well sometimes. He had wanted to call his mother, but decided to refrain from waking her up at 5am, and then having to try and explain why.

Life started to develop a soothing rhythm and Shinji let it settle comfortably into place, the steady ease of it helping him adjust to living in general. His absorption in his studies and archery and new friends was so complete that he didn’t notice at first what was going on. All he knew was that [...]

Shinji thought he was managing pretty well. He was definitely dealing better than he had in the past. Kippei went to school for the day and he stayed home with Hyun-ki, who had been enough of a distraction that he’d managed not to think too much about anything besides having fun with her. Rien would [...]

They had lazed in the hot water for a little bit, but they were both tired and Kippei nudged Shinji out of the hot tub finally, leaving their clothes where they had dropped them and wrapping a towel around him, drying him off a bit and then carrying him inside, not wanting to let go [...]

As soon as the car pulled up in his old drive, Shinji felt his stomach knot and butterflies erupt. It felt both like coming home and like stepping into the lion’s den, neither feeling appreciated since home was with Kippei and Rien, not here anymore. But then the door flew open and Sada was rushing [...]

Kippei was a little on edge as he sat in class the next day, hoping that Shinji would do as he’d said he would and come to sit with him in his class when his was over. It was a little ridiculous how badly he wanted it, just to see Shinji and have him there [...]

Shinji found a seat toward the back of his next class again and slid down into his seat with a disgruntled sigh. Maybe he should have just signed up for whatever Kippei was studying? Kaneda was bored, because the first day of school was boring, nothing but introductions and course schedules, professors going over outlines [...]

His hands were shaking horribly as he tried to do up the buttons on his shirt for the thirteenth time, at which point Shinji pulled it off and put on a long sleeved tshirt instead, sighing in relief to just have something on. Jeans, tshirt and his favourite cardigan soon followed and he hurried out [...]

It was late the next morning before any of them woke up, and when Rien squinted at the time and realised the others were still sleeping anyway, he went happily back to sleep. It was warm and cuddly under the blankets, and he’d never felt so good in his life. He meant to lay there [...]