Author's Note: Written in celebration of Shinji's birthday. Lord knows when this takes place, because both Asuka and Kaworu are both around. Who knows.

The first thing Shinji heard when he woke up was a noisemaker, the kind people blow at New Year's or on birthdays. He looked out of the door to his room and saw Misato smiling, the noisemaker clutched between her teeth.

"What's the occasion?" asked Shinji.

Misato laughed. "It's your birthday, isn't it?"

Oh, it is, isn't it, thought Shinji. I'm surprised she remembered.

Pen-Pen entered the kitchen. Misato had put a conical birthday hat on his head. The penguin didn't seem to mind, nonchalantly getting himself some fish and returning to bed.

Misato said, "It better be your birthday. After all the trouble I went through to bake your cake, I'd hate for it to go to waste."

In spite of himself, Shinji shuddered. "Y-you baked a cake?" He struggled to keep the obvious worry out of his voice. He didn't exactly have confidence in Misato's baking skills.

Misato winked and laughed again. "Oh, don't be so polite. I'm just kidding. I bought the cake at the supermarket. We'll eat it after work today."

Shinji sighed in relief. I wonder who else remembered?

Asuka had already left for the Geofront before Shinji had woken up. She usually did. Her confident and exuberant attitude made her more of a morning person than him or Misato. However, the two Eva pilots ran into each other transit. While descending one of the massive escalators required to complete his morning commute, Shinji noticed Asuka a few steps below him. He carefully descended and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Good morning, Asuka."

Asuka casually looked over her shoulder. Calmly, she said, "Oh, hey Shinji, you're here earlier than usual."

She ruffled around in her pockets and pulled out a small paperback book. "By the way, happy birthday."

She tossed the book over her shoulder without even looking. Shinji reached out for it frantically, barely catching it before it fell into the seemingly endless chasm below.

Not fazed in the slightest, Asuka said, "It's a manual on close quarters combat. It should help you fight better than a headless chicken, which is more than can be said about you right now."

Shinji was about to retort it bit his tongue. He knew better than to criticize a gift, and this one could actually be pretty useful later down the line. Shinji couldn't remember the last time Asuka had done anything thoughtful for anyone, so he pocketed the book and bowed his head respectfully. Asuka didn't even notice.

Shinji met Rei and Kaworu at the loading dock for their entry plug tubes. They had a long day of synchronization tests ahead of them. Despite their pale skin and red eyes, the two couldn't have looked more different as they stood next to each other. Rei was standing straight and tall, a blank look decorating her face. Kaworu had his hands in his pockets and a cheery smile,on his face. He was wearing a yellow birthday hat that tilted slightly to one side.

"I got you a gift," said Rei flatly. She reached out her palm and opened it, revealing a black case. Shinji took the case and opened it. Inside were a pair of sunglasses. The lenses had a red tint, similar to the prescription glasses his father wore.

Kaworu stepped up and put his hand on Shinji's shoulder. His grip was tight and his palm was warm. Shinji wasn't used to casual physical contact like this, and recoiled at first, taking an edge off of Kaworu's smile as he did so. Shinji exhaled awkwardly and slowly returned the gesture. Despite his pale skin, Kaworu's body felt almost unnaturally warm.

"I got you something too," said the Fifth Child. He handed Shinji a flat book with a picture of a cello on the cover. It was a collection of sheet music for the cello parts of famous symphonies.

"Thanks, Kaworu." said Shinji, blushing. "Are you going to keep that hat on?"

Kaworu's smile widened. "All day. I always do whenever one of my friend's birthdays come around."

"Do you do that on your own birthday?"

With a twinge of sadness, Kaworu answered, "No. People tend to be in a bad mood on mine. It brings back bad memories."

For a moment Shinji had forgotten Kaworu was born during Second Impact. No he felt a little bad. His grip on Kaworu's arm grew slack and slid down to his bicep.

Kaworu said, "That's why I try to make the most of everyone else's."

He pulled Shinji closer and landed a quick kiss on his cheek. Than he walked away humming, leaving Shinji as he blushed uncontrollably.

Shinji passed Gendo on his way to the entry plug.

"Hello Father." he stammered.

Gendo didn't look up from his clipboard, choosing is tear to leaf through another page.

Cautiously, Shinji continued, "It's my birthday today."

Gendo stopped reading. "Oh, right. It is, isn't it? I didn't remember."

Shinji felt as if he had been stabbed in the stomach.

"I remember the day you were born." Gendo sighed and looked up. He turned his gaze upwards, lost in thought. "Your mother was so excited, she said that..." A lengthy silence filled the air as Gendo reminisced.

Finally he shook his head and looked back down at his clipboard. "Anyway, we had better get started with those tests."

Shinji pivoted and ran towards his tube, swallowing the urge to sob.

The synchronization tests were as dull as ever. After the first hour Shiji had already closed his eyes and was lost in thought. He droned out all sound, listening to the hum of the massive machine. The Eva emitted a plethora of sounds, electronic buzzing, bubbling of LCL, and something that resembled a heartbeat. Usually they were random and periodic, with no discernible rhythm.

Today was different. The sounds seemed to flow together. It formed a definite melody, one that sounded familiar. He couldn't quite place it at first. He listened more closely, losing himself in the rhythm. Then it came to him. The Evangelion was forming the melody to "Happy Birthday to you..."

Shinji listened and bobbed his head along to the song. He whispered, "Thank you."