#Liz is definitely taking the advantage of Shinji cooking for them but also Shinji is happy he could try out the recipe he wants

[miusato]

I haven't talk about shinjiham enough in this au lol so anyway I was thinking about how Shinji kinda use Minako's house as a place for him to basically get away from his foster home and also practice his cooking. The kitchen back at the foster home is off limit to him and the rest of the foster kids so he couldn't really cook there. Minako didn't know he likes to cook until one day she brought him home to hang out and watch TV and while they were watching some silly cartoons on MTV suddenly she gets hungry and was moaning about how she has to eat instant ramen since Liz isn't home so she couldn't order takeouts. Shinji asked what's in their kitchen and said he can probably cook something for her if she lets him snoop around the kitchen. She was surprised that a guy like him wants to cook and he smiled and reveals that he cooks a lot when he was in the orphanage and one of his current part time job is a cook and he enjoys it a lot despite the stressful chaotic enviroment of the kitchen.

When Minako showed him their kitchen, he grimaced at the stacks of instant ramen filling up their cabinet and even more so when he realize that almost all of the food in the kitchen is basically instant food. Yet, food is food and whatever they have in that home is the most food he'd ever seen in a kitchen since he moved into his foster home so after going through every cabinets and drawers and scanning the fridge, he managed to whip out a mean fried rice out of minute rice, soy sauce packs from sushi take outs and veges from salad bowl. She was genuinely impressed that he managed to throw some random shit together in a pan and create an actual food and even more so when the food is really good. Shinji, as usual would undermine his skill and when Minako insist that he's really good at it, he would quickly change topic by scolding at how shit their diet is and Liz should learn how to cook lol

Ever since then, any time they hang out at Minako's home, she always expects him to cook something for her and while Shinji complains about how even after every visit the amount of instant and junk food never changed and also joked that Minako brought him back home just to be her private cook, they did actually bought some fresh food (mostly because Minako told Liz that she should buy something fresh just so Shinji can cook something with it when he's visiting lol) and he also really don't mind cooking for Minako at all. At one point when Liz's at home, she actually did bring both of them out together for grocery so they can cook something special for dinner all of them actually did have a good time just being able to spend time together and Shinji, despite being awful at expressing his emotion and doesn't show his emotion, is enjoying the brief domesticity he has before having to return to his home.

Also I find it so cute that Shinji's love language is basically act of service. Shinji is blunt and has no problem telling people straight up that he didn't like them and basically do whatever he wants and basically scaring people away but he's also extremely bad at telling people he loved that he cherished them and enjoyed their company so he definitely showed them through doing things such as cooking for Minako. And skdjsksosks love that in his SL when you didn't romance him, he's like "You're hungry? I'll make you something. Might as well talk and eat at the same time, right?" Like AAAAAA idk him just cooking for her is basically him letti g himself be open yet vulnerable to Minako and oh god can someone just like put me to sleep its 2 AM here-