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Asta and Yuno had always had the closest connection possible between two people, ever since their early days at the orphanage. This had hardly changed at all, and instead had strengthened through every day of their lives, together or apart. To most people, their friendship seemed to suggest that there was more to uncover, however.
Noelle and Asta were walking back to the Black Bulls’ Base after spending their day off with Yuno and Mimosa. They walked at a normal pace, Noelle walking slightly ahead looking forward, Asta in his mind somewhere, arms crossed behind his head as he looked to the side. Noelle paused her walking for a second to face Asta. “Asta?”
“Mm?” he replied, turning to look at her with his wide green eyes.
Noelle almost immediately flared up and fought the urge to look away as she cleared her throat to ask, “A-Are you and Yuno… y-you know?”
Asta dropped his arms now, confusedly looking at her. “Huh?” He didn’t understand.
Noelle angrily looked away. He was so stupid! “A-are you, you know, a… thing?”
Asta continued to look at her in a confused fashion, his face contorting itself more. “Huh? You know we’re rivals, Noelle!”
Noelle nearly blasted him to the other side of the world. He was so incredibly dense! “Are you dating?!” she nearly yelled at him. “Dating, you idiot!”
Asta’s face now changed into one of slight pensiveness. “Oh. No?”
Noelle deadpanned. “You don’t even know?!”
Asta began to protest, “Why would you even think that? We act perfectly normal, just like us Noelle!”
Noelle began to sputter angrily, “No! Do you not even realize how you act?!”
Asta took the question as an opportunity to think back on their day.
--
The sun had just begun to rise and touch the glass of Asta’s window as he forcefully pushed his body up and let out a huge yawn. He stretched his arms for a second and jumped out his bed, stretching the rest of his body.
Now, to begin his reign of loudness.
He began screaming as he began to whittle down his morning chores one by one. After screaming and dusting down every surface known to him in the base, after screaming and having more than one unfortunate nosebleed while cleaning laundry, and after screaming and feeding Captain Yami’s beasts, he let out a final sigh, just to scream again. “Noelle!”
The royal girl gave him a glare, sitting with her arms crossed and her head held high. “Why are you screaming so early, Stupidsta? I’m right here, too!” She rolled her eyes.
Asta characteristically ignored these rude gestures and reminded her, “Remember we’re meeting up with Yuno and Mimosa today!”
Noelle sighed. “How could I forget? It’s all you’ve managed to talk about for the past few days.”
It was true. Ever since Yuno sent Asta his letter, casually mentioning that he had a day off, which was coincidentally the same day as Asta’s, Asta immediately sent back a terribly handwritten letter planning to spend that day together. Yuno had only sent back a very, very short letter agreeing. Since that day, Asta bounced his ideas off on Noelle on where they should go, mentioning Yuno in every other sentence.
“I wonder what fancy place the Golden Dawn hasn’t already gone to,” Asta grumbled to Noelle. “I wonder what place we could go to that would impress Yuno,” he began to wail, throwing his head back, supported by both his hands as if his confusion was causing him physical pain. Noelle didn’t doubt it, actually. Then he had run off to scout the city and see if he could manage to come up with something special.
By the time he had returned, he was completely wiped out, tired, hungry, but slightly more satisfied than that morning. He sat down next to Noelle in the common room, beginning his idea’s process.
“So!” Asta began, sitting applesauce-crisscross on his seat, one hand holding up an index finger, the other holding the seat of his chair. “I decided we should attend a cooking session, visit a hot spring, Vanessa suggest a winery, so I’m not sure but why not, and end the day at a nice restaurant!” He beamed even more with all these words, then contorted his face almost evilly. “That jerk Yuno! I’m sure he’s done all that, but I’m going to make him remember these experiences even more fondly!”
Noelle blinked. What did that last sentence even mean!?! She cleared her throat. “Asta, these sound like pretty… romantic activities.”
Asta gave a wave, dismissing her idea. “No way! Plus, Yuno can only have the best!”
Noelle sighed, already thinking about how the day would play out.
--
Back in the present, Noelle and Asta had managed to show up for their cooking session… slightly late, because of course Asta had mixed up several of the addresses of their various activities for the day. Yuno and Mimosa were already present however, and had collected their materials, sitting and looking almost bored, Yuno namely. His eyes turned the moment Asta walked into the room, Noelle following with an emotionless expression, already screaming at Yuno. His amber eyes quickly scoped him out; he looked the same, tanner, maybe, from his training sessions, green eyes still sparkling unlike any he had seen before, genuine smile growing across his face.
“Yuno!” he exclaimed, and his rival straightened, walking over in his regular Yuno fashion, not too quickly, but just brisk enough. Asta immediately jumped on him, enveloping him in a tight hug that seemed like an attempt to merge their bodies completely. His legs had wrapped around Yuno’s lower half, his arms closing any gap between them and Yuno’s neck. He continued to prattle more excited insults and compliments, finally removing his face from resting atop his arms during this, and gave Yuno a kiss. Noelle and Mimosa immediately flared up and looked around, anywhere, at each other, trying to confirm what they had just witnessed. Had they… witnessed that? Or—
They turned back, in disbelief. The kiss had lasted longer than a few seconds, and Asta had finally jumped down from Yuno’s grasp, walking over to the materials he and Mimosa had gathered just before. He looked completely normal, examining them and looking at the recipe for their task. Yuno did, however, have dusted ear tips and a squirming smile on his face, unlike either of them had ever seen before. Asta called him over, and began discussing with him his game plan. Noelle and Mimosa attempted to take the hint and began collecting new materials to leave the… pair by themselves. Asta noticed immediately and looked at them in confusion. “I thought we were going to make this all together?”
“Oh, no, we thought it’d be better in pairs,” Mimosa said, smiling at the oblivious Asta. He began to protest, but Yuno murmured into his ear, and he reluctantly let go of his protests and began to give Yuno his full attention.
Their task was to bake a strawberry shortcake. Asta began to take control of the operation, but after missing various easy, clear steps, it was clear Yuno had to step in. Asta began to pout as Yuno began to give him the lame tasks, like crack the eggs, or open the flour. Yuno rolled his eyes and, after throwing his eyes around the perimeter, gave Asta a light kiss to distract him. This immediately perked him up, and he put more energy into his seemingly lame tasks.
“They’re not lame,” Yuno told him as he began to whisk within the metal bowl, all the ingredients melting into each other. “They’re essential for the creation of this delicious pastry. If you couldn’t do them for me, I wouldn’t be able to create the cake.” This helped brighten Asta’s mood completely, especially when Yuno finished mixing and allowed him to taste-test off his index finger. He sat back down and nodded firmly, giving the Asta approval for the mix. Yuno then expertly poured the batter into the round container, and set up all the correct time intervals on the oven’s panel. Asta watched, completely entranced. That was his Yuno…! So intelligent and resourceful, so calm and calculating. He fell in love with every one of his movements, and the small changes in his face. Asta had been watching his face carefully ever since they had begun growing up as children and they became set on their dream. Yuno, by that point, wouldn’t ever express his emotions willingly, or talk about them, even to Asta, so he had to learn to discern Yuno’s tells for himself.
Yuno finished at the oven and walked back over to Asta, now having the opportunity to just talk and catch each other up on everything they’d missed in the past months. Asta talked brightly, voice intervals changing depending on whichever part of whichever story he was telling. His voice was naturally loud as he would tell him the scene of his missions, but lower naturally as he recounted the life or death events, and heartbreaking moments of his missions, but eventually brightening up as he talked about surpassing his limits, just as they’d always done. Yuno smiled lovingly at him as he put his entire being into recounting these missions, slightly tightening the grip his hands held on Asta’s. With every word, Asta buried him deeper and deeper into the emotion of love that he began to feel in every cell of his body. He always felt more when he was around Asta, as if his words rendered him sensitive to the world as they came out. And his eyes, he had once attempted to find the technical name for the shade that Asta’s eyes held, but there just wasn’t one, and Yuno had concluded that he was so special that the color hadn’t even been discovered or named yet.
They sat across from each other, bodies linking through their held hands, taking each other in their entireties, drinking each other in as if afterwards they’d never meet again. They were interrupted eventually by the oven’s timer, and Asta jumped up eagerly, nearly opening the entrance and sticking his hands in, when Yuno’s wind magic pushed him slightly to the side. Asta pouted again as Yuno used protective gear to retrieve the cake, allowing it to rest atop the cooking surface. He then turned to Asta, passing him the frosting tool to allow him to design however he wanted, with a loving smile. Asta perked up instantly again, pushing Yuno away harshly and insisting that he couldn’t peek until he was done. Yuno smiled again, complying as he stood off to the side as Asta determinedly and slowly dragged the frosting over the cake, eyes focused and his tongue sticking out. Finally, he stepped back, exhaling. Then he cut two slightly uneven pieces and plated them, setting them on their table, finally calling Yuno over.
“Look!” He puffed out his chest as though he were a bird. Yuno stood over his shoulder, observing. The cake originally had written on it, “Asta *Future Wizard King* and Yuno 4EVER & EVER!!!<3<3” quite sloppily. Yuno scoffed. “Asta, not a chance.”
Asta began to argue with him as they sat down again, but changed course quickly, saying loudly, “Wait!”
Yuno waited, and Asta grabbed his fork, sectioning off a small piece, and offering it to Yuno. “Say ahh!”
Yuno blushed profusely, scratching the back of his neck, but begrudgingly opened his mouth, where Asta in response softly lay his fork inside with the soft cake. Yuno chewed, enjoying the taste. “It’s good,” he murmured, offering a small smile. Asta beamed proudly and tried their creation, overexaggerating on its greatness. He then yelled over to Noelle and Mimosa to see how their cake was going. The entire time they’d been throwing glances over at the two, completely shocked and offended that they hadn’t been informed that they were dating?!?
Asta seemed to notice none of this, and eventually it was time for the next activity he’d set up.
--
“This was Vanessa’s suggestion!” he brightly informed his troupe of friends. “I’m sure it’ll be fun!”
“So, we’re just going to get drunk,” Noelle stated matter-of-factly.
“No, we’re going to be introduced to the world of different wine tastes,” Asta turned, arguing with her. She simply turned her head, flipping her ponytail. “I’ve done so many of these as a royal that this is child’s play.”
Asta turned away towards Yuno. “Royals and their privileges!” he grumbled, and Yuno comforted him by drawing slow circles over the back of the hand he held. Noelle and Mimosa once again exchanged glances.
They walked into the brewery on time, no thanks to Asta though, and found there weren’t four seats for all of them as a group. Instead they had to split into pairs once again, which was regrettable to Asta. All of them knew he was genuinely sorry they couldn’t spend the activity together, but also thought this was a better arrangement. Yuno and Asta continued holding hands as they sat and were served various different wines.
Asta made a face at a particular one. “This one just tastes gross.”
Yuno raised his eyebrow, and his glass. ‘What do you mean? This is the first decent one they’ve served us.”
Asta shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on with your taste buds, but you’re wrong!”
“I’ll show you,” Yuno replied, and held Asta’s chin as he enveloped him in a warm kiss. He really didn’t care that they were in a public space and that their friends were there as well as strangers, he rarely got to see Asta as it was. He gave him a passionate kiss with much use of his tongue, which Asta eagerly accepted. When Yuno pulled away, Asta was completely flushed and he wasn’t sure if it was due to him or the alcohol. Either way, he turned back to his new sample, with dusted ear tips again. Asta stared almost drunkenly down into his drink; not off the alcohol, but off of Yuno’s love, taste, feel, being, presence.
--
By the time the four of them stumbled out of the brewery after many, many free samples, it was becoming evening and Asta just barely remembered his next plan of action, the hot springs. The stumble to the establishment was slow as the world around them began to retire and quiet down, promising to appear the next day. Shops’ customers were thinning out, and workers at the front of the stores were exhaling in very long yawns. Asta and his troupe dazedly walked through the capital, a buzzed feeling shared amongst them. Asta and Yuno were quiet ahead Noelle and Mimosa, holding hands, Asta leaning slightly on Yuno. They passed mothers calling out to playing children covered with dirt and smiles, their front porch lights dimming. Asta lazily turned his head while walking through these scenarios, his heart aching for home. His hand was squeezed suddenly. He lethargically turned to look up at Yuno, who gave him a lazy smile with a hint of understanding. He missed home, too.
But at least they had each other. Forever, right?
Asta closed his eyes for a second. Whatever was longer than forever, that was how long him and Yuno would be connected, regardless of distance, or anything else.
The four walked up to the hot springs service, the woman at the front desk smiling. Transactions were made, and they were once again split into pairs as they were led to their gender’s respective baths. They waved at each other, and turned away.
Asta and Yuno stumbled on their way to the bath, and while taking off their clothes, snickering all the while. Asta fell backwards into the bath, only allowing a moan to escape his lips, eyes already closed as steam enveloped him. Yuno slid into the steaming water slowly, his amber eyes adjusting through the mist to look at Asta.
His rival opened his eyes just as slowly, righting himself up, eyes sweeping until they landed on who they looked for, and began to wade through the water towards their target. Yuno patiently waited until Asta was right in front of him, his green eyes even while unfocused making his skin tingle in the weirdest manner possible, yet he came to enjoy it. He reached out to Asta, cupping his soft cheek in his hand, and closed his eyes as he leaned in. His lips met soft ones, the kiss beginning as a soft peck that wouldn’t have been abnormal during their childhood youth. It transformed into a more passionate kiss, Yuno separating Asta’s lips to slip in his tongue, similar to at the winery. Asta obliged, attempting to reciprocate his actions, though not very successful. At this Yuno’s lips tugged upwards into a smile, where Asta pulled away with another pout. He glared at Yuno and turned away, arms crossed. Yuno suppressed a bout of laughter. “Asta?”
He simply turned his head further, refusing to look at him until Yuno slipped his arms around him and murmured into his neck. Asta twitched, pulling away and looking at him. “It’s not fair! No matter what, I’m never as good as you at that!” He continued to glare angrily.
At this Yuno released a laugh. “You’re plenty good at other things though,” he said in a low voice, lowering his head in the water to look up at Asta. He turned away, flustered now, and Yuno noticed he made the effort of tightening his legs. He smirked at this, allowing his hand to explore underwater. Asta continued to glare, though he grew redder as each second passed, and no credit to the steam for that. He finally sighed, giving up his childish act, turning to Yuno and wrapping his arms around Yuno’s neck, looking lovingly into his eyes. Yuno paused his actions to look back with just as much love, and they remained like that for a little.
Eventually Asta broke away with a grin to push his arms forward through the water, drenching Yuno completely. He narrowed his eyes; he wouldn’t allow Asta to overpower him, not here, not ever!
They spent the rest of their time in the spring playing as though nothing had ever changed, and nothing would ever change. They played to their heart’s content, kisses sprinkled throughout, until Noelle and Mimosa came charging in to yell at them, followed by frantic staff they clearly had ignored.
It was due to them that they were now banned from this hot springs service, although the girls insisted had it not been for their lollygagging, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Their drunkenness had worn off, and they were worn out from their day’s activities and looked forward to the reservation Asta had made.
“Just so you all know, we would be starving right now if it wasn’t for me,” Noelle informed them all.
“That’s not even true,” Asta protested sheepishly, though it was very much true, and Noelle let them all know.
“You didn’t even make the reservation, Asta! We’d shown up looking like idiots! You’re so lucky you have me,” she rolled her eyes, while Mimosa giggled behind her hand, Yuno silently agreeing. Asta always had the best intentions, but that didn’t mean things always worked out the way he expected.
Asta spent the whole time bemoaning his innocence while Noelle effectively shut down every single one of the statements that came out his mouth. Mimosa attempted to support Asta. “I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you’re making it, Noelle!” This simply made it even worse for Asta’s argument, and eventually he had to begrudgingly agree with Noelle.
By the time they reached their destination, night had fallen all over the city, allowing the attractions of the capital to shine brightly and catch the eyes of all those still roaming around. After the friendly argument, all the Magic Knights marveled at beautiful the city they protected every day of their lives, with their lives, was. A quartet was playing a beautiful composition that touched each of their hearts as they walked through, observing the architectural buildings and fountains of water that had designs just as beautiful. They reached the restaurant Asta had chosen just the week day before, having fretted over various choices, wanting the best only for his Yuno.
The restaurant had a French theme, sophisticated attendants waiting to warmly show them to their way to their tables.
“Split reservation for the four of you?” the woman at the podium afront the restaurant asked sweetly. Asta’s eyes began to sparkle at the sight of her; she looked so cool! Her hair was picked up messily, but the front strips of her hair, dyed a bright red, fell forward. She wore her waitress uniform, as all the other employees, but her hastily pushed up sleeves revealed light blue swirls and whorls of designs on her fair skin, with hints of color blossoming all over. The mentioned waitress uniform was like everyone else’s; yet it wasn’t? It seemed as though the design changed specifically for her, becoming more special and creative, just somehow, against her colleagues. Asta’s ogling was very apparent to all four of them.
The waitress smiled nicely at Asta while Noelle hissed, “It’s rude to stare, idiot!” She dismissed this comment and began to regale Asta with different explanations for her hair, her skin designs, her seemingly different clothes. During this, another waiter led them to their tables; however, it was still split reservations, which Asta hadn’t heard during his admiration of the woman. This meant that Noelle and Mimosa were seated at their table, and Yuno had to wait for the stars in Asta’s eyes to fade. Eventually, the waitress smiled gently at Asta again, reminding him that he was here as a customer, and she as an employee. The stars in his eyes broke apart, and he perked up.
“I’m so sorry! I forgot!” he exclaimed as she showed him to their table. He stared confusedly at only Yuno as he sat down. “Where are Noelle and Mimosa?”
“Turns out Noelle arranged for separate seating,” he replied drily, looking over the menu. Asta noticed this, but dismissed it; they had just spent the day together! There was no way he was upset.
“Have you decided what you’re gonna get?” he eagerly asked, his eyes darting all over the menu, overwhelmed by decision.
“Sure,” came another dry response.
At this, Asta’s eyes flickered up, accompanied by a frown. “You don’t sound very happy.”
Yuno didn’t met his eyes, only furrowing his brows more as he looked down at his menu.
Asta set his down, giving him full attention now. “Yuno?”
He at first didn’t reply, and Asta was about to speak again, when he murmured, “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“I don’t care,” Asta said simply. This made Yuno look up at him. “I still want to know.”
Now Yuno looked away sheepishly. “It’s really nothing, Asta. Have you decided what you’re going to eat?”
Asta stared at him in a hard fashion. “Yuno! I’m not letting this go!”
Yuno sighed now, knowing this was very much true. “I just.. wish I was as interesting to you as that waitress was.”
Asta blinked; this was very unlike Yuno, to admit his feelings, much less those of jealousy. The corners of his mouth fought from breaking out into a smile that would lead into laughter. This was serious to Yuno, and he would treat it as such. He slid his hand across the hand, enveloping it within Yuno’s.
“Just because I thought her appearance was super, duper sick, doesn’t mean anything,” he said simply. “No one could ever be more interesting than you, or command my attention better than you ever could.” These words came from him easily, because they were the truth and Yuno deserved to hear them as much as he wanted to.
Dust began to settle on Yuno’s cheeks, as he had known this deep in his heart, but still had felt some type of way. He cleared his throat. “We can share this dish, if you want,” he suggested, using his free hand to point towards the item. Asta leaned over, reading quickly, sitting back down and enthusiastically nodded. “Of course!”
Yuno set down his menu to look at Asta again, deep into his beautiful eyes that he would never, ever tire of. Asta beamed back at him, like a light.
--
“What’s this for?” Asta asked as their waiter approached their table and set down a candle set, tipping the candle towards him to light the wick.
“The ladies at the other table requested this for you two,” he replied, and the pair turned to look at a grinning Noelle and Mimosa, the latter laughing again behind her hand. Asta waved enthusiastically at them, as Yuno sat there blushing.
“And for your order,” the waiter announced, setting down a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, parmesan sprinkled over in a beautiful fashion, melting as the candle’s flame danced in its container. Asta perked up, immediately grabbing the first fork he saw, regardless of the correct one he was supposed to grab. Yuno set his hand over Asta’s though, handling the correct fork, dipping into the plate of food and beautifully intertwining the noodles over the fork, spearheading a meatball.
“Say ah,” he said, and Asta obliged, opening his mouth wide, and closing it around the metal utensil, taking away the food. He contemplated as he chewed. “Mmm. It’s good. My turn!”
Yuno smiled in spite of himself as Asta attempted to copy Yuno, though failing miserably, not that this discouraged him. Eventually, Yuno simply picked up one end of a noodle, offering the other end to Asta. At first he didn’t understand, but the moment he did, he slurped fervently to meet Yuno’s lips at the other end.
They spent the rest of the night regaling each other with loving stares, more stories, and promises that extended past forever, holding hands the entire time.
--
Outside the restaurant, Asta stood on his tippy-toes to rub noses with Yuno, his arms around his neck all the while, and continued to whisper adorable nothings that meant the world to both of them. Eventually, though, they knew it was time to retreat to both of their squad’s locations, a sad fact for Asta as he openly complained.
“I wish we could be together at the same base all the timeee,” he whined as he swung their intertwined hands. Yuno smiled at him. “Sure, but it doesn’t mean you have to walk me to mine.”
“It does!” Asta insisted. “It’s far too dangerous to walk around at night, who knows what could be lurking in the dark.”
“Yet it’s okay for you?” Yuno bemusedly asked.
“It’s more than okay,” Asta whispered, glancing behind them. “Noelle’s scarier than anything that could possibly be out there!”
“I heard that,” she snapped at him from behind them. The three others laughed, and reached the Golden Dawn’s headquarters. Noelle and Mimosa began their farewells, leaving the other two to their own.
“I don’t want this day to end,” Asta whined to Yuno as he wrapped his arms around him. Jeez, this guy was so tall he could be a freaking tree. Yet Asta wouldn’t have preferred it any other way.
“We’ll have other days,” Yuno assured him, kissing the top of his head, his own arms around Asta. Most of the lights at the headquarters were shut off, but one nearest to them flickered on, accompanied by someone’s presence.
“Asta and Noelle of the Black Bulls,” Captain William Vangeance welcomed them, striding across his squad’s great lawn. Asta stiffened up immediately, ripping himself away from Yuno, a panicked look on his face and he stuttered in greeting his rival’s captain.
“C-Captain Vangeance!” Asta squeaked. He laughed in response at Asta’s flustered state, very much aware of their prior position.
“I take it you treated Yuno out on a nice date,” he commented teasingly, though this went over Asta’s head.
“Huh?!” he squeaked again, beyond flustered. Aside him, Yuno’s face couldn’t get any redder, knowing he’d stutter just as much if he were invited to speak. Noelle and Mimosa smirked at them. They were so oblivious and ridiculous, yet it never seemed to get old.
“W-Well, we were just saying our goodbyes, so h-have a good night!” Asta managed to say without as much trouble as before. The captain smiled at them as the Black Bulls retreated and waved at the recruits behind him.
--
Asta thought of all this, and finally said to Noelle, “Yeah, I don’t see what you’re talking about. We’re just rivals.”
Noelle frustratedly stomped her foot, cursing out Asta as she finally blasted him with water, unable to deal with him any longer. “Find your own way back home!” she yelled, as Asta wailed, “Why?!”, flying across the capital.