Sparks Will Fly [Kawoshin: Kaworu x Shinji]

Chapter 5 - Burgers with a Side of 70's Hits

Shinji was waiting for Kaworu outside his house, sitting on the curb. When the car pulled into his driveway, he smiled and got in.

"Hi, Kaworu..." he said.

"Hey, are you ready to eat?"

Shinji nodded. "Where are we going?"

"To a five star restaurant."

Shinji's eyes widened. "What?" he asked.

Kaworu laughed. "I'm kidding, we're having fast food."

"Don't scare me like that..."

~~~

"So what kind of engineer are you?" asked Shinji. "I know it's been more than a month but we've hardly talked at all."

"Electrical, but I studied mechanical and software before I decided."

Shinji almost choked on his food. "Couldn't you basically do the entire project by yourself then? Jesus..."

Kaworu laughed. "That's funny," He took a up of his drink. "So why are you in on the project? I mean, besides the fact that your dad owns the company."

"Well, I want to go to college but...I couldn't qualify for a scholarship..." Shinji said. "You know me, I never really excelled in academics or athletics and I certainly can't afford to pay for tuition." He paused. "My dad said that if I helped the team move forward by taking care of their health, we would get the project done faster. If you guys figure it out and patent it before anyone else, he can sell it around the world and have more money than he knows what to do with... and he'll pay for my tuition." Shinji smiled. "He can be... difficult at times, but as long as I make sure you're all healthy while still working so many hours I get to earn a degree..."

Kaworu was speechless for a moment.

"Sorry," Shinji said. "I sort of rambled on for a bit..."

"I'll make it work."

"What?"

"You shouldn't have to be taking care of us instead of going to school. I'll make it work and you can go get a degree. Hell, you can be an engineer if you want."

Shinji gave a halfhearted laugh. "I've been in that garage for ten months now and I've never had the slightest clue of what the fuck is going on. I'd probably just get a business degree so I could inherit the company once my dad kicks the bucket."

Kaworu sighed and unconsciously pulled out a cross necklace from his shirt and started to fiddle with it.

"Is-is that the necklace I gave you?" Shinji asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah..."

"I hadn't realized you'd kept it..." Shinji tried to discreetly cover his face with one of his hands when he felt himself starting to blush. Kaworu noticed, though, and he smiled.

"I wear it all the time," he said. "It means a lot to me."

Shinji's face became even more red. "I'm... glad you like it."

"That's what you said to me the day you gave it to me. You should start thinking of more original lines."

By this time, Shinji's while face was red. "St-stop remembering all these little details! You're making me embarrassed..."

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't help how well my memory's holding up."

"It was seven years ago."

"And I remember every second of it, like it was yesterday."

Shinji didn't say anything for a bit. "Why did you come to my dad's company of all places?" he finally asked.

"Do you want the real reason or the reason you want to hear?" Kaworu asked between sips of his soda.

"Both."

"Good, because in this case they're the same." He put the cup down. "I came to see you."

'What?'

"But- but we-" Shinji couldn't even finish the sentence.

"But we hadn't spoken in years?"

"Well- well, yes!" Shinji said. "All those years I thought you hated me..."

"For the first couple of months, I thought you hated me, too." Kaworu said. "But eventually I convinced myself you just wanted to break off our friendship."

"You were wrong..." Shinji said, looking more towards the tiles on the floor next to their table than at Kaworu.

"I was. And I'm sorry." He moved his head so that he was in Shinji's line of view, getting his full attention again. "But the point is that I missed you."

"...Kaworu..."

"I missed you even before I left. And I knew I was going to miss you more and more as time went on. There wasn't a day I didn't remember you and all the fun we had as kids, and how-" he stopped. Shinji was crying again. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know anymore...." he said between sniffles.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Kaworu got up and moved to the other side of the booth so he was sitting next to Shinji. "You can cry all you want, just calm down."

"I don't really know how to do that..." Shinji said, trying to wipe away his tears.

Kaworu reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. "Well luckily I do." he said. He plugged in his earbuds and handed one to Shinji before putting one in his own ear. He looked through his playlists and pressed one. "This look familiar?" He asked, holding up his phone so Shinji could see the songs."

"...Is that my old mixtape from when we were kids?"

"Yeah, I bought the songs and put them on my phone."

"You even put them in the right order..." Shinji said. "You said you remembered but geez."

"In my defense, you played it all the time."

Shinji smiled and Kaworu pressed the play button. For thirty-some minutes they were filled with nostalgia as each song played. The playlist consisted mainly of old 70's hits and classical music, but both of them enjoyed all the songs. They still talked and ate, but sometimes they would stop when a new one came one and make a comment like "this is one of my favorites" or "I love this one." Before they knew it, it was already 2:15.

"Crap," Kaworu said. "We should head back." He gave Shinji the other earbud and got up to clear the table of the burger wrappers and cups. when he came back, Shinji had pulled out the earbuds and was trying to hand him the phone.

"It's Rei," he said. "She told me to tell you it's really important."

Kaworu held the phone to his ear. "Rei?" he asked. "What's going on."

"...Um..." she said quietly. "I think I may have found the problem."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm happy I finally got to write this chapter. Even if I've written everything so far in one day.

If you're reading this, then thank you for doing so!! It's impressive that I got over ten reads because so few people on this site have watched nge. All the support that I've gotten over the last couple of months has really been a confidence boost (at least in terms of my writing). I feel so much better about my stories now then I did in the beginning of my first story. Thank you for that.