Author's Note: Short little Birthday story for Rei I whipped up in a pinch, super indulgent for me.
The details behind Rei Ayanami's birth were unconventional to say the least. She was not born in a womb to a mother, instead she was made in a lab underground to two grieving men. Her birth was the mark of failure in their goals to bring back the dead, her life not being the one they were wanting to create.
Her birth was never celebrated.
Regardless of not celebrating it, she never expected to even reach her fifteenth birthday.
Yet now, not only has she turned the age of twenty-three…
"Happy Birthday Rei!"
She was also celebrating her own birthday.
As Rei Ikari.
She offered her small smile to the people standing around the table she was sitting at, a cake having been set in front of her with frosting wishing her a happy birthday along with two lit candles being set on top shaped into the numbers two and three.
Looking at the guest who had attended, she could the two Suzuhara's with their child, her former fellow pilot Asuka who she has become something of a friend with despite their past animosity, Kensuke Aida who was acting as the photographer for the occasion, and of course, her own husband; Shinji.
"Happy birthday Mama!" Rei couldn't help but smile at the reiterated message.
Turning towards the one who said it had her looking towards the small toddler next to Shinji's who had to stand on the tips of her feet to peer fully over the table. It was a little girl with short dark hair that matched Shinji's, she wore a white and pink child sized dress, and looked towards the center of attention with a pair of eyes the same red color as Rei's.
The little girl was Megumi Ikari and was currently shuffling around the table to her mother. Another thing Rei had never expected to have was children, the nature of her creation and being making her believe she was incapable of being able to, yet miraculously she had come to bear a daughter whom she was enamored with.
"Ah, thank you all." Rei told them all genuinely.
"Enough thanks, hurry up and blow out your candles already." Asuka cried out from where she was standing.
"Asuka!" Hikari chided from where she stood by her husband Touji as she held her infant baby Tsubame, looking towards the mentioned redhead.
Seeing that her daughter had moved next to her, Rei scooped up the little brunette girl to sit her down onto her lap, the girl giggling as she was picked up. Her daughter's juvenile dress proved a contrast to her own mundane clothing she chose of a shirt and pants.
"Here Megumi, help me blow out my candles." She told her daughter as she leaned forward towards the cake with her, "Ready? One… two…three!"
It wouldn't have been at all difficult to blow out the candles on her own, considering there was only two, but Rei knew that her daughter would get more enjoyment out of blowing the candles out then she would and make the little girl happy, which in turn would make Rei herself happy.
Of course, her young daughter wouldn't quite realize that, and simply just thought she was helping her mother.
With a quite exaggerated breath, Megumi blew out one of the candles while her mother got the other one. Once both of the candles were out, the rest of the gathered adults cheered and clapped.
Shinji smiled at his wife and daughter, turning to Kensuke to see the photo he took of the two.
"Aw, what a good girl helping her mom." Hikari gushed as she found her friend's daughter to be cute.
"Heh good job ya little tyke." Touji praised, playing along as well.
"Hmm, guess you're starting to become a big girl huh Megumi?" Asuka reached over and ruffled the hair of the little girl, making her giggle.
It made Rei happy to see her daughter get fawned over, and in truth she rather liked that it took some of the attention away from her for a moment. She could handle it, but she also wasn't very used to it.
"Perhaps we should cut the cake?" Rei asked, getting the agreement of the other adults.
"Yay cake!" Megumi started bouncing in her mother's lap at the mention of the dessert.
"Ah, I'll cut it." Shinji told Rei; she of course deferred the task to her husband so that she could continue holding her daughter in her lap.
"Here Megumi, open wide." She was of course the first to receive a slice of the cake along with a plastic fork, which she used to cut off a bite size piece that she fed to her daughter. Shinji anticipated she would end up sharing her cake with Megumi, and so made sure to give her a bigger piece.
"Mmm!" The little brunette happily ate the cake her mother fed her, humming her approval of the flavor and sweetness.
Shinji finished handing out a slice for everyone before grabbing his own and sitting down next to his wife and daughter and letting out a snort at his wife feeding most of her own cake to the little girl.
"Have you at least tried it yet, Rei?" He questioned with some humor in his voice.
She looked at him and then took a bite of it herself, letting out her own hum of approval.
"Mm, it's good." Was all she said before then returning to feeding the cake to her daughter, being careful to keep her from spilling any crumbs on her own dress.
The brunette man couldn't help but shake his head with a chuckle at her behavior before then taking a bite of his own cake, and then remembering something.
"Here," He pulled out an envelope and offered them to Rei, who set the now empty plate onto the table before taking them from him. "Misato gave me a card for you the other day since she knew she wouldn't be able to come today." He then set his own cake down and reached over and lifted their daughter from Rei's lap so that he could sit her in his, "Let's let Mama open her card, okay Megumi?"
"M'kay papa." She agreed as she looked towards her mother with excitement to see her read her cards.
"Are we just going to do presents now as well?" Asuka asked with a lifted eyebrow as she finished eating her own cake.
"Yes, I think now would work as well for presents." Rei nodded her head as she started to open the envelope and pulled out the first card.
It was a rather obnoxious looking one truthfully, the cover was very colorful with a largely written message of 'Happy Birthday'. She opened it and found about twelve thousand yen and a handwritten message that she started to read aloud.
"Sorry I couldn't make it Rei, this job has been a pain in my…" Rei glanced at her daughter for a second as she read, "...butt, here's some yen, you can have Shinji take you out for a nice dinner and you two can have a nice night and-…" she stopped reading and blushed, as did her husband while Kensuke and Touji snickered, the latter getting an elbow jabbed into his side, "...I'll even watch little Megumi for you while you make me more grandchildren… anyways, hope you have a Happy Birthday, love Misato."
Asuka snickered while Kensuke chuckled and Touji tried not to so as to not get jabbed by his wife again. Hikari sighed and shook her head.
"That woman…" The brunette woman mumbled as she cleaned up Tsubame's mouth from the cake she fed them.
"Looks like you have your next date night planned hehe." Kensuke chuckled as Shinji and Rei still blushed.
"What did she mean make more-" Megumi began to ask.
"Ah nothing, it was nothing!" Shinji interrupted his daughter quickly.
"Your grandmother Misato is a very silly person, Megumi." Rei said as a means of explanation to her daughter.
The little girl pouted her lip for a second, feeling left out of the joke that made the other adults laugh, before then brightening up
"Now your presents Mama!'' The toddler announced as she bounced on her father's knee in excitement.
"Heh, well ya heard da little lady." Touji said as he moved the gift bag he and Hikari had brought to the table.
"Alright then." Asuka put her gift on the table, setting it in front of Rei.
Shinji already put his own small gift bag on the table as well, Kensuke's gift would be the photo's he had been taking that he would print out for them and frame.
"Ah, I think I will open yours first, Asuka." Rei told the redhead as she reached for the gift, the girl had crossed her arms and looked smug at her gift being chosen first.
Upon unwrapping the gift, she found a book, one that was in German. Rei was familiar with reading German and was able to translate the title.
"Germany. A Winter's Tale?" Rei read in a curious tone as she looked at the redhead.
"I thought you might find it as something interesting to read and I figured you should try reading more books in German that aren't textbooks." Asuka explained with a shrug.
"I see, thank you, Asuka." She gave the redhead a smile at the consideration, as Rei did enjoy reading in German, before she turned to grab another gift, going for the one's from the Suzuhara's.
Opening the bag and removing the paper filling, she found a few things, firstly was a new kettle with a flower design on it.
"I thought you could do with a new kettle, especially since you only recently moved to this place." Hikari told her as she pulled out the gift, and she was correct in that her and Shinji had only recently moved to their new home almost a couple of months ago, and it was a nice gift, considering that Rei's old kettle she had since her apartment and has become rather faulty.
Rei also found a few boxes of some of her favorite tea blends, which made her smile again. Her tea drinking habits have only increased since she had her daughter, not that she minded too much as she enjoyed both her daughter and tea.
"Thank you both very much." She gave them a smile as she turned to the last gift.
The last gift was the smaller bag from her husband, which she grabbed and opened, finding a box and a folded piece of paper.
Pulling out the box showed it was nondescript, being just plain white as it filled the palm of her hand. She looked at the card and smiled, seeing it was handmade by her daughter.
When she opened the box, she was met with the sight of a nice silver colored pendant with only a small heart engraved upon it.
"Open it…" Shinji prompted her, which Rei complied with. Coming open with a click, she was pleasantly surprised to see a picture had already been placed in it. The picture was one she and Shinji had taken together while their daughter was still only an infant, with her holding their child in her arms as her husband stood slightly behind her, both of them smiling.
"Shinji…" She regarded her husband with a warm look as she held the gift close for a moment before then showing it to the others.
"How nice!" Hikari appraised the object with her own smile and leaned in to look, her child reaching a chubby hand to try and touch the shiny pendant.
"Hmph, of course Shinji knows exactly what to get you." Asuka said as she too looked at the gift with a shake of the head.
"I just figured the only way you'd want to wear something like this over a regular necklace." Shinji explained to his wife.
"Eh-hem." Kensuke coughed as he finished taking another photo.
"And of course Kensuke helped me with the photo." He credited the bespeckled man with a roll of the eyes.
"Thank you, Shinji, it's wonderful." She gave him a peck on the corner of his mouth, prompting Asuka to make a quick gagging noise.
"Oh, and Megumi also came with and helped pick it." Shinji further elucidated, the little brunette nodding her head excitedly at her mention.
"Mm-hm!" The little girl affirmed, "Now my card!"
The mother of course gave in to her daughter's demand, closing the box lid on her new piece of jewelry and setting it down before grabbing the paper card. It had an endearing if a little crudely drawn message of 'Happy Birthday Mom!' written on the front in colorful letters. An approximation of what Rei could see as being an attempted drawing of her face, what with the drawn blue hair and red eyes.
Opening the card, she found a message written in her daughter's crude handwriting, though it was one Rei had learned to read.
"Happy birthday mommy. I hope you have a good day and like my card, I love you a lot! From Megumi." Rei read with a wide smile, also noticing the picture drawn on the inside of the card of what is supposed to be her and Megumi holding hands and having a couple of balloons.
"Aw!" Hikari cooed aloud.
"Thank you so very much Megumi." Rei leaned in and gave her daughter a few kisses on the forehead, making the toddler giggle.
"Papa helped me." The little girl declared.
"Just with spelling a couple of words, but all the rest was just Megumi." Shinji said while he ruffled his daughter's hair.
"Thank you all again for coming today." Rei announced to the room.
"Of course, Rei." Hikari told her.
"It was no problem at all." Kensuke dismissed as he looked at his recent picture he captured.
"S'all good, course we weren't gonna miss it." Touji waved off.
"Eh, it's not like I had anything else better to do." Asuka said in her own dismissive tone, but still she had a grin.
"Anyways, maybe we should start cleaning up a bit…" Hikari suggested, passing Tsubame to Touji to hold, "Here Asuka, why don't you help me clear off the table a bit."
"Why do I have to…" The redhead complained but still obliged her best friend's wishes.
Shinji got up to help in clearing off the table as well, passing Megumi to Rei who gladly took her daughter back and starting to grab his wife's gifts to set out of the way for the time being.
"Did you enjoy your birthday, Rei?" He asked his wife, who looked at him with a smile.
"I did." She confirmed as she held her daughter who was starting to babble about when she went with her father to go pick out the pendant for her.
It was nice to have a day where she got to be celebrated.
Though in truth she didn't like celebrating herself as much as she liked getting to be surrounded by the gifts she'd been given, not so much the actual presents themselves, but the people who were giving them. Her family and her friends. She loved the day as being a reminder of the people she had been gifted in her life who made it wonderful and worth living.
Author's Note: Just a little short something I wanted to make for Rei's birthday, also an excuse to bring back baby Megumi.