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All of House Silva hates the date November 15th, because sixteen years ago on this day, the lady of the house Acier Silva was killed during labor, giving birth to the youngest member of the family: Noelle Silva. This event caused each and every one of Noelle’s birthdays to be dreadful, and she’d spend it being both verbally, and physically harassed by her siblings. It’s a problem she has trouble speaking about with her new family, because she doesn’t want to reveal that she is sensitive about it.
Noelle can’t remember telling anyone about her birthday, which is why she is surprised when Asta comes flying through her window (courtesy of Captain Yami), shattering the glass, screaming as loud as he always does.
The plan for the day was to get Noelle out of the hideout, so that Henry can transform the house into a pretty-looking venue for Noelle’s surprise. Vanessa had originally wanted to take her out for a ladies day (which would most likely consist of drinking and sex) but Yami immedietly shut that idea down, trying to remind everyone there are two childs on the team.
In the end, it was decided that Asta would go with Noelle, since he is probably the only one who can keep a secret, and because they get along best, hence why he is currently rolling around in pain after being thrown by the Black Bulls captain.
“AHHH! WHAT THE HELL YOU STUPID FOOL?!” Noelle screams, throwing the book she was reading at him. Asta, in return, screams with her, holding his head in his hands, taking the abuse.
“STOP HITTING ME, NOELLE JESUS CHRIST!”
The screaming at each other continues until it is ended by Yami, with one final scream asking the two newbies to settle down so he can take a shit in peace.
“State your business with me now, peasant.” Noelle commands, now standing up from her bed. She’s lucky she’s in the shadows of her room, because she’s positive Asta would see her beat red face. “I can’t believe Asta is in my room!” she eternally squeals, not moving a muscle of her face.
“Sorry I scared you, Noelle! Cap’n wants us to head into the capital to run errands. Do you think you’re good to go now, or do you need a bit?”
“Hmph, I guess I shall grace you with my presence for a while. Even commoners like you enjoy the spotlight.”
Asta smiles and stares up at Noelle, able to see through her words, knowing deep down she wants to go. Noelle crosses her arms and closes her eyes, trying to hold still for as long as she can until she breaks. “Fine, is Finral taking us?” Noelle says, strapping her grimoire carrier around her waist.
“Nope, you’ll have to fly us.” The last time Noelle flew the two of them, they ended up crashing into a lake since she still isn’t that confident with her magic yet, but Asta keeps on forcing her to try until she will soon get it right.
They walk to the recreation area where Magna and Luck are fighting, Vanessa is drinking, Gauche is looking at pictures of his little sister, Gordon is talking to his dolls, and Yami is writing a list of things they need. On the list is: toilet paper, toilet cleaner, alcohol, sugar, flour, clothing for young girls, cigarettes, and bird seed. It’s easy to tell who wrote what on the list judging by the handwriting, and the item itself.
Noelle gets on her broom and Asta gets on behind her with Nero suddenly flying onto his head. “Look at you, always following me around.” Noelle says with a petty look on her face.
“It’s not like I have much of a choice. I still have no magic.”
“Of course you don’t, little insects like you are born to serve royals like myself.”
“Alright then Lady Noe, show me how amazing you are.” Asta says sarcastically.
Noelle hmphs and allows magic to surge through the broom, but a little too much comes out and the two (3 if you count Nero) immediately surge into the air and fly over the forest at top speed, as if they are trying to get away from bad guys.
Both of them scream, Noelle louder than Asta even though she’s at fault for this. In an attempt to keep himself from falling from certain death, Asta grabs onto Noelle’s waist to press his head against her back. This startles her and they start spinning around and round in circles.
“STUPID ASTA! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!” Noelle yells at her squadmate, her voice vibrating from the momentum.
“HOW IS THIS MY FAULT”
This continues until Nero has had enough and uses her own magic to keep the broom steady. The two catch their breath and thank the bird, but she doesn’t reply verbally.
Noelle is too embarrassed to speak after that. She can’t even turn her head to face Asta, because she is as red as a tomato. All of a sudden Asta starts chuckling.”
“You’ve come a long way Noelle! I remember when you couldn’t even get your feet off the ground.”
“Don’t get all cocky, Asta, it’s not like you’re any better.”
“I was complimenting you! Don’t be an ass!”
“Watch your mouth! I am being kind enough to give you a ride after all!”
All of a sudden Noelle feels a hand on her head, petting her hair back and forth.
“You’re the best, Noelle! Thank you for giving me a ride!” Asta says, mainly to make her happy, but his kind personality also forces him to be thankful deep down in his heart.
“Heh, that’s more like it.”
It doesn’t take too long to get to the capital. They make a rather rough landing with both of them landing face first in the dirt, but they didn’t get hurt. Asta starts to run towards the stores, wanting to race with Noelle, but she doesn’t have the energy that he has and doesn’t bother with such shenanigans.
They go to the stores in order, first heading to your average house supplies store where they get the bathroom supplies for captain Yami. Getting cleaner wasn’t a problem but the toilet paper definitely caused a petty argument between the two of them.
“Who the hell gets single-ply! Don’t be cheap, I’m sure the captain needs the fancy stuff.” Noelle says, taking the toilet paper out of Asta’s hands so she can replace it with a more expensive one.
“But you can get more for a cheaper price with these!” Asta puts back the fancy brand and gets the original one.
“Stupid! It’s not about the cost, it’s about the quality! I’ll even pitch in if funds are a problem. I just don’t want Captain Yami yelling at me for your incompetence!”
“Oh my god! We’ll get one of each!” Asta decides and throws both of the brands in the cart.
The next place they go is the liquor store. Since both of them are underaged and can’t drink, neither of them know what type to get. “C’mon you see her more, shouldn’t you know what kind she likes?” Asta says desperately to Noelle.
“Maybe if I see it I’ll recognize it!” She says in return.
They go up and down through the aisles not once, not twice, but three times trying to find a bottle similar to the green one Vanessa always drinks out of, but to no luck. Eventually when Noelle gets annoyed, she just grabs the most expensive one and forces Asta to take it up to the front.
As she waits by the door for her friend to finish paying, she can’t help but listen into the conversation he’s having with the cashier.
“Do you have an ID?”
“No, but it’s for my squadmate, she’s 24.” Asta says, referring to Vanessa.
“Sorry, kid. Can’t sell this to ya unless you’re 21 or older.”
“C’mon man, can you make an exception?”
Noelle has heard enough, she stomps over with her hands crossed.
“I am Noelle of house Silva, a royal born. You will give us this alcohol now, less you prefer to disobey a noble.”
The cashier doesn’t budge, still saying ‘no’, which causes Asta to burst out laughing. Noelle gets embarrassed.
“Good grief, you two are too much.” Nero transforms into her human form as Secre and pulls out her ID.
“I’m accompanying them, just let us have it. They don’t drink.”
The cashier is shocked at the sight in front of him, not the transformation, that is nothing out of the ordinary, but the fact that there is a 500 year old girl in front of him.
“Would’ve been easier if you sent her to start with.”
Noelle wants to yell at the clerk, but Asta holds her back. When all is said and done, Secre turns back into Nero and they all head over to the bakery next. The smell puts them in a trance a block before they even arrive, but when they walk inside, Noelle feels a sense of sadness overcome her. She sees someone buying a birthday cake, asking the baker to put a “Happy 8th Birthday” on the top.
As a child, she never got such a treat from her family, and she doubts she will get one today either since no one knows it’s her birthday. There's a sliver of hope in Noelle’s heart that someone knows, but since no one said anything, it’s unlikely she’ll be celebrated for once this year.
Asta was able to spot Noelle’s sad face, and shook her shoulder. “What’s with the long face?” He asked her, before realizing she was staring at the cake.
Even though he knows it’s her birthday, she doesn’t know he knows.
Instead of keeping it to herself, Noelle decides to voice her feelings. “I’m feeling jealous, I never had a birthday cake before.”
“What? I thought you royals would have big week-long parties to celebrate? Is cake not good enough for your kind?” Noelle gives him a dirty look.
“As if my family would be so kind to do such a thing for me, the girl that killed her own mother-”
“Stop that, you know now it wasn’t you, but the curse.”
“But my family doesn’t know that.”
Noelle stays silent while Asta goes to buy sugar and flour, but when he comes back there are two extra things in his hands: cakepops! He hands one to Noelle.
“C’mon you love sweets!” Asta bumps his cake pop against hers as a cheers, and takes a bite out of it.
“Asta you stupid brat…” Noelle nibbles on it and smiles, blinking the tears away from her eyes.
“Thank you.”
-------------------------------------------------
After they get bird seed and cigarettes, the last place they go is the boutique where Gauche gets clothes for his sister Marie. As soon as the owner saw the Black Bulls robe they were wearing, he immediately pulled an outfit he held aside just for the sister-obsessed freak. To be honest, both Asta and Noelle thought it was creepy that the man knew exactly who they were and what they wanted, but Gauche is a creep so it;s no wonder.
As they were checking out, Noelle saw a dress on display that suited her taste quite well, but she would only get it if she was with a girl. Clothes shopping with Asta for herself is too much like a date, and she doesn’t want to throw any ideas around.
“Hmm? You like that Noe? Why don’t you try it on?” Noelle shakes her head, embarrassed that he caught her admiring an outfit.
“Huh? You think I’d try on something with such cheap fabric? You must’ve hit your head, idiot.”
Asta saw right through her words and smirked. He sent her off to get her broom and quickly bought the dress, putting it in one of the bags so she wouldn’t notice.
Looking at the time, Asta realizes they are running behind schedule. Captain Yami wanted them back by 5:00 for the surprise, but it’s already 5:12.
“Noelle, how fast do you think you can get us home?”
“Hm? No faster than when we got here. Why? Could it be that you're hungry?” If Noelle could do one thing to make her birthday better, it would be to have dinner with the person who cares about her the most, but she doesn’t want to admit that.
“Yeah, I am a bit hungry.” Asta says, not wanting to give away the surprise.
“Well why don’t we just get some-” before Noelle can finish her suggestion, she feels an erie aura behind her. ‘ No...not now...not today…’ She thinks to herself. The feelings of Nebra and Solid are ones she knows all too well, because whenever she thinks she is safe and happy, they’re always there to ruin it.
“Awww! My adorable little sister! It’s a good thing we ran into you! We have a gift to give you.” Nebra says, acting all loving and caring, but Noelle knows there’s not an ounce of kindness inside her sister.
“We can leave now, Noelle.” Asta whispers, taking a hold of her arm, trying to tug her lightly in hopes of not hurting her, but Solid pulls her back with enough force that causes her to yelp.
“No no no no, little rat. It’s our job as her older siblings to celebrate our baby sister’s birthday. Nebra’s mist magic concealed a small case, it all seemed conspicuous to Noelle, because these two never mean well. When the magic was undone to reveal a cake, a part of Noelle wanted to believe her oldest brother Nozel, convinced them to be kind for one day.
But that could never happen.
Without a second to spare, the two Silva siblings shove the cake right in Noelle’s face, making sure to twist it in so it gets in her eyes and on her clothes.
“Happy birthday Noelle!” They say in a mocking tone.
Despite being such a powerful girl, one of the most powerful in the kingdom, Noelle doesn’t have the strength, nor courage to fight back.
She pulls away to breathe, but she doesn’t get much of a breath as Solid uses his water magic to throw a hard surge of water right into her face. Since Noelle is practically defenseless in the face of her siblings, Asta decides to take matters into his own hands.
He pulls his anti-magic sword out of his grimoire and slashes the water current, causing it to drop to the ground.
“You have some guts hurting her in front of me. And you call yourselves her siblings?”
Asta thinks about his little brothers and sisters back at the church, how he was taught to take care of them and treat them with love. Him and Yuno have their times where they argue, but they are basically brothers and cherish each other at the end of the day. They respect each other. This is disgusting to look at.”
“Don’t act like you can hurt us.” Nebra nods her head over towards a police officer who is leaning against the wall.
“Are you not seeing this?!” Asta shouts to the officer, but he doesn’t budge.
“As members of House Silva, we are above him, meaning he won’t dare touch us. Commoners like you though...aren’t so lucky.”
As much as Asta wants to beat up these brats for Noelle’s sake, he’s not sure if he can get out of jail with no consequences again.
“Noelle, if you can distract the guard I’ll take care of these brats for you.”
With shaky hands, Noelle wipes the cake and water from her eyes and face. “No need.”
“Aww Noelle, my sweet sister, are you crying?” Nebra coos in a mocking tone, stepping towards Noelle to cradle her head, but she unexpectedly gets a slap across the face from an angry looking Noelle.
“Look at you, hiding behind the back of the law. What a pig move.”
“You did not just hit me!” Nebra grumbles angrily.
“Do it again and Nozel will get involved!” Solid yells, thinking he’d actually be on their side.
“Shut up, stupid insect.” Noelle takes out her wand and opens her grimoire to the page she trusts the most. “Water Magic: Sea Dragon’s Roar” all at once, a large blast of water in the shape of a dragon charges at her older siblings, knocking both of them onto their hands and knees.
Noelle stands above them, looking down at them with disgust, the fear and embarrassment having left her body minutes ago.
“What a pathetic display. Do me a favor and stop bothering us. Come along, Asta.”
When Asta and Noelle (and Nero) get far enough away from the siblings, Noelle immediately breaks out into a celebratory dance.
“YAYYYYYY~ Did you see that, Asta! I REALLY STOOD UP TO THEM!”
Asta felt slightly useless over the fact that all he could do was stand and watch, but is very proud of his best friend regardless.
“THAT’S MY NOELLE!”
‘Did he just say ‘my Noelle’?” She says to herself.
“By the way, why didn’t you tell anyone it’s your birthday?” He asks her.
“Don’t ruin the mood Asta! Goodness, there’s a time and place for everything.” She turns her back to him and crosses her arms in an attempt to avoid the question.
“Speaking of time and place, we have to get home. Come on, move it or lose it.” Noelle says as she summons the broomstick over, climbing on top of it. Asta gets on behind her, bracing himself for what's about to come and BOOM off they go.
They fly through the sky at top speed, but this time it’s more controlled than before. Even though they’re being reckless, they get back to the hideout safe and sound.
Before they go inside, Asta stops Noelle, forcing her to turn towards him.
“I wanted to say I’m sorry that happened to you earlier, but you handled it very well. Oh and uh, Happy Birthday.” He smiles at her.
“Asta…” She begins. “Thank you. I never got to celebrate my birthday, but I am happy that I was able to spend the day with you. You make me feel appreciated, even if you are a little brat sometimes.”
Noelle smirks at him, and leads the way inside to the strangely dark home they share. “Huh?” she says to herself, wondering why she can’t see a thing, even with the sunlight trailing inside.
Asta comes running in behind her, screaming loudly. “IN 3...2...1!”
The lights turn on all of a sudden. “Surprise!” Everyone says as the lights turn on. Noelle screams in shock, but then a big smile gets plastered on her face.
“Happy Birthday, Noelle!” Luck says, running around her in circles like a toddler. He’s holding a gift in his hand that is wrapped in newspaper. “This is from me and Magna, but mostly me!” he says proudly, then pushes her to the couch so she can open it in front of everyone.
“Oh my goodness! Everyone! Thank you so much!” She says, her hands shaking with emotion.
Her trembling fingers carefully remove the poorly wrapped gift, and inside is a baseball glove. “Do you like it!?” Luck asks excitedly. “It’s so you can play baseball with us when we train. I’ve been meaning to teach you the rules, Lady Noe.” Magna chimes in.
Noelle isn’t a fan of sports, but the fact that they took the time to go find her a glove warms her heart. If it wasn’t a gift, she’d likely say it’s disgusting, but her heart is too happy to act cocky and stuck-up tonight.
“I love it, thank you Luck and Magna.” Luck squeals in excitement and jumps on Noelle to hug her. “Yayyyy!” He says, happily.
“How did you all know it was my birthday?” She asks, now taking a good look around the living room to see all the decorations. There are balloons, confetti, and a poorly made banner that clearly has lots of love poured into it.
“What type of squad Captain doesn’t know his member’s birthday?” Yami says, taking a puff out of his cigarette.
“Oh yeah, here. This one is from me, but if you don’t like it, it’s from Zora.”
“Now now, I may hate royals, but I could never gift Noelle something as stupid as that. I probably put less thought into my gift, but at least it’s not toilet paper.” Zora says, sneaking behind Noelle, placing another gift in her lap, patting her cheek.
“I didn’t get her toilet paper, bitch.” Yami retorts.
“I’d appreciate anything, Captain.” Noelle says, opening the small wrapped gift to reveal bathroom air freshener.
“I like this attitude better than your normal one, maybe we should throw parties for you more often.”
As soon as Noelle holds up the bottle to show everyone, the room bursts out into tears laughing. “Come on, Captain! That’s the best you can do?!” Magna hollars, which causes him to get kicked in the ass by Yami.
“Go ahead, tell me Zora got you something better.” Yami says, slightly embarrassed. He originally went to the Blue Rose Knight’s captain to ask for gift ideas, but she ran away from him instead of offering advice.
Noelle opens the surprisingly beautifully wrapped gift (which makes sense coming from a mage who masters in trap designing) and sees a nice bottle of perfume inside.
“How lovely, thank you!” Noelle comments.
“That’s the same thing I got!” Yami complains, throwing his hands in the air.
“Incorrect.” Zora retorts, smacking his head.
“Take it. I saved you time by not wrapping it.” Gauche says, handing Noelle a fancy mirror he created himself. It is gold plated with flowers engraved on the side. Even though Gauche isn’t that close with Noelle, he clearly spent time making this perfect for her.
“Oh, thank you, Gauche. It’s beautiful!”
“Alright time for a gift you’ll enjoy.” Vanessa says, slurring her words slightly, clearly drunk. Only wearing a bra and panties, she pushes herself onto Noelle while handing her the gift she got. “Here ya go darling, I picked it out just for you.”
Noelle is scared to open it, fearing it’s something inappropriate like a sex toy, but it’s something equally as bad. Instead of opening the box all the way, Noelle peaks inside and sees a black lingerie set, and yelps.
“Vanessa!” Noelle says, her face turning red. She wonders what Asta is thinking. Would Asta want to see her in such clothing?
“I suppose I’ll go next since I wasn’t able to wrap them, but here you go my Lady, Water Lilies just for you, because that’s what you are, princess, you’re a pretty water lily!” Finral says, taking the freshly picked bouquet of flowers out from behind his back, handing them to Noelle while bowing down a bit.
The gifts continue with Gordon giving Noelle a doll of herself, Gray giving her a picture she painted, Henry giving her a blanket he knitted, and Nero giving her a feather. Now it was time for Charmy’s gift.
“Is it time for nom noms?” Charmy said in a sugar daze. She summoned her lambs to carry out a very big birthday cake she made herself filled with Noelle’s favorite things like strawberries, chocolate, and little pieces of candy stuck onto the frosting. Magna uses his flame magic to light the candles and the Black Bulls sing Happy Birthday to their youngest member.
A strange feeling unknown to Noelle fills her heart. She never got something like this growing up, and now after sixteen years she’s finally getting love from her best friends, her family even. It brings her to tears, not from sadness, but from happiness. She looks around at the shining eyes of her teammates, saying thank you with more sincerity than she ever has before before she blows out the candles. It takes several tries before all sixteen are out, but when they are, everyone cheers.
“You guys are the worst! You didn’t let me give her my gift before the cake!” Asta groans out, holding a bag with tissue paper out in his hands for Noelle to take.
“Oh can it, some of us are hungry.” Yami says, taking a large slice of cake from the toop and handing it to Noelle.
“It’s okay, I’ll open it.” Noelle says, wiping the tears from her eyes (for the second time today).
The bag is rather heavy, so she removes the tissue paper with caution, and is confused when she sees glass at the bottom of the bag.
“Idiot, Asta! You didn’t think to bubble wrap this?”
“Huh? Did it break?”
“No, but if it did I’d kill you!”
Noelle pulls the glass circle out and freezes when she sees it’s a snowglobe of a village. She recognizes it very well, it’s the home where Magna grew up, and also the place where Asta and Noelle went on their first mission together.
“Get it, ‘cuz you learned how to do your water sphere thing which protected the city like a globe and… uhhh… yeah.”
Out of all the gifts she has received tonight, this one touches Noelle’s heart the most.
“Wow, Asta, I can tell this took a lot of thought.” Asta puts a hand behind his head to scratch his neck.
“Ah shucks, it was nothing. I went over to the Golden Dawn’s hideout to ask Yuno for advice, but he just called me an idiot and slammed the door in my face, but Mimosa said I should think from the heart! So that’s what I did!”
“Can we eat cake now?” Charmy asks, practically drooling over the food.
“Yes, let's dig in.” Noelle says, admiring the gift instead of taking a bite of the food.
-------------------------------------------------
After the cake has been reduced to nothing but crumbs, mostly everyone decides to either start drinking or head to sleep, Noelle is among those who head to her bedroom, thanking everyone one final time before going.
As she walks through the confusing halls, she thinks about her night and how grateful she is to be a part of such an amazing team. Nozel had put her here to embarrass her as well as to keep her safe, but since joining she has climbed the ranks so fast, and is one of the most powerful mages in the kingdom, surpassing even two of her siblings.
If she was never put here she wouldn’t have gotten to befriend all these amazing misfits, she would’ve never met Asta. Even though she would die before admitting it, Asta changes her life every minute they spend together. He has stolen her heart. She wishes she could do the same to him.
When she goes into her room, she is surprised to see the dress she was aweing at earlier laid out on the mattress. She looks around, wondering who could’ve done it, then all of a sudden Asta sticks his head out from under the bed where he was hiding.
“Surprise!” He says, startling Noelle, and she throws a water spell at him in defense.
“I guess I deserved that. I just wanted to give you one final gift. You deserve it more than anyone, so I hope you like it!” Asta says, showing off his bright smile.
As always, Noelle can’t stop herself from becoming flustered. She wants to hit him with a spell, she wants to throw him out of the room, she wants to yell at him, but she refrains from it all, taking a deep breath before saying:
“Okay insec-I mean Asta, close your eyes.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Commoners are to do what they’re told. I am royalty.”
With a deep sigh, Asta closes his eyes.
He’s basically clueless when it comes to women, so he doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it surely wasn’t a hug from the germaphobe, modest, anti-social Noelle Silva.
“I didn’t get to thank you earlier. You made this day amazing for me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
Asta hugs her back. This is the first time they’ve hugged. Normally whenever he puts a hand on her like when they’re on a broom he gets slapped out of existence, oh how the tables have turned.
“You’re special to me Noelle, I like you a lot.”
As much as she wishes he meant that in a romantic way, Noelle knows his heart belongs to another lady.
Still, she will cherish this moment, and saves it in her heart by planting a kiss on his cheek.
Of course with Asta being the idiot he is, he takes this as a sign of friendship and family love, as he kisses his sibling’s cheeks all the time.
So in return, he kisses her cheek back.
“I’ll leave you alone now, I know you probably want some time for yourself. Goodnight, Noelle!” Asta says, leaving her room with a wave.
After the door closes Noelle jumps on her bed squealing in excitement. Oh my god he kissed me! She says to herself, playing the moment again and again in her head.
As she fantasizes about her day with Asta, she puts the snowglobe he got her on her windowsill, next to a small bed she keeps for Nero in case she ever wants to spend the night with her.
With a content grin on her face, Noelle goes to bed, grateful that she finally had a good birthday. One she will treasure in her heart until the day she dies.