Despite what he might think of himself, there's plenty of things to like about Ace, too. He makes Misato laugh -- really laugh, not like those awkward, tempered laughs she choked out whenever any of her dates attempted to make a joke. And he's a genuinely nice guy. If the past two months made anything abundantly clear to Misato, it was that the Ace that showed up to her apartment with a bag of dog treats was no facade conjured up for a first date. That was really what Ace was like.

"I mean," Misato manages, after Ace's awkwardness. "I'd like it to be a thing, if that's a thing you'd like to do. I mean."

She swallows.

"Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

Since when did these conversations get so awkward? Suddenly, Misato feels like a junior high girl again, asking a boy out on a first date, stumbling, struggling to find the right thing to say.