AU; ain't no rest for the wicked

[nooses]

i've got bills to pay, i've got mouths to feed
there ain't nothing in this world for free

STARRING:
THOSE BORN INTO FORTUNE - Shintaro Kisaragi. Shinji Ikari.
THOSE CAST OUT BY FORTUNE - Masumi Seki. Monica Campbell. Guy Cecil.

Comments

[imusntrunaway]

[He hesitates.] What did you come to this city for?

[substitutable]

[He doesn't answer immediately. He leans back where he sits, watches Shinji for any further motions, and rolls his shoulders and neck.]

Why do you want to know? [He's not being defensive, but this is still a city full of secrets. Does Shinji really want to pursue this topic?]

[imusntrunaway]

[Curiosity was nothing but a handicap. He'd been taught this since he was very young and learned to carefully quash any and all feelings tied to it. But Shinji's only human. And as a human being, he wants to understand Shintaro. The pencil stops.] Many people are afraid of my father. [It's a soft reiteration of a fact.] Working for him has a lot of bad connotations. [Should he say this?] You don't seem like a bad person.

[substitutable]

[He picks at the toughened skin of a callous of his palm, thinking of the gun that left it there over the years.]

Your old man offered me a better paycheck and protection than what I had before. It was just Ene and me taking jobs when they cropped up. It was more convenient.

[Plus, Gendo's agent had brought up Momo. Nobody else had ever been able to trace Shintaro that well. He couldn't say no, since Gendo's offer to protect his sister was another way of saying they could harm her whenever they want.]

[imusntrunaway]

[So it was just the money, then? Shinji looks up from his homework to scrutinize Shintaro, expression quirked in confusion.]

You've done this sort of work before?

[substitutable]

Not exactly this. [He rubs the back of his neck.]

I did hacking jobs. Naturally, that came with having to get rid of people coming after me. That was about it... I still do it fr this group sometimes.

[imusntrunaway]

[Ah. He understands why his father would want someone like Shintaro around, now. Strong as they were in their muscle, their virtual strength wasn't much to write home about.]

I'm sorry. You had to switch from that to watching me...

[substitutable]

Sorry? It's been fun. [He means that in the most sincere way.] It's been years since I got to hang around anyone like this, and you're loads better than any of the other idiots I could've worked with, or being stuck in a room answering emails for Gendo.

[imusntrunaway]

['Fun,' huh? Part of him wonders just how fun it was to be endangered almost every day, to have to help a kid like him with homework each night. But that expression on Shintaro's face is honest and open. It's why he frowns a little instead and turns his attention back to his homework.] ... you're weird. [In a good way.]

[substitutable]

You didn't say it when I introduced you to the AI that I work with, but you call me that now? [He can guess why Shinji would call him that, though.]

[imusntrunaway]

Ene's nice. [He likes her, despite her obnoxious energy.] She fits in better than you do, too.

[substitutable]

You can keep her if you want. Take it. I'll put her on a USB since she's only a couple megabytes.

[imusntrunaway]

... just like that? You aren't even going to ask her?

[substitutable]

I've tried this before and she finds her way back immediately.

Honestly, I wouldn't do that to you anyway. It would suck if she ends up liking the place.

[imusntrunaway]

... you mean, if she likes me over you.

[substitutable]

She does call me pathetic and disgusting all the time.

[imusntrunaway]

Maybe you should flatter her more often.

[substitutable]

I guess. [He sighs, tapping at his screen. Ene's out to someone else's computer today, or just browsing the world wide web.] I guess I could take her out sometime. It's been work for her all the time, too.

[imusntrunaway]

You ought to. She probably needs a vacation. [All of them do, to be honest. But when there's a killing to be made, the wicked don't rest. He inclines his head slightly towards the older boy.]

It'd be good for you too, Shintaro.

[substitutable]

Unfortunately, I wasn't given any vacation days when I got hired here. [He accepted that, of course, after a sarcastic comment or two about worker's rights and federal law violations. He hasn't minded; it pays the bills.] But I can probably get us a day or two out of town. Wanna come?

[imusntrunaway]

[A day off... is it sad that it's a foreign concept to Shinji?]

You don't think Father would mind? [It's a tentative test of the waters.]

[substitutable]

[It is. But Shintaro can understand. He and Ene set their own schedules before coming here, but since then it's been nothing but work. If someone's been in this his entire life like Shinji has, vacations must be nonexistent.]

Of course not. I'll pick a day where the most we'll be doing is sitting around headquarters anyway, and if he decides to message us I'll answer. You'll finish your homework, and we won't leave any assigned reports unfinished.

["Gendo won't give a shit what either of us do as long as we don't cause trouble or leave things undone," he doesn't say. Even then, he doesn't know how much the man would be bothered -- he has a feeling the man would consider even his own son expendable.]

[imusntrunaway]

... that sounds like a regular work day to me. Shouldn't vacations be more, um, relaxing?

[substitutable]

... Uh.

[SIGH. Shinji is right. Damn it. He'll just take care of everything beforehand then so they don't have to do anything that day.]

Is there anywhere you want to go?

[imusntrunaway]

[Was there anywhere he wanted to go...? Somewhere open. Somewhere clean and quiet. Anywhere that wasn't this city.]

... can we go to the beach?

[It's asked with great hesitation.]