Sparks Will Fly [Kawoshin: Kaworu x Shinji]

Chapter 6 - A Change in Management

Kaworu sped towards the garage, making it there in just five minutes. When he got out of the car, he jogged inside until he saw Rei.

"Rei!" he said. "What did you find?"

Soon, they were engaged in conversation, both of them pointing to the laptop screen at different times. Shinji knew he couldn't help, so he just sat down and took out his phone. After about two minutes Kaworu rolled a chair near him and sat down.

"Did you figure it out?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, or rather, Rei did," he rubbed his face with one of his hands. "but.... it's widespread. The problem is embedded in nearly every function."

"Which means..?"

"We have to rewrite most of it."

"Damn."

"Yeah."

They sat until Toji and Kensuke came in. Kaworu rushed over and told them the news. At 2:28, the same thing happened again with Ritsuko.

Asuka arrived at exactly 2:30. "What's all the ruckus about?"

"Rei figured out what the problem is. Or at least she figured out where the roots are. I came as soon as she called-"

"She called you instead of me?" Asuka asked, sounding insulted.

"Well, yeah, I'm the only other one of us who has any experience with coding, or-" He looked at Ritsuko and gave her an apologetic look. She waved her hand and smiled to let him know she wasn't offended. "A fairly substantial background with it, and she wanted a second opinion."

"Then she should have called me!" Asuka said. "I'm the project manager!" Worked up, she began to make her way towards Rei.

Everyone stepped in front of her trying to stop her from confronting Rei about it, but she stepped on Togi's foot with her heel and they all backed off out of fear. When the redhead reached her, it was more obvious than usual that she was mad. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Mr. Ikari told me to get the coding done as quickly as possible, and I-"

"I don't give a shit what Mr. Ikari told you!"

Rei spoke a bit louder than usual to try talk over Asuka. "I thought that calling you would slow things down so I called Kaworu instead."

Asuka bent down and looked Rei in the eyes. "Excuse me?" she asked. "Did I just get insulted by my own employee?"

"We aren't your employees, and it wasn't an insult, it was a fact. We work well together under Kaworu's supervision. Much better than we do under yours."

Kaworu shifted uncomfortably when the others looked at him.

Asuka raised her hand as if to hit the girl. "Say that again. Insult me one more time."

"You're a horrible supervisor and I think you-"

Asuka slapped her. No one actually thought she would do it, not even Rei. Toji ran up behind her and grabbed her from under her arms, lifting her up.

"Okay, Asuka," he said. "That's enough."

"What the fuck are you doing, you asshole?" Asuka screamed she tried to punch and kick him unsuccessfully. "Put me down! I'll have you fired!"

"Asuka!" A voice boomed from outside. The click of heels could be hear until Misato entered the garage. "That's the last straw. Get out."

"What?" Asuka said. Toji let her go, and she stomped right up to Misato. "You can't fire me!"

"Yes, actually, I can. I work for Mr. Ikari directly. If you want, I can tell him what's been going on and have him fire you instead."

"No!" Asuka screamed. "This is my project! Everything we've accomplished here is because of-"

"The engineers. You have barely done anything for the team for the past few months, so I'd appreciate it if you'd leave."

Asuka was speechless, so in an attempt to avoid further embarrassment, she ran out of the garage. Misato sighed. "Kaworu," she said. "You're the new project manager."

"Thank you..." Kaworu said.

"Alright, let's get back to work."

~~~

Shinji found Asuka outside having a smoke two hours later. As he moved closer, he realized she was, or at least had been, crying.

"Asuka?" he asked cautiously.

"Did you come here to laugh at me? Or to tell me what I did wrong? Or, let me guess, tell me that you're 'sorry'?"

Shinji shook his head and sat down on the ground next to her. "I just wanted to tell you that you did a good job," He said. "When you started to loose your cool, it was around when everyone else did, so I'm sure it's the stress getting to you."

He looked up at her and found her staring at the ground. "How can you say I did a good job?" she asked. "After all I've done to the team, and to you, how can you say that?"

"Because you're still young, like me, and like Kaworu. And like Toji, and Rei, and Kensuke. It was your first real project, right? So then... do better next time."

"I don't know if I can..."

Shinji rested his head on his knees. "I guess you're just supposed to mess up until you get an okay result. Or at least that's what I always do."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: FUCK OK THIS ONE SAID IT PUBLISHED BUT IT DIDN'T I'M SORRY I PUBLISHED THE NEXT CHAPTER FIRST FUUUCCKKK

One thing I never thought I'd write was life tips from Shinji fucking Ikari but here we are. This was an Asuka chapter, obviously, but she's pretty much gone from the team now so she won't have another one for a while.

He fic is going to be short(-ish?) compared to my other one. It might not have too many chapters left so if you're liking it then I'm sorry. If you hate this ship then you're welcome, I guess.