Big, day, before…
Some weeks after My other Fiction "Why today…"
EVA fanfic by Rickettz

Shinji woke up one morning, thinking "Oh, boy. Just another year of my life, whisked away." It was Tuesday, the 23rd of April, Shinji's Birthday.

He got up, got changed into his uniform, grabbed his Walkman and got some breakfast. Misato and Asuka were already finished and waiting for him. "Hurry up, Ikari. Or we're going to be late."
"All right, all right, give me a break!" He complained while getting his shoes on with a piece of toast in his mouth. "Stop messin about and get in so we can go." Shouted Misato from the car.

"Normal school day. Teachers late, Asuka's yappin on and so is Suzahara (One of Shinji's friends)." Shinji thought to himself. In a couple of minutes the Teacher came in and proceeded with the role. All was OK until, "Ikari, Shinji Ikari. Oh, it's your birthday today, is it not Mr. Ikari?"
The whole class went quiet and Asuka jaw dropped.
"It's your birthday, Shinji?" Questioned Ayida.
"Um, well, yeah." He replied felling a bit bashful. With that the class jumped into a fit of talking, whispering and congratulating but all that mattered to Shinji was that Rei stood up and said, "Happy Birthday, Shinji." And gave him a hug. This display of affection gave the class a bigger shock.
"Does that mean…?" started Suzahara.
"Yeah." Answered Shinji, blushing slightly.
"Damn." Said Suzahara, hitting the desk. "That means there's only one left." Staring over at Asuka.
"Don't even think about it." Cautioned Shinji.
"Oh, you wreck all my fun." Replied a disappointed Suzahara. The day progressed well, usual lunch, gossip with the guys. On the way home, Asuka wouldn't shut up for a second. "You didn't tell me, Shinji?
"I'm hurt!"
"Didn't think I could keep a secret, hay?"
"Well it's all out now!"
"Yes, Asuka." Shinji replied, not paying any attention.

"Hey, Shinji!" Shouted a voice from behind them. Shinji turned around to see Rei running towards him. "Oh, Hi." He replied.
"Well, well, if it isn't lover girl!" commented Asuka.
"Be nice." Shinji asked. By now Rei had caught up.
"Yeah, what is it, First Child?" Questioned Asuka.
"Shouldn't you know, Asuka?" Said Rei, staring blankly at her. From staring into space, Asuka suddenly started sprinting for home.
"What's up with that?" Shinji said under his breath.
"Well, come on. We're gonna go out for a bit." Rei ordered.
"But we're still in uniform." Shinji stated.
"That's Ok. I've got spare clothes. You?"

Luckily, Shinji carried an extra plug suit In case NERV accidentally lost his one that they stored in his locker. He felt pretty silly on the monorail that was virtually empty except for Rei and himself. Rei hadn't stopped laughing since he came out of the public toilets with his Plug Suit on. "Come on, it can't be that bad… Can it?" The comment only managed to make her laugh harder and louder. "No, not at all." Was all she got out before laughing some more in hysterics. "Yeah, right." He said and blushed when remembering that he was naked under the suit. The monorail was taking them to the only place they seemed to go on the monorail, the Cliff. "What's this all about anyway's?" Asked Shinji.
"It's your birthday, isn't it?" she asked back.
"Yeah, what's that have to do with it?"
"Isn't it meant to be a momentous occasion. You've survived another year, through the angel attacks."
"True, but it's not much of a big deal. I've survived because you and Asuka have always been there to back me up and have saved me numerous times." He said while looking towards the ground, remembering when Rei self-destructed Unit 00 to stop the 16th angel from attacking Eva 01 and himself. "Anyway. What Eva are you going to pilot now?" he asked when raising his head. "Doctor Rikagi is working on rebuilding Unit 00 for me?"
Shinji rose from his seat and walked towards the door. Rei looked up with a troubled look on her face, thinking, "What is he doing?"
"We're almost there." He stated.
"Uh, Ok." She replied, thinking to herself "He must be psychic or something." They waited at the door. Hand in hand.

When they sat down at their usual bench it was so tranquil that the crickets wouldn't dare break it. Rei lay down and placed her head on Shinji's lap. Shinji was going red all over but luckily Rei was to busy looking at the view to notice or she'd laugh hysterically once again. "Rei?"
"Yes."
"Why do you like me?"
"Pardon?"
"Why?"
"I guess it's, just you, that I love."
"What?"
"That day, you came into my apartment and put on your Commander Ikari's Glasses, you looked like him and, well, I was somewhat startled but when you gave me the keycard and Doctor Rikagi elaborated, I understood." She replied still looking at the view off the cliff. Suddenly, she got up and walked over to the edge. "It's time."
"For what?" Asked a confused Shinji.
"You'll see." She said with a wry smile on her face.

They took the Monorail on the way back to Misato's place and Rei would only say one thing to Shinji's constant pestering, "You'll see when we get there."
"Come on?" Shinji pleaded.
"You'll see when we get there." Was the typical response she always gave him for the past fifteen minutes. He resorted to begging on his hands and knees. Rei was quite pleased with herself. She'd gotten the top ranking Synchronization Tester on his hands, begging her for something. She snickered. "What's so funny?" asked Shinji.
"Nothing."
"Ah, so you do posses an extended vocabulary." Shinji retorted. Rei thought for a second.
"You'll see when we get there." She answered. Shinji only collapsed at the repetition of her phrase.

Shinji had been pestering Rei all the way from the train station to Misato's house and had been relentless in his quest for information. "Aw, come on, Rei. Just tell me. I won't tell Asuka. What ever it is."
"That doesn't bother me. She already knows." She said, still with the smirk on her face.
"WHAT! Asuka knows about this too? Just great. I'm going to cop so much flak."
"Here we are." Rei announced.
"You've got to be kidding me. Why did you bring me home?" He asked, completely baffled. They walked in and Shinji noticed that the light were off. "Either no ones home or there's one heck of a precise power outage." He said as he walked to the light switch to see if it worked. Suprisingly, it worked but what was even more of a shock was that everyone was in the living room. Gendo Ikari, Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, Asuka, Toji and Kensuke, they were all there. Shinji received a flurry of Congratulations of his Birthday and his father came up and hugged him for the first time in ten or eleven years. Asuka still paid him out but he was used to it. Toji and Kensuke came and gave him a card and a present each. Misato gave him a big hug also and same with Rei and Ritsuko. "I've known you for a while, Shinji." Started Ritsuko, "And I know that you don't like to be noticed much but tonight, you're the star, Ikari. I think I speak for everyone when I say, Happy birthday, Shinji." And with that the whole bunch joined Ritsuko in three cheers.
Commander Ikari and Ritsuko had to leave halfway through the night due to problems with the reconstructed Unit 00. But other than that the night was a complete ball and Shinji got just what he wanted, a mini-Discman so he didn't have to carry around that brick of a Walkman.

"Fifteen. Never would have thought I'd make it this far."
"Well. You did. And I'm happy with the result."
"Thanks. Rei."

The End