The Course of True Love is Never Smooth (Until It is)

Fandom: Black Clover

Rating: Pg-15 / T

Genre: Humor/Romance/Magic

Characters and Pairing: Yuno x Asta, with side dish of everyone (yes, I mean everyone) x Asta, basically, almost all characters will appear

Summary: Asta is, honest to God, very confused with everyone's sudden 'weird' interest in him. Yes, he means everyone, including all his guild-mates and even total strangers!—who practically tries to jump him. What's going on here?

In which there's a magical mishap that Asta isn't aware of and that time he unintentionally seduces (and gets seduced in return by) every person he meets in Clover Kingdom.

A/N: Yeah, hey guys… uhm, I have no excuse why I jump into this fandom. I'd collected the anime since episode 1, but had no motivation to watch before recently, and when I'd finally had time to watch anime again, I stumbled into the 1st episode, and then suddenly I had been binge-watching the entire series in a week straight. You know what happens? I've fallen in love with Yuno/Asta pair immediately (since episode 1 precisely), and now I still eagerly wait for the new episodes (dang! Should have rationed the episodes more diligently, now I have to wait for a week before I can watch the newest episode). Anyway, it's kind of become my obsession. I don't know why, it just happens. So… plot bunnies also happens, and I've been dying to explore the comedy side of being in magical world (since current arc is kind of heart-breaking with everyone turning into someone else), so this fic happens. Don't take this fic too seriously. It's humor-romance for a reason. I want to laugh while I write this and want to make you readers laugh with me. Well, if you are Yuno/Asta lovers, hope you like it, if you want Asta with another pair, you'll get a glimpse of what could be with everyone/Asta here as well. It will be quite a long one-shot, I suppose, but I hope you'll still enjoy it anyway!

The setting of this fic is before the current arc (or I dubbed it, the Elf Arc), before everything went to shit, but after everyone that mattered got high respect for Asta's personality and ability.

Disclaimer: Black Cover and its characters © Tabata Yuuki. No profit is made from this fic (just fun and laughter, I hope).

Also PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY STORY WITHOUT PERMISSION! SERIOUSLY! WHY DO YOU NEED TO POST THE STORY INTO RUSSIAN SITE THAT FORCES YOU TO PAY TO READ THE PERFECTLY FREE FANFICTION? ARE YOU GUYS STUPID? (My bad. I'm just upset because one of my stories got snatched into that site and it's such bullshit because people have to pay to read there! I do NOT give my permission for my story to be monetized and I don't want to get sued because of that site either, so please, just DO NOT do it. Are we clear? Now we can move on).

Warning: shounen ai/boys love (in humorous, sorta dubious way), some might border into non/dubious-consent and sexual harassment (I hope it won't be a trigger for some people, but if that's really not your thing, please push that back button immediately) but all in funny ways, crude language (hopefully not much, but teenagers…), no beta-reader so grammar errors and mistypes might occur here and there (but I'll try to minimize them), excessive humor (probably will make you die laughing), and some fluffs (hopefully lots of it as well =D), and also some oOC-ness, but I'll try to make it as IC as possible.

Okay, please proceed!

The Course of True Love is Never Smooth (Until It is)

© lunaryu~

"And… there we go!"

Asta huffed with a satisfied smile as he finished subduing the last of current magical maniacs that thought it would be alright to dose everyone around with some weird body-paralyzing potion to rob them of their possession.

Seriously, these idiots were too much sometimes. They had such amazing skill with making potions, why didn't they use it to get an honest job? Even a muscle-idiot like Asta realized it was such a waste of talent! They could build their own potion stores to help people while making money with selling potions!

"Is that the last one, Stupidsta?" Noelle, Asta's guild-mate and best friend, asked from the sidelines, slowly releasing her Dragon's Nest spell which she had conjured up during the fight to protect the civilians while Asta had been dealing with the perpetrators.

"Yeah! This one is probably the leader of the group!" Asta said putting down his over-sized sword on the weirdly-flamboyantly dressed man's back on the ground to restrain him, while the man was flailing and squeaking at the insane weight of the anti-magic sword.

"Oh, fuck, shit! That's heavy! Get it off of me you—Muscle-Monster!"

Asta snorted. "Not a chance, mister. You'll have to take responsibility of what you've done and I won't let you run away." He sat on the man's back as well then, adding the weight and the man 'oof-ed' at the added weight on his back, seeming to lose breathe.

Asta laughed in amusement as the man continued cursing and name-calling him with combination and permutation of muscle related insults while Noelle stared at them with a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek.

"You did realize that some of those aren't exactly insults, right?" She asked the flamboyantly dressed villain's leader who immediately flushed red at the insinuation that he actually was quite impressed with Asta's muscle-power display.

"Shut up, you brat!" He yelled and a vein popped on Noelle's head as she pointed her wand on him and recited spell.

"You shut up! How dare you speak to me like that! I'm a royal, you know!" She shouted as splash of water dropped on the man's head. He tried to squeak again indignantly, but unable to do so as part of the water covered his mouth and stayed there, rendering his attempt useless. "Come on, Stupidsta. Let your sword off of him. I'll restrain him and we'll bring him to the palace to process him up." She huffed.

"Alright!"

Asta grinned and let up the sword he was still holding away from the guy, but he himself stayed seated on the man's back. It was just a split second of carelessness because he didn't see the man's hand which had been staying inside the weirdly flamboyant clothes inside pocket. As soon as the man was free from the debilitating weight of his anti-magic sword, he buckled and freed his hand from his pocket with something clenched inside his palm and wasted no time to throw it at Asta's unsuspecting self.

"Wha—?!" Asta was surprised not only for the villain's audacity to try something while there was already no hope for him to escape, but also for when the thing collided with his face, it exploded into powdery substance that made him cough and sneeze uncontrollably.

"Asta!" Noelle shouted in alarm, but seemed to keep her cool head because she instantly activated her Grimoir and recited an attacking spell to immediately subdue the villain before he could escape while Asta was scrambling away from the guy and tried to control his cough and sneeze. The flamboyantly dressed guy went flying and slammed his back into a wall of a building and dropped unconscious on the ground before Noelle ran to Asta in slight panic. "Asta! Hey, are you alright?!"

Asta was still coughing and sneezing, but he tried to speak to calm her down because it wasn't painful or anything, it was just itchy as hell and he couldn't help the coughing and sneezing frenzy. "I –coughs- 'm –sneezes- o –sneezes- fine!" and he continued sneezing and coughing until several minutes as Noelle seemed neither convinced with his words nor understood what he was saying because there were more coughing and sneezing in his sentence.

"Speak more clearly, Stupidsta! I don't understand what you're saying!" Noelle raised her voice more, expression tinted with worry and confusion. "What's in the powder? Oh my god! Are you going to cough and sneeze forever?!"

Yeah, so much for calming her down. She seemed to be even more in panicky than before.

"Wa –coughs- water! –Sneezes-" he tried to speak again between his constant coughs and sneezes. "Douse me –coughs-coughs-coughs- with –sneezes- water!"

Noelle seemed to understand that at least and she immediately recited a spell, not exactly an attack spell, but more to conjure up enough water to douse Asta's entire body to clean him off the powdery substance that caused him to sneeze and cough in the first place.

After it was done, Asta gasped while taking a deep breath before exhaling it, slightly breathless. "God, that was awful!" He complained, holding his chest as he heaved and breathed some more. At least the itch was reduced. He still coughed and sneezed once or twice after that, but not as bad as before.

"Stop worrying me like that, Stupidsta!" Noelle shouted again then, delivering a hand-chop on his head, fuming, but her eyes were watering and looking mildly relieved seeing Asta complaining more after yelping in pain at the sudden attack from his own friend.

"What was that for, Noelle?!" Asta protested, holding his slightly painful head.

"That was punishment for being careless earlier, you-idiot!" Noelle exclaimed.

"Wha-…!? But you were the one that said to let up the sword! How would I know he had something on his pocket?!" Asta argued at her unreasonable accusation.

"Well, that was a rookie mistake! You should have checked his pocket for hidden weapon the moment you incapacitated him!" She pointed at Asta's chest, her forefinger poking at his wet clothes.

"Hidden weap— it was in his inside pocket! You wanted me to feel up the flamboyantly dressed guy in front of you?!" Asta wasn't giving up his argument even though he did feel a bit sheepish that he forgot that procedure to begin with.

"Don't say something so vulgar, Moronsta!" Noelle's face ended up flaming like a furnace and reddening like a ripe tomato as she slapped Asta's face for getting too close to her. "Idiot! Pervert! Don't get so close to me! I'm a royal you know!" She huffed and stomped away either from anger or embarrassment or both, leaving Asta on the ground with a smoky, angry red print on his face.

"What does Royal have to do with anything…?" Asta twitched on the ground, seriously considering chasing after her to ask for explanation for her last comment about royalty, but thinking better of it lest she decided to get violent again. Despite her small wrist and hand, her hand-slap packed quite a punch. He certainly didn't want to be at the receiving end of it again.

Asta sighed and sat up. "Oi, Noelle! Your restraint, please! We have to bring these guys back to the Clover Kingdom Palace!" he called loudly once and Noelle stopped her stomping just to turn back and sprint-walk to those unconscious bodies on the ground before performing restraining spell and bringing all of them in the air with her Water Prison.

"Your control on your magic has improved again! That's awesome!" Asta's eyes shone in awe as he stared at the clear water prison-shape on air. The design of the prison was intricate and beautiful, adorned with moving water dragons at the pillars. Noelle was getting stronger each day and her control over her magic was improving much more than the first time he met her. It was such amazing progress that as her guild's mate Asta was so proud of her effort.

"Sh-shut up, Stupidsta! This is nothing for a royal like me!" She flipped one of her twin phony tailed hair while looking away, apparently trying to act haughty, but her blushing face and the twitch of the corners of her mouth told Asta otherwise. She was happy and flattered at his compliment and Asta couldn't help chuckling at her adorable trait.

"Alright, let's go, Noelle!" Asta grinned widely as he lift his fist forward.

"Don't order me around!" Noelle yelled back at him, looking annoyed, but followed him anyway.

~ Yuno x Asta x Everyone ~

Everything seemed relatively normal when both Asta and Noelle got back to their base after dropping off their prisoners to the palace and leaving them in the capable hands of Marx and the Clover Kingdom Palace guards. As usual, the everyday chaos in Black Bull Guild Quarter included Luck and Magna bickering, or more like Luck teasing and bothering Magna until he exploded and threw his fire magic at Luck while screaming at him for being extra annoying, as the fighting-mania was laughing happily while he was dodging the attack merrily.

Vanessa, the witch, was on the couch, drinking wine and cheering for the 'fight' while drunk out of her ass, only in her underwear. Charmy, the glutton, was on the common-room table, gobbling up her precious foods, looking like she was in heaven while doing so. Grey, in her usual disguise of big mysterious man, exhaled loudly and slowly in the corner of the room. Gouche was on the other sofa, admiring the photograph of his beloved little sister while nose-bleeding like the perverted sis-com he was.

Gordon was… well, mumbling about something while looking at Asta and Noelle as they entered the base, his dark, unreadable eyes surprisingly welcoming. Asta still couldn't figure out what the silent mumbling he was trying to communicate with them was and he just smiled uncertainly back at him while dodging the stray fireballs that went his way from Magna and Luck's 'bickering'.

Noelle yelped in surprise that she almost got burnt with the stray attack when she finally had had enough and snapped, dousing both Magna and Luck with water to calm them down (as well as for revenge since they almost burned her in their fit of stupid dangerous squabble), even though she was screaming at them too. The only member absent in the common room was Captain Yami, and by extension, Finrall as well, since he was the captain's transport.

"Doing okay with patrol?" Luck finally stopped bothering Magna after he electrocuted the guy, not sure if it was on purpose or on accident because of Noelle's water magic all around them, but Magna was on the ground, twitching, sparking and smoking. The cute blond Thunder Wizard turned his happy face on a chuckling Asta and a scowling Noelle.

"Got to apprehend some misguided potion master," Asta answered and grinned while drawing his fist up in victory.

"Aww, wasn't that fun! I should have followed you guys patrolling," Luck whined for a beat before his smile widened. "Well, you're free now right, Asta? Should we spar? We should, right? Come on! Just this once, entertain me, please!"

Aaand he was back with the old pattern of asking for a friendly 'fight' he dubbed as a spar, which didn't make any sense because what Luck really meant by a spar usually turns into a friendly death-match involving maryoku deficiency for him and exhausted-near-paralyzed muscles for Asta.

"Maybe next time," Asta raised both his hands in a universal 'I mean no harm, please spare me' gesture, bead of sweat rolling down his cheek.

"Boo! Asta is no fun!" Luck pouted slightly, probably a bit disappointed that he was rejected once again. It didn't seem to last long since a few seconds later Luck's attention turned to -still admiring Marie—Gouche, and he smiled happily as he called his older friend's name while jumping him to ask for a spar instead. Of course, Gauche immediately refused and swatted at him, despite Luck's persistence.

"Unbelievable," Noelle rolled her eyes in exasperation, probably thinking why she was saddled with a bunch of idiots as she stomped to the sofa to sit with a drunk Vanessa who instantly turned her over-affection to her once Noelle was in her vicinity. Noelle just sighed in resignation as Vanessa hugged and snuggled her in her inebriate state.

Asta made his obligatory round to speak with all his seniors before he helped Magna up and sat him down beside Charmy so he could get some food to restore his depleted maryoku, before he went upstairs into his chamber to fetch fresh clothes. He took a short bath after that and then went to the room where their guild's mysterious member stayed to say good night before he went back to his room to end his day.

~ Yuno x Asta x Everyone ~

Asta was dreaming.

Well, he thought it was a dream. It was blurry and he didn't really understand what was going on in it, but he felt his body burning up, and it left him deeply unsettled when he was up the next morning, sweaty and uncomfortable.

"What was that about?" Asta tilted his head aside in confusion, but he dismissed the feeling immediately as he decided to be up and about to do his chores of the day before he would have another bath to wash off all the sweat.

Surprisingly, he ran into Yami Sukehiro, the Black Bull Captain, in the big bath. The bulky, tall, dark haired man was already relaxing in the bath as Asta entered. "Oh, morning Captain Yami!" He greeted and Yami opened one of his eyes to look at his direction to acknowledge his presence.

"Yo, morning, Shrimp." Yami greeted back with lazy deep voice that seemed to always send tingles down Asta's spine whenever he heard it. It was probably partly fear and partly admiration, but there might have been something else that Asta wasn't able to understand no matter how hard he thought about it. He usually just ignored the weird feeling anyway.

"Did you just get back from your business?" Asta inquired as he sat down on the short chair beside the water source to rinse and dab some soap to clean himself before he settled in the big bath as well, sighing in bliss as the warm water enveloped his well-trained muscles.

"Yeah, Finral was out of Maryoku when we finished last night, so we waited until morning to restore some of it before… we came back this morning…" Yami opened both his eyes now, looking at Asta with an intrigued look on his face while dragging a few of his last words. He tilted his head slightly up and then subtly sniffed the air around him, his expression puzzled.

"Really? Is Finral-san alright?" Asta chuckled slightly. Leave it to Captain Yami to exhaust their most senior member for a personal business.

Captain Yami didn't dignify that question with any answer, instead, he moved closer to Asta and suddenly his face was so very much closer to him that Asta yelped in shock as Yami's big hand enclosed around his right shoulder and his nose was this close to his right ear and neck (he could almost feel his lips on his neck!) while he inhaled deeply.

"C-C-C-Captain Yami! What are you doing?!" Asta couldn't help screeching while flailing, trying to put some space (needed Personal Space, damn it!) between them, frantically, his face and body heating abruptly in panic at the sudden (too) close proximity.

"You… are you wearing something?" Yami's deep, sultry voice was so near his ear and Asta could feel his hot breath that somehow made his body shiver. He didn't know if it was from dread, mortification, nervousness, excitement, or something else but it gave him Goosebumps and made him squirm.

"W-wearing what?! I'm as naked as a newborn baby while taking a bath!" Asta's voice came out an octave higher than his usual screechy voice and he winced at how grating that sounded.

Yami pulled back then, scrunching up his face while his right hand was on his right ear, seeming to find Asta's high-pitched voice as disturbing and as damaging as a sonic wave. "That's not what I mean." He scowled, narrowing his eyes sharply that made Asta tense in a fight or flight response lest he tried to grab his skull like the first time they met after Asta bumped him. "I mean your scent," he continued, closing in on Asta's face again, before his expression softened into something… weirdly intoxicated while he inhaled once again, deeply, indulgently, and his left hand which was still gripping on Asta's shoulder was slowly loosening, turning into caress that actually disturbed Asta more than the violent way Yami always handled his subordinates.

"Uh…my scent? Is-is something wrong with my scent?" Asta tried to calm himself down. He had to calm down. Chill. Yami was just checking if something was wrong with his scent. He wasn't trying to feel him up or anything!

Right?

"It's not exactly wrong," Yami pulled back again, looking into Asta's eyes intently, his expression blanking for a moment before he resumed, "It's just…" He paused and blinked once, shaking his head twice as if he was trying to shake off something from his hair. "You look… kind of cuter today."

When Yami finished, Asta's mind went white. Universe flashed before his eyes. "Excuse me?" he didn't even know how to react because—

What even— did he just call me, ME, cute? CUTE?!

Yami shook his head again, frowning. "Wait, did I just call you cute?" He seemed to be confused as well, apparently noticing how odd that statement was, before he looked at Asta again for a few seconds. Then, the look in his eyes went weird again, like it was on rapture. "Well, you are cute," he repeated, and then nodded, as if he had finished debating his internal monolog about whether or not it was strange to think like that about Asta.

Asta chuckled nervously now and felt a bit self-conscious because Yami's left hand was still caressing his shoulder and Yami's expression was relaxed, but there was an intimidating, predatory glint in his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards, creating an attractive smirk, complementing his handsome, masculine face.

Asta's heart bumped pace of beats, sending blood flow faster to his head, face, neck and other places down below that he felt ashamed to name. His face felt like it was about to burn and there was this sudden sense of danger. Not on his life, per-se, but on something else. He didn't have time to figure out what of him was in danger because there was a—

BOOOOM!

—literal explosion sound, followed by the quake of their building afterwards.

All the weirdness evaporated from Asta's mind as he stood in alarm, buck naked be damned, and yelled. "What's that?! Are we under attack?!" He didn't wait for Yami's response as he jumped out of the bath and ran to the changing room to dress before immediately heading to the source of the explosion downstairs.

~ Yami x Asta~

Turned out, it was a false alarm.

Someone was attempting to cook breakfast.

Someone that wasn't Charmy's cook-sheep, and of course, couldn't cook to save their lives.

"What in the world are you doing, Grey?"

It wasn't just Asta that hurried to come down, but almost everyone sans Yami who was still in the bath.

Vanessa groaned, looking like death warmed over because she had to have been drinking the entire night away and now was in the middle of the worst hang-over she had ever encountered yet.

"S-s-s-sorry! I was just trying to make some toast for breakfast!" Grey, in her true form of a modestly dressed girl with short blue hair, exclaimed while putting her hands on her face. "Please don't look at me! How embarrassing!" She wailed, her fair face and neck flushing pink. Well, apparently, that wasn't all, since her entire skin turned red in embarrassment. It would be cute if it wasn't too pitiful.

"Sheesh, what did you do to cause this much damage on attempt of making a toast?" Finral looked at the medium sized hole on the kitchen wall and shook his head in disbelief. He still looked exhausted with shadow and bags under his brilliant amethyst eyes, like he hadn't gotten enough sleep, which was probably true, judging from Yami's words earlier.

Grey winced and looked upward for a moment before tears burst from her bluish-grey eyes as her face became even redder if that was possible. "I'm so sorry~~~! Don't look, pleaaase!"

Yeah, she wouldn't be able to say anything except that at this point because her embarrassment level had gone up to the maximum level.

Magna just grumbled about 'too early for this' and Luck laughed lightly, apparently considering to ask for Grey to 'have morning spar with him if she had that much energy to cause explosion to start the day' and Noelle, still half asleep and in her pajama, muttered lowly about 'going back to bed'. Charmy was already fussing around the pantry, checking the damaged cooking utensils while whining about 'no one without cooking skill allowed in the kitchen again after this!' Gouche exclaimed some curses and threats for 'waking him up from his sweet dreams enjoying picnic with his beloved Marie,' and Gordon, as always, mumbled silently about something with his unreadable maroon eyes trained on Grey.

Asta sighed in relief, though, feeling thankful that it wasn't anything serious like getting attacked by enemies, but he blinked as he looked at Grey—still whine-chanting her 'sorry and please don't look' plea while blushing— and noticed that her right cheek was scratched, and it bleed sluggishly.

"Grey-senpai, are you alright?" Asta moved closer to her, checking if the wound was worse than it looked. "You're bleeding." He stood before her and leaned into her to get a better look at the still fingers-covered wound on her face, and she jolted in shock as he touched her hand to uncover it.

Grey widened her eyes, looking upward at Asta as he took a clean handkerchief from his pocket and then tried to wipe the blood from the wound.

Well, 'try' was the operative word, because even before he could touch the wound directly with the cloth, Grey gasped and spontaneously combusted, with her face flaming and smoking so badly that it shocked Asta enough for him to jump a step behind, screeching, "Grey-senpai?!"

Grey immediately went down like a sack of tatoes, face still steaming red and hot like furnace, mumbling something equally bewildering because Asta could have sworn he heard his name in her mumbling and there was a 'hot' word as well, which didn't make any sense at all.

"Grey-senpai! Are you alright?! Are you hurt badly after all?" Asta kneeled beside her supine position on the floor, slightly panicked and worried because he didn't know what was wrong with her.

Instead of speaking, Grey squealed and covered her face again, more hysterically than before.

"Step aside, Asta. Don't crowd her. She's going to explode if she's too embarrassed," Vanessa huffed and Asta could feel a tug from his shoulder, which was tied by Vanessa's magic string, pulling him back slightly.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Grey-senpai," Asta stood and followed the pull of the string to give some space to Grey, sweat dropping as he thought that it was kind of too late because Grey already exploded. When he was close enough to Vanessa though, he could feel a subtle twitch of her string and he looked back to find her looking at him with a strange expression on her face.

"What?" Asta asked, blinking once.

"Asta…" Vanessa looked at him closely, her expression intrigued before she blinked and there was a glint of something in her pretty violet eyes. "You look lovely today," she said, expression turning into seductive and her voice purring.

"Uh… what?" Asta was confused with the sudden switch, blinking once in surprise as Vanessa surged upward to give him a kiss on his cheek.

…

Asta's face felt like it was about to explode as heat instantly rushed to his face. "V-V-Vanessa-neesan?!" he yelped, shocked and embarrassed beyond belief because people shouldn't be kissing other people without permission, right? And-and, Vanessa wasn't still drunk, was she? "W-what was that for?!" He stepped back slightly, trying to disentangle his body from Vanessa's magic string and hands.

"Aww, aren't you so cute and precious!" Vanessa giggled and hugged Asta now, her embrace surprisingly strong enough that Asta had difficulty in creating some space between his and her voluptuous body.

Noelle, who had still been half asleep a moment ago, jolted up awake as she heard and witnessed the affectionate moment. "Wait a sec, Vanessa! What are you doing?!" she screeched loudly, mortification and infuriation displayed clearly on her expression.

"Vanessa-neesan~! That's not fair!" Finral, eyes bulging in obvious envy of Asta's spot, whined. "I want a kiss and a hug too!"

"I don't envy his position," Magna muttered with a snort, face pinking slightly, and tried to leave the premise but he seemed to notice that Luck had moved to approach Asta, who was still being molested by Vanessa, and the younger man jumped them both.

"Astaaaaa! Let's spar!" Luck laughed as he embraced Asta from behind, while Vanessa tried to kiss Asta again, on the mouth this time, despite Noelle still yelling at her to stop bothering Asta, going as far as pulling Vanessa's robe from behind, and Asta was flustered, trying his hardest to release himself from Vanessa's hug, but got startled when Luck jumped him from behind.

Magna's sweat dropped from his head. "So not envying him now," he nodded, probably feeling a bit sorry for his junior.

"Come on guys! Cut it out, please!" Asta laughed nervously, a tad flattered because everyone seemed to want to get his attention, but it was also as baffling as hell because they were being so aggressive about it.

"Vanessa! Don't embrace my Asta like that! You're being too friendly to him!" Noelle was still shouting, but there was something weird with the way she claimed Asta as hers.

What the—?

"Oh… what is this? Asta, you smell delicious!" Luck said from beside his ear and then promptly bit his nape, shocking Asta as an electricity ran down his spine from the point of contact and he involuntarily made a noise of surprised pleasure that sounded very close to a moan.

"Yaaah!"

Time seemed to stop for a moment while everyone in the room, including Asta himself, froze at the sound. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes. It was just a few seconds before Asta realized that he had made such embarrassing noise and clapped his mouth with his hand. He nervously looked upward slightly at the still immobile Vanessa before he noted how dilated her pupils were, almost drowning all her beautiful violet irises with black.

"Uh…"

Then he felt the mouth on his nape sucking his skin and he jerked in realization that Luck was still holding him from behind, mouthing and licking his nape more enthusiastically than before.

"Luck! Jeez! Don't scare me like that! Stop it!" Asta yelled, trying to detangle Luck's arms from around his shoulders, getting desperate and a bit annoyed that no one seemed to find this strange at all.

"Can't help it. You smell and taste delicious," Luck grinned, his teeth still worrying that patch of skin on Asta's nape.

"That feels strange! Cut it out! Ah!" Asta couldn't help yelping again as he felt something else from his front now. Vanessa seemed to find Luck's example interesting enough to try herself. She bit at the junction of Asta's neck and shoulder from the front. "Vanessa-neesan?! Don't follow Luck's example! Jeez!"

What is wrong with you, people!?

Noelle's scream wasn't heard now. Apparently, she followed Grey's example and now was on the floor, nose-bleeding, and her face was as red as tomato as well for some reason.

When did that happen?

Finral was not helping at all by whining and lamenting about how lucky Asta was for being the focus of Vanessa's affection today, even though she didn't seem to be affectionate at all at the moment, but more like assaulting Asta.

"Sheesh! Gouce-senpai! Magna-senpai! Please don't just stand there doing nothing! Help me, please!" Asta was about to cry now, his hope to stop this madness was on the last two males that didn't seem to be in the mood for teasing him, because the biting and sucking on his neck were getting intense, and he couldn't help feeling weird because they didn't hurt, but it caused his body to react strangely, like… like he had been actually excited about it, which wasn't true, at all.

"There's no way I will touch that with a ten-foot pole," Gouce harrumphed, looking the other way, sounding disgusted and annoyed.

Magna seemed to take a pity on Asta, though, and sighed deeply before moving toward them. "Alright! Enough you two! Stop molesting Asta in a blind morning!" He said sternly and tried to pull Vanessa back and disentangle Luck's arms from Asta at the same time. It was lucky that he was stronger physically than the two mages that he could free Asta from their clutches, with much effort.

"Magna-senpai! You're my hero!" Asta cried crocodile tears in relief and immediately hugged the mohawked older man as he was free from Vanessa and Luck. The two string and thunder mages were pouting and whining that Magna was too barbaric for getting in their way.

"Idiot," Magna's face turned pink slightly and slapped Asta's back hard. But strangely he didn't immediately push Asta away. There was a moment where a pregnant silence graced the premise before suddenly both Magna's arms and hands enveloped Asta as well in a tender hug.

Asta blinked as he felt the embrace and loosened his own on Magna's sides before he pulled back slightly to look at his senior's face in confusion. That didn't seem like something that Magna would do. He was too masculine for that kind of hug. "Magna…senpai?"

Magna's eyes were drowsy, like he was on cloud nine. "Asta…" and he looked at Asta with dilated pupils as well, swallowing his blue irises until it only looked like thin rings surrounding black.

"Uh… Magna-senpai, you- you're looking at me a bit—!" Asta couldn't finish his sentence because Magna had leaned into him and almost kissed him on his lips, but he immediately turned away so his mouth landed on Asta's right ear instead. The deed still freaked Asta a lot. Worse, the hands and arms on his waist and back tightened slightly as Asta shrieked. "Magna-senpai! You're acting weird! Weird! This is me, Asta! Please let go!"

"Magna, you dog! You could have joined us instead of getting in our way!" Luck protested in irritation.

"True! True! Not fair, Magna!" Vanessa also shouted in annoyance.

"Alright, all of you are disgusting! Let the chibi go already!" Gouce seemed to have had enough of the crazy situation and pulled Asta away from Magna's embrace.

"Gouce-senpai! You saved meee!" Asta really cried now as he looked at Gauce gratefully, instead of in crocodile tears. "Please! Everyone was acting so strangely and I don't know what happened!"

"Right, now go away!" Gouce was trying to shoo Asta away, but when his sandy brown eyes met Asta's teary emerald ones, there was a spark and instead of letting go of him, he gripped Asta's front tunic and pulled him to look more closely at Asta's face and eyes.

"Uh… Gouce-senpai?" Asta felt that something very, very wrong happened because Gauce's expression turned mellow, and his gaze softening, warming, before a massive nosebleed burst out from his nose like a broken dam, rendering Gouce unconscious on the ground in his pool of blood.

"G-Gouce-senpai!?" Asta was shocked beyond belief. What just happened?!

"Ooh! Gouce is knocked down! Way to go, Asta!" Luck laughed before his sky blue eyes turned mischievous as he gazed at Asta again. "Now that the obstacle is down, it's a chance to continue~" he actually sang the word and Asta shuddered at the look he received from him, then from Vanessa, and from Magna.

"Uh…" Asta, looking at the trio apprehensively, stepped back slightly, his instinct telling him to 'run, run, now!' He was still strategically retreating when his back bumped into something soft. He looked upward and was met with a sheep.

Charmy's cooking sheep, to be precise.

"Charmy-paisen!" Asta almost forgot that she was there. She could help him escape!

"Stop bullying Asta, everyone. You're being mean to him," Charmy jumped down from the head of her sheep and huffed at her guild mates between Asta and them, crossing her arms on her chest and frowning. "Let's just eat breakfast together, la?" She smiled cheerily then, her sheep producing a lot of food.

"Charmy-paisen, you're the best!" Asta was smiling with relieved tears on his eyes now that everyone would stop their weird advance on him and would get to eat breakfast that the food was there.

Though it was too soon of him to feel safe, because when he knelt down beside Charmy to thank her profusely, Charmy blinked once before she looked upward at him in surprise, her eyes wide and her nose was twitching. "What… is that smell?" She asked, her expression was in rapture for some reason, like the way Yami had looked at Asta before when they were on the bath.

"What smell?" Asta asked, getting a bad feeling when Charmy stepped closer to him, sniffing him. "Uh… Charmy-paisen?"

Charmy made a noise, a moaning noise from the back of her throat and she inhaled deeply, deeply, before sighing like she was in bliss. "Luck was right," she whispered slowly, before her lustrous oceanic-green eyes flashed with hunger. "You smell delightful," she opened her mouth, seeming about to chomp on Asta's face, before someone else came out from behind him to pull him away from Charmy's attack.

"Hold your horses, Charmy. You can't have him. I get the first dip," Yami, apparently done with his bath, now was in common room where the disaster of Asta's life was happening.

"Excuse me?!"

Asta was a bit indignant that he was treated like some goods, for god sake! Though he was a bit relieved as well because he was literally about to get eaten just now, by Charmy no less. What the heck was going on with everyone today? Was this some kind of prank played by the whole guild on him?

"But I do, don't I?" Yami raised his eyebrow as he brought Asta's face to his closely. His eyes were still weirdly intimidating and predatory, and it might be just Asta's imagination, but the shape of his pupil were looking more and more like hearts. Asta gulped slightly as he was grazed by such wanting look. "I saw you firs, Shrimp. You're mine."

That shouldn't be so… hot, should it?

"Uh… Captain, that's… that's inappropriate—eep!" Asta was spared from continuing as his body was snatched away from Yami by a space magic and was sent to stand beside Finral.

"Captain Yami, that's sexual-harassment," Finral chided, holding Asta close to him on his shoulder. "You guys are acting very weird right now, so I will take Asta away to remove the temptation," he said with a grin as the others gave out a cry of outrage. "Bye!"

"Finral, you piece of shi—!"

And the space was closed before it was opened again to the busy side of the town, somewhere… judging from the Clover Kingdom Castle that he could see in the upper part of the town, they were probably in one of the alleys in downtown capital.

"Finral-san, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Asta hugged the older man, feeling very appreciative that Finral removed him from the center of disaster zone. "Oh God, you don't know how confusing it was. They were acting very strange for some reason. I'm glad you're normal!" He sighed, clutching Finral's waist a bit more tightly before slowly releasing him.

Finral was silent for a moment before he patted Asta's shoulder twice. "Alright, enough with the hugging frenzy," he chuckled slightly and Asta pulled back immediately, grinning sheepishly at him.

Finral stared at Asta's feature slowly then, looking a bit confused before he chuckled again. "Though, I can see why they tried to attack you today, Asta," he said a few moments later, his eyes understanding and sympathetic.

"Eh?" Asta looked at him, nonplussed.

"You do look lovelier than usual," Finral said, his hands twitched slightly, like he was about to do something, but holding back nonetheless.

"L-lovelier?" Asta's was shocked once again, completely perplexed. Because it was Finral that said that, the hopelessly womanizer Finral Roulacase. The world was going to end soon.

"And you smell really good for some reason," Finral made a gesture of sniffing the air now, like what Yami did in the bathroom. "It's almost unbearable," he continued in a whisper, his body leaning a bit closer to Asta as if on instinct, but he jolted and pulled back slightly a moment later, shaking his head twice. It was as if he couldn't help it, though, and Asta was speechless, his respect for his senior going up a notch for his display of self-restraint. "You shouldn't be out when you're like this. Other people won't stand a chance of beating your allure."

"Senpai…!" Asta was almost crying again in gratitude at Finral's thoughtfulness.

"Now you make a face like that," Finral let out long suffering sigh. He moved his hand to touch Asta's left cheek now, his expression warm and affectionate and Finral's face wasn't half-bad when he was quiet and calm like that. He was actually kind of beautiful with his mesmerizing amethyst eyes and kind smile. "You make me want to ask you out on a date, little Asta," he said, his tone teasing and it made Asta blush for some reason.

"Finral-san!" Asta huffed, embarrassed, and Finral laughed slightly at him.

"I don't know what's happening, Asta, but really… before, I am already glad and grateful that you are in the same guild as I am, because you make me a better person," Finral said, moving his position so he was in front of Asta and Asta's back was against the wall of one of the buildings that made the alley. His left hand was on the wall above Asta's head, while his right one, still on Asta's cheek, moved to his chin to lift his face up, guiding him to look upward at Finral's soft expression. "And now… now I feel my affection for you multiply about a thousand times, plus interests."

Finral smiled then, gentle and inviting, and Asta felt that he was probably okay if Finral wanted to kiss him, but then he realized what a weird thought that was because there was supposed to be only one person whom he wanted to kiss and that person was Sister Lily.

Asta still hadn't given up on his first love. He still believed that one day, he could win Sister's love and would marry her when he grew up, but lately… lately his body was going through confusing stages because he found a lot of people (other than Sister) attractive.

Captain Yami was one. He was attractive in a raw wild way, powerful and masculine with muscles to die for. Asta wanted to be like him when he grew up. The others in his guild were also alluring in their own unique way. Luck was adorable even though his personality was questionable. Magna's idea of justice was fascinating and when his hair was down, he was quite handsome too. Vanessa was sexy as hell and Noelle was cute. Charmy could be very pretty when she wanted to and Grey, despite her shy nature, was quite lovely when she was herself. Gouce was Gouce, a sis-com and a creep, but he had his cool moments once or twice that made Asta admire him sometimes. Gordon was still strange and Asta still couldn't understand him at all, yet he believed he was a good person on the inside. Henry… Henry was kind too, a great listener, and he cared for everyone in his own silent way, even though he was stuck in their base because of his condition. Everything was something that Asta found remarkable as a person.

At first, Asta thought it was just because of his respect for these people, but…

Asta's eyelids drooped slightly as Finral leaned in closer, his gaze dropped from his eyes to Asta's lips briefly. Finral's palm, caressing his cheek and chin, wasn't exactly restricting, and if he wanted to, Asta could release himself from his advance as well. Finral was about to close their distance when Asta heard his name called.

"Asta! Is that you?"

Asta instantly pushed Finral's chest away in surprise, withdrawing the mood and the kiss before it happened, at the voice of Rebecca Scarlet, a good friend Asta had made in town. Her red hair and sparkling blue eyes looking at him from the mouth of the alley with happiness.

"Oh! Rebecca!" Asta blinked at her, moving away from Finral's crowding body to greet her. "It's been awhile! How are you?" Asta smiled brightly at her despite his heart still pounding on what was about to happen with Finral.

He couldn't believe he almost let Finral kiss him. Get a grip of yourself, Asta!

"Oh, isn't it the girl from our blind date!" Finral greeted her cheerily as well, not seemingly disappointed at all that their almost kiss was interrupted. "You're as lovely as always, Miss…" he trailed off, apparently already forgetting her name.

"Scarlet, Rebecca Scarlet," Rebecca said, giving him a smile in amusement mixed with exasperation.

Finral-san, how come you forgot your date's name?—Asta's sweat drooped slightly. It was a relief that Rebecca was a patient person, or else she would have slapped Finral for being so rude.

"Miss Scarlet! Nice to meet you again!" Finral said, but making no move to go near her, which was strange because Finral usually couldn't help himself when he was near pretty, beautiful women, and Rebecca was pretty, so it was weird as hell when Finral didn't flirt with her.

"Are you in a mission?" Rebecca didn't seem to find Finral's behavior strange though, and she was focused on Asta once more as she asked.

"Oh, no, we're…"

"On a date!" Finral cut Asta's words with a cheer, causing Rebecca's expression to fall and Asta's heart to jump in his throat.

"WHAT?!" Asta and Rebecca shouted in unison, shocked, before Rebecca blinked and looked at Asta's bewilder with a confused face.

"Wait! When did I agree to go on a date with you, Finral-san!?" Asta protested, blushing furiously.

"Oh? But earlier, you…" Finral was about to say something that was probably embarrassing, so Asta shouted to counter it.

"I was just confused! And nothing happened!" Asta insisted.

"Huh? You didn't look like it." Finral shot him a skeptical look.

"I was! Seriously!" Asta insisted, flushing some more, very mortified and embarrassed.

"Okay, what's going on here?" Rebecca put her hands on her waist, looking at Finral and Asta back and forth in suspicion.

"Nothing!" Asta looked at her in alarm. "There's nothing going on! Finral-san was just dropping me off here. It's my day off and I am about to go sightseeing in downtown!" He made excuse and then he turned to Finral expectantly. "Right, Finral-san? It seems whatever is happening is affecting you too! It's weird that you show no interest in Rebecca and she's a beautiful woman! You must go back on the base Finral-san!" He tried to convince Finral discreetly, that he was acting weird too, and Finral seemed to agree when he paused and thought about it while maintaining space from Asta.

"Alright, but we're not done yet, little Asta," Finral said, smiling softly before he stepped closer to Asta, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and then disappeared in his space-magic.

Asta blushed harder as he touched his forehead before he jolted in surprise, face paling slightly as he remembered that Rebecca was still there, gaping at him. "What was that about?!"

Yeah… that would be difficult to explain.

~ Everyone x Asta~

"Everyone in the guild is teasing me! That must have been it!" Asta exclaimed loudly as he walked together with Rebecca. He didn't dare to look at Rebecca's eyes, though, because he was a terrible liar and honestly, he was actually convincing himself that what happened earlier, in the guild with everyone and in the alley with Finral, were just a part of 'embarrassing Asta' game, or something similar to it.

"For a teasing, that seemed a bit much don't you think?" she muttered lowly, still sounding upset for some reason.

Asta chuckled uneasily. "Yes, well, sometimes they don't know their limit."

"So… are you up for some part time job, Asta? I am about to open the store… if you're not busy, would you mind accompanying me today?" Now, Rebecca walked a bit faster, so she could position her body to look at Asta's face from upfront, smiling shyly at him from under her long eyelashes.

"Ah, that will be my pleasure!" Asta was grateful for the change of the subject, since he didn't know the cause of his guild mates' strange behavior. He had no idea what he could do to sober them up from the 'Seduce Asta' game they were playing, so he should just dismiss that as the strangeness of life.

Asta smiled back at Rebecca, and for some reason, Rebecca's face flushed and she seemed flustered. "T-thank you, Asta," she said, looking the other way slightly before stealing a glance at him again, and her face pinked some more.

This… this pattern is not good—Asta felt a bit paranoid now, because Rebecca also showed the almost same symptom as his guild mates before they started to act crazy.

It was kind of worse, because he started to notice that it wasn't just Rebecca that looked at Asta that way on the street. Every person that crossed path with Asta gave him a double take before their eyes wouldn't stop following his movement. Some even started to follow them with strange interest in their gaze, expression and body language.

Asta was very, very confused with this attention. True, he was used to the center of attention when he was being mocked, sneered at and slandered for all his flaws, but this kind of attention, attention where people seemed interested in him, like they wanted him, was very foreign for Asta. It made him immensely uncomfortable.

"Uh… is it just me or… we seem to be attracting people's gaze?" Asta asked, glancing right and left and never failed to make contact with passerby's eyes. They smiled at him and blushed for some reason. It wasn't just the women, the men did the same, which was very odd.

"It's because of you, Asta," Rebecca's voice was turning a bit sighing, her eyes and expression while she was gazing at him was in rapture. "You look extra cool today," she continued, which made Asta's body freeze.

"Uh…" Asta looked at Rebecca nervously, before he looked around once again and noted that a lot of people were advancing on their standing spot. "O…kay, it seems that whatever is happening is affecting you and towns' people as well, so…" Asta felt regretful that he had to break his word to help in Rebecca's store, but he felt that he was honestly in grave danger right now if he stayed there, so… "I'm sorry, Rebecca! I just remembered that I have business at Clover Kingdom Castle, so… I'll help out at the store in my next day off! Bye now!"

Asta didn't wait for Rebecca's response before he dashed away as fast as he could, lest she, or worse, the mob, would start to jump him.

~ Everyone x Asta ~

Asta didn't know what to do now.

No, really. Everyone that he made contact with, no matter who they were, either tried to profess their undying love to him despite 'them being rivals and would Asta please marry him' (Leopold), sang a freaking ballad dedicated to him (some guys from the Crimson Lion that were patrolling with Leopold, he was so grateful that Captain Mereoleona wasn't around, or he wouldn't be able to get away at all), or tried to jump him (some nameless magic knights from Purple Orcas Guild patrolling the area). Even some Blue Rose girls flirted (flirted!) and tried to invite him to have a drink with them, in broad day light, and couldn't they see that he was a minor?! He even had to dodge Riil, the captain of Azure Deer Guild, when he started to ask if Asta would model for his newest painting, which included bed-sheet and nothing else on his body. He couldn't even enter the gate of the Clover Kingdom Palace without getting molested verbally or physically. He shuddered violently as he remembered that one of the guards groped his butt when he asked permission to enter the Palace Ground.

"Everyone has turned crazy!"

Asta shrieked as he punched the guy, and was forced to retreat to the nearest guild which didn't seem to have anyone (magic knight or simply guard) posted on their Guild Castle entrance. The rising sun symbol on the flags informed him that he had entered the area of Golden Dawn Guild Castle.

Even though Asta had his doubt at first, he finally admitted that something very wrong was definitely up. He had to look for someone cool-headed, preferably Magic Knight, to report this strangeness. It could have been an attack from Eye of the Midnight Sun that affected the entire town again!

Asta looked for some people he knew in Golden Dawn and it was his luck that he spotted Klaus in the middle of deserted (thank God) hallway, walking on the corridor while talking to his guild mate, Mimosa (double lucky!).

"Megane-senpai! Mimosa!" Asta called as he was still running toward them.

Klaus and Mimosa seemed to hear his voice as they turned their faces to his direction. "Asta-san!" Mimosa called back, her eyes shiny and her cheeks flushing in obvious happiness.

"Asta, what are you doing here?" Klaus blinked at him in curiosity as Asta arrived in front of him and Mimosa, only slightly breathless because of his run.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you guys about something weird that's been going on since morning!" Asta said earnestly, needing them to believe his words even though at this moment he had no proof supporting his suspicion regarding the supposed attack by their nemesis.

"Calm down, Asta-san. Take a deep breath and then you can tell us anything," Mimosa said, her smile mellowing more for some reason, and the flush on her cheeks were deepening as she stepped closer toward Asta, her hand up as if she was about to touch him.

On instinct, Asta stepped back. He was still quite traumatized by the groping incident and he became even more paranoid about people touching him so suddenly. "Uh, you… are you affected too?" he asked tensely.

"Eh?" Mimosa looked at him with puzzled expression, but her face was getting redder and her pupils were dilating as well, thinning her greenish-yellow irises.

"This… this is the proof that something weird is going on, Megane-senpai! Can you see? Everyone I met today has turned strange, like they couldn't help it they wanted to… to attack me!" He turned to Klaus, exaggeratedly pointing at Mimosa's hand and face.

Klaus was quiet for some seconds, looking at Asta, who was still panicking about everyone's weird behavior, with unreadable look on his face. He tilted his head aside, his expression full of consideration when Mimosa began to grasp his arm with both hands.

"Asta-san, you're speaking nonsense. I'm myself and not affected by anything!" Mimosa giggled, her hands becoming adventurous as it caressed Asta's biceps and triceps through his clothes and then moved to the bare skin of his forearm.

"M-Mimosa! You're affected! Definitely affected!" Asta couldn't help all the Goosebumps rising on his skin, shuddering slightly as he tried to catch Mimosa's hands, to make her stop touching for god's sake! "Megane-senpai! Don't just stand there! Do something!" Asta turned to face Klaus again, still battling Mimosa's adventurous hands, when the silver haired older man seemed to snap from his train of thought and moved toward them.

"Mimosa, let him go," Klaus chided as he pulled Asta away from her. "You're acting rather bold, touching a boy like that in public," he frowned.

"Oh? But aren't you doing the same thing?" Mimosa raised her eyebrows while making a meaningful gesture at Klaus' hands, one was on Asta's head, caressing and ruffling the messy ash-blond hair affectionately, and the other was on Asta's back, doing the same thing as its counterpart.

"T-this! I'm trying to calm him down!" Klaus said, a flush rising on his face, and he didn't make his usual gesture of fixing the position of his glasses as he was defending himself, in order to keep touching Asta.

Asta paled slightly as he realized that whatever was going on was probably affecting Klaus as well, despite his cool-headedness.

"Now, Klaus-san, would you please let Asta-san go, before I make you?" Mimosa was still smiling, but her smile looked extra scary now.

Huh?

"Hoo, you dare challenging your superior, huh?" Klaus' expression turning serious and spark were crackling around them so suddenly.

Whaaat?!

Asta just knew he would be in very serious trouble if they started to have a fight here, over him nonetheless. This was a complete disaster!

"Whoa, whoa! Guys!" Asta forcefully freed himself from Klaus' hold, rising both his hands up air to calm the thickening tension. "Come on! Be reasonable! This is me, Asta. Just plain, ordinary, magic-less member of the Black Bull Guild, and you are the Golden Dawn Guild members. What are you doing fighting each other because of me?" Bullets of sweat had dropped relentlessly from the back of his head in his trepidation and nervousness.

"There's nothing plain or ordinary about you, Asta," Klaus turned to Asta again, his gaze softening and his small genuine smile adorning his face now.

"Asta-san is the strongest, most amazing person I've ever met," Mimosa agreed with him wholeheartedly, her eyes glimmering with adoration as she stared at Asta.

Oh no…!

Asta couldn't help blushing at their words, but he shook his head immediately in realization that whatever was affecting them was probably making them say and do things they didn't mean to.

Dang! And they said something that he longed to hear from everyone after they acknowledged him, too! This was so unfair!

"I- I promise I will make you normal again!" Asta said, turning determined to end this curse, or whatever that caused this phenomenon, with poignant tears pooling in his eyes. "Wait for me, Megane-senpai, Mimosa! I will save you from this spell!" and Asta dashed again to continue looking for people whom weren't affected by… whatever it was.

~ William x Asta ~

Asta was running around the corridors of Golden Dawn Guild Castle, not discouraged even though every time he found someone that he tried to reason to, they turned out the same as the others, getting affected by whatever it was, and attempting to assault him with forced affection. It was kind of mortifying that people could be reduced to this. He meant, they usually didn't spare him a glance, let alone a string of affectionate name-calls and touches which he did not appreciate one bit.

There must be someone else beside me that's not affected! There has to be!—well, Asta was a bit desperate though, and running into Golden Dawn Guild Captain didn't make him feel better, when he tried to hide in one of the rooms that seemed to be available and not locked.

"Aren't you that boy from the Black Bull Guild?" William Vangeance blinked from behind his mask, on his seat, which suspiciously looked like a throne for some reason, his lilac colored eyes staring at Asta in puzzlement, probably thinking why he was inside the Golden Dawn Guild Castle at all.

"Oh, Masked-Captain of Golden Dawn!" Asta immediately turned around and closed the door behind him, getting slightly cautious as the captain only gave him a small smile. He didn't move from his seat, which was a relief, as Asta stood there staring at him.

"Are you alright? You look kind of... out of breath," William said, his expression was hard to read because of his mask, but his tone showed a slight concern.

"Um, well… I-I kind of playing tag with some people," Asta lied, forcing a nervous chuckle out of his mouth as he still looked for a sign if the captain was affected with that strange magic that made everyone seemed infatuated with Asta. "A-are you feeling alright?" he couldn't help asking though, because Asta didn't know William enough to notice if he was indeed behaving strange.

"What do you mean?" William tilted his head slightly aside, apparently confused.

"No, you see… people I met today seem to act strange, like they weren't exactly themselves. Are you feeling something unusual right now?" Asta asked further, hoping that the captain was still himself.

"I don't think I feel anything unusual," William answered with a smile once again. "What kind of strange behavior did you notice people do today, um… Asta?"

Asta blinked once, surprised that the Golden Dawn Captain remembered his name at all. "Wow, you actually know my name," he was almost slack-jawed as he stared more prominently at the blond man and William chuckled in reaction, sounding amused.

"Well, Yuno seems to regard you very highly, Asta. It would be irresponsible if I, as his captain, didn't keep a close eye on a person that my genius of a subordinate acknowledges as his rival," William said, his smile turning soft.

Oh, because he acknowledges Yuno?

Asta smiled as well, happy that someone so important considered Yuno's opinion so highly. It was as he expected, though, because Yuno was awesome. Asta grinned then, feeling proud of his childhood friend so much. "Yes, Yuno is the best!" He couldn't be any more honest with what he thought about Yuno, and it had to show in his expression because William widened his eyes slightly.

"Do these people act strangely after they meet your eyes, Asta?" William asked slowly as he subtly moved until he stood up from his seat.

"Huh? Ah… some," Asta said, looking the other way. "But some also said something about smelling something… delicious," which was absurd, because Asta always used unscented soap and shampoo.

"Well, I can't blame them for that," William said and Asta whipped his head upward when he heard his voice very close to him so suddenly. Asta didn't notice when the captain moved from his standing spot beside his seat earlier. The man was in front of him now, just a couple of feet away.

"Um… Sir?" Asta got a bit of a chill when he met William's eyes again, his lilac colored eyes seemed to glow in the shadow of his mask.

William reached his hand to Asta's face and Asta froze at the contact of gloved hand on his chin and right cheek. "You have such mesmerizing eyes, Asta," he whispered and Asta's heart started to speed up again like before, when he was cornered by Yami in the bathroom, when all his guild mates held him and hugged him and bit him, and then when Finral tried to kiss him. It was probably seventy percent fear, but the other thirty was unknown element and Asta was partly mortified that he found the captain of Golden Dawn eyes very, very beautiful. They were like pale pearly gems with soft gentle kindness that had power to drown people in them, and Asta couldn't believe he was thinking about William Vangeance this way.

"And they are right about the scent too…"

Asta jolted up in surprise as William's mouth was on his left ear. He shuddered when he felt a hint of teeth on his earlobe. "You do have such enchanting scent… like flowers, sweet and pleasant, with a hint of citrus and… sun. So warm… so inviting… like coming home…" William's hands moved, the one on Asta's chin and cheek traveling down, his left hand enveloping Asta's side as he embraced him and Asta could feel the captain burrow his masked face on Asta's left shoulder. "It makes me want to stay forever like this…"

"Uh…" Asta didn't know what to do with his hands as he had an armful of William Vangeance getting cozy hugging him like that. Wait, was the captain of Golden Dawn always this touchy-feely? Probably not. This had to be the curse.

This is kind of dangerous…!

"Um, Masked-Captain?" Asta couldn't help calling him after a few minutes of staying still in that position and William didn't seem to show any inclination to move. "You-… you're being affected by that thing as well," he continued, his hands moving to William's back and absently stroking it up and down. "This thing… is probably the cause of why everyone acts so weirdly. They… they seem to show excessive affection toward me for no reason… and this is not really how you usually act, right? The usual you are more… distant." Astra tried to explain, but William's hug tightened for some reason. Asta's heart bumped paces again at the subtle gesture.

"I don't actually try to distance myself from other people, though," William murmured softly and he sounded kind of… sulky when he said that, like a kid.

Oh… is it actually because he's a bit awkward?

Asta couldn't help chuckling lightly. Somehow… the captain of Golden Dawn reminded him a lot of Yuno when he was a kid, awkward and having no idea how to reach out with his words. It was… adorable.

"Masked-Captain?"

"It's William Vangeance," he corrected, but didn't pull back or loosen his hold on Asta at all.

Asta sighed slightly. "Captain Vangeance," he called again, softer this time. "I need to go find out how to fix this."

"Stay," William pleaded, at least in Asta's ear, he sounded like he was pleading, and his hands clutched at Asta's robe like a life-line. "Stay awhile with me." The hint of desperation was also there, as if… as if he was afraid of getting left behind.

Asta smiled softly as he tightened his own hold on William. "I'll come back for you. I'm not going to leave you alone."

That seemed to calm the captain down and he loosened his hold on Asta before he pulled back, still looking at Asta with glowing soft eyes. "Promise?" He sound like a child then, with hope so clear Asta couldn't help himself when he saw such raw emotion radiated from the older man despite his face partially covered by his mask.

Asta reached William's hands with both hands and then looked upward into his beautiful eyes with gentle smile on his face. "I promise," he squeezed his hands and William slowly gave him a brilliant smile, a smile that he had never shown before.

"Go on then," William said after Asta released his hands. He let Asta go without a fuss after that.

~ Yuno x Asta ~

Asta let out a sigh as he closed the door. This was getting more dangerous. He couldn't believe that the Captain of Golden Dawn would be reduced to that state because of this curse. Was this some kind of weakness-revealing curse? But the others didn't show such kind of weakness. Was this affecting people in different way? Ah… but it wasn't that different because in the end, the captain was affectionate with Asta as well, even though it was less… creepy.

His hug feels nice.

Asta smiled then, blushing slightly. Well, he did promise he would come back to him after Asta dealt with the curse. If William was up for another hugging session after he was back in his right mind, Asta would hug him as much as he wanted.

Asta started walking again to look for some magic knights that weren't affected by the curse, and upon meeting a troop with the vice-captain of the Golden Dawn, Asta's luck was running out.

"You! What are you doing here?" Langris Vaude pointed at Asta, his expression dark and full of disgust which was familiar and it caused Asta to grow some hope that he was normal.

"Oh, thank god! Someone who actually hates me!" Asta ran toward the smaller guy and grasped at his shoulders, to the indignant squeak of the said magic knight. "You have to help me! Something weird is going on with people! It's probably a curse or something! Everyone was acting strange and behaving like a lunatic on aphrodisiac! We have to find the source of the curse and destroy it before it destroys the people affected by it!" he shook Langris' shoulders while explaining and it seemed to annoy him.

"D-don't just casually touch me like that!" Langris' voice seemed oddly high though, and Asta blinked as he looked at the shorter guy more carefully. "W-what do you want? What curse? Are-are you here to see me?" His face was red and his expression was complicated, his lips trembling and his body was also shivering for some reason.

Asta scrunched his nose, curious. "Are you cold? You're shivering…"

"N-no!" Langris shook his head, but he evaded Asta's gaze and didn't sound sincere, so Asta did what he always did when his little brothers or sisters in his orphanage were sick but lied to him about their condition. He put his forehead on the kid's and Langris's body visibly froze up at the contact.

Well, Langris didn't seem to lie because his forehead didn't feel warmer, but… why was his face getting redder?

"L-l-let go already!" Langris shoved Asta away, his face in crimson color like a ripe tomato and he hid his mouth behind one hand. "Y-you… you're the worst! If you want to court me, use the proper channel!" he harrumphed and pouted, refusing to look at Asta.

… Huh?

Asta dropped his jaw at the sudden declaration. He gaped and couldn't even make any noise of protest because he was shocked by the very much untrue accusation. But the worst of all was the way Langris tried not to look at him while simultaneously stealing a shy glance once or thrice in his direction. He could actually see the shape of hearts on his pupils which was creepy as hell because the guy was freaking thirteen! (Yea, no, he perfectly knew that Langris was over 18 at least, probably twenty, but he was just so small! He was even smaller than Asta for God's sake!)

"Uh… what are you even talking about… courting?" Asta stepped back slowly.

Seriously, what the hell! If even the guy that hated Asta was affected this badly… did he just say about contacting his parents for possible another betrothal? Asta needed to leave now. Now!

Asta was about to leave when his arms were caught by some of the Golden Dawn Magic Knights that were on the same platoon as Langris, and the way they looked at Asta with dilated pupils and labored breaths were scaring Asta a bit. Some were actually drooling! Asta's inner alarms were blaring all at once then and he instantly freed himself and dashed away from the scene.

"Please! Somebody sane! Please come ouuut!"

Yeah, Asta wasn't above screaming bloody murder now. He just needed someone that wasn't affected by the freaking curse!

It was kind of worse because those magic knights he tried to ditch, including Langris, were chasing after him. "Gyaaaaah!"

Asta ran as fast as he could and tried to lose his chaser by turning at some junctions and was about to turn again when someone appeared from the front and he didn't know what happened but one second he was still running, the next he blinked he was already inside a room, just in time when he was released from a bubble.

"W-what?" Asta blinked twice more before he looked around. "Where? What's going—Mahou-tei?!" He was very surprised when the Magic Emperor, Julius Novachrono, suddenly showed up in front of him.

"Yah, Asta-kun! It seems you were in sort of predicament out there, so I gave you a little bit of help to run away from the mob," the dandy uncle said with a wide smile, waving with one hand, while the other one hidden behind his back. "But really, what did you do to be chased around by other Magic Knight, Asta-kun?"

"Uh… you're not gonna believe this, but everyone is cursed!" Asta said in a bit of a panic.

"Cursed?" Julius raised one of his eyebrows, looking and sounding surprised but skeptical.

"It's true! You have to believe me, Mahou-tei! They're acting crazy!" Asta was already desperate since a few encounter before, so didn't bother with making excuse this time.

"What kind of crazy thing are you talking about?" Julius asked, seeming curious now.

"W-well, they… they become so affectionate with me!" Asta exclaimed loudly.

…

…

"And that's bad?" Julius looked even more confused now.

Asta groaned. He knew it sounded stupid and embarrassing when he said it like that, but essentially it really happened, so there!

"It's bad! Really bad! Because those people didn't act that way before!" Astra tried to explain further.

"And you think they are crazy because they like you?" Now Julius looked like he sympathized with Asta, looking at him with sad eyes.

"Uh… that's not the point, Mahou-tei! This curse compels them to do something against their will! It's not fair for them!" Asta tried explaining earnestly, even though he didn't know how the curse was casted, or when, or why, he just knew that it forced people to be extra affectionate (some of them even lustful) toward him and it might escalate into something worse if it wasn't undone.

"Well, if it was some kind of mind-control, it can be dangerous indeed," Julius rubbed at his light goatee on his chin with his right hand, pondering. "But, I don't think being affectionate with you is such a bad thing, Asta-kun," he said, looking at Asta again with gentle smile. "You are quite lovable after all," he continued.

Asta flushed as he heard that before he realized something in extreme horror. Looking at the current Magic Emperor gazing at him with such affection, Asta could only conclude one thing.

"Oh no...! You're affected too…!" Asta felt like crying for real when he thought that the strongest person in Clover Kingdom was actually infected by a curse.

"Asta-kun?" Julius seemed concerned, and he was about to step closer, but Asta held his hands up, palm facing Julius to stop him and the Magic Emperor looked at him in confusion again, yet he respected Asta's wish and didn't come any closer.

"Don't worry, Mahou-tei! I will definitely break this curse for everyone's sake!" Asta exclaimed, even though tears were gathering in his eyes, he was resolute to do this. He wouldn't fail Magic Emperor and his friends. He would save them!

Asta turned around and dashed away despite Julius calling his name in urgency, something about people still chasing after and searching for him in the Golden Dawn Guild Castle, but Asta was too stubborn to stop now. He had a mission to do after all.

~ Yuno x Asta~

Asta was an idiot.

No, seriously, he was an utter, complete moron.

He should have listened to Magic Emperor's warning more seriously. Now he was in the corridor, along with his pursuers who didn't seem about to give up on catching his body and heart. Wait, was that another ballad?

Asta just kept running around the corridor, trying to find someone, anyone else that didn't want to chase him. He jumped off from the second floor stairs to the first floor and then immediately ran to the garden. He calculated the trajectory of another jump to the roof of one of the smaller buildings around the main castle and noticed a window open at the third story of the smaller building on the right side of the main castle and paused at the realization.

It's Yuno's room window!

Asta berated himself for his stupidity for forgetting that Yuno was in Golden Dawn Guild. He immediately jumped once and twice at the balcony of the second story to the third, grabbing the rail of the Yuno's room balcony before pulling his body up to land almost soundlessly on the balcony.

Asta let out a deep sigh before he grasped the opened windowsill, peering inside the room and finding Yuno asleep on his bed.

Well, that was rare. Yuno rarely slept at this time. He meant, Yuno rarely napped at all outside night time, except when he was exhausted, but Yuno's Maryoku reserve was quite a lot and unless he had just come home from a taxing mission, it was indeed odd seeing him so defenseless in his sleep like that.

Asta was about to enter the room, but was abruptly stopped by a tiny girl with wings suddenly flying in front of his face. Asta blinked, crossing his eyes slightly to see the palm-sized blond in green dress, pouting and huffing at him.

"Um… hi, Sylph," Asta greeted the Wind Spirit, smiling slightly.

"You reek!" Sylph scoffed.

"Excuse me?" Asta was offended. He had taken a bath this morning! Surely, he had run around all day, being chased by cursed-induced crazy people, but he didn't sweat that much!

"You really, really reek!" Sylph's palm was up, like she was about to blow Asta away with her wind magic and Asta panicked, covering his face by crossing his arms in front of it.

"Wa-wait! If you blow me away from this height, I'll become a meat-splatter on the grooound—!"

Well, at last he tried. If he died now, he would only regret that he hadn't become Magic-Emperor and hadn't married Sister Lily, and probably wondered what would happen to those people that had been cursed to be affectionate with him.

"Sylph, Asta, you're being too loud."

A soft grumble from the bed instantly stopped Sylph doing her magic, and Asta froze, before he peered behind the Wind Spirit as Yuno slowly woke up from his slumber. He looked drowsy and tired and Sylph immediately flew to his side to fawn over him enthusiastically.

"Yuno," Asta sighed in relief that he wasn't in any more danger to get blown away by the spirit and also felt a bit guilty for waking his rival even though he looked dead-tired and probably needed more sleep, but Asta already exhausted all his choices to fix this problem and he could always trust Yuno to be cool-headed in emergency.

Asta jumped inside the room from the windowsill and approached his rival, still yawning and rubbing his eyes on the bed while pushing Sylph a few centimeters away from his face. "Hey, man, sorry for waking you up, but I really could use your help right now," he said slowly.

"Asta… why are you here?" Yuno blinked twice before he looked upward at him.

Asta paused for a moment, looking at Yuno closely. His golden eyes were still a bit cloudy, his hair a mess in reality, but it looked like it was styled messy deliberately. His long-sleeved black undershirt riding slightly, exposing part of his side and he looked too damned attractive for a guy just waking up from sleep, this handsome bastard!

Asta shook his head before he sat on the bed. "Everyone has turned crazy today. I believe they're cursed," he got to the point and Yuno frowned at him in reaction.

"What?" Yuno looked at Asta as if he were the crazy one.

"No, it's serious. Everyone I met today, my guild mates, the town people, every Magic Knights, even Mahou-tei, can't you believe that? They all were acting strange… most of them became so touchy-feely and they became so overly affectionate it was kind of creepy!" Asta flailed his hands up, getting worked up again. "And worse, I don't know what's causing this—!"

Asta stopped mid-rant as he felt a touch to his neck. He looked upward and met Yuno's golden eyes, his expression blank, before Asta dropped his gaze on Yuno's hand, which was caressing his neck with a thumb. "Y-Yuno?" Asta's heart thumped harder for a second, worried if even Yuno was affected, then he was doomed.

"Who did this?" Yuno's voice was frosty, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Huh?" Asta was confused. "Who did what?"

"This," Yuno's thumb pressed more prominently and Asta felt the ache on his neck and he instantly remembered the way Luck had bitten and sucked him there, the feel of pleasure and pain surging at the same time that caused Asta to moan, and heat instantly rushed to his face as he pulled back and slapped at his neck, blushing furiously.

"T-this is nothing!" Asta shouted, standing and creating space between him and Yuno.

"That doesn't look like nothing," Yuno gazed at Asta, his expression hard to read as usual, but his voice was icy and he seemed to be angry.

"No, no, this is not important! The more pressing matter if the curse made them do it against their will!" Asta exclaimed and there was a pregnant silence for about three seconds before Yuno growled.

"They did it against your will?"

Asta slapped his own forehead at that. "Yuno! You're not listening to what I said! They're cursed! It's going to get worse if we don't do something about it!"

Yuno made a visible effort to take a deep breath before letting it out slowly, as if he was trying to be patient, which was absurd because it was Asta who wanted to tear his hair out in the first place and Yuno was the one trying his patience right now.

"Look, you and I are the only one that don't act like a lunatic in heat right now. Thank God for that. We have to break the curse to help those people who are affected," Asta said and Yuno stared at him for several more seconds before shrugging and making a move to stand up, agreeing in his usual silence that they needed to do something about it if it was indeed a curse.

Asta smiled, feeling grateful that Yuno was willing to help him.

"So, do you know how they were cursed in the first place?" Yuno asked pointedly and Asta winced at that. "You don't, do you?" the dark haired mage gave him a long suffering look and Asta scratched his cheek sheepishly.

"He's so dumb!" Sylph chirped from beside Yuno, snickering.

"Sylph," Yuno chided the small Wind Spirit, but she just continued snickering.

"Besides, it's not other people whom are cursed," Sylph continued as Yuno grabbed his robe from the hanger near the desk. Asta and Yuno paused to look at her, questioning. "It's the Shrimp who's cursed," she continued, pointing at Asta smugly.

Asta blinked once. "What?" Now he was bewildered. "What do you mean I'm the one who's cursed? I feel fine!"

"You reek of it," Sylph continued, flying near Asta and made gesture of sniffing the air around him. She sneezed then, rubbing at her nose. "Reek," she continued, sniffling.

"Okay, what the hell! I'm not that smelly!" Asta was very offended now, huffing.

"Not that, stupid. You reek of the curse!" Sylph exclaimed, huffing as well, to Asta and Yuno's surprise. "The smell that comes out of you, that's what's affecting the people around you."

"But…" Yuno was already finished putting on his guild robe before he came closer to Asta, seeming to try to sniff him as well, to Asta's utter embarrassment. "I don't smell anything weird from him. He just smells like Asta," he argued.

"Maybe it's because you're used to his scent," Sylph shrugged. "You smell it, but not affected by it."

"Neither are you," Asta pointed, looking at Sylph with awe.

"I'm not human, chibi, of course your stupid pheromone can't affect me," Sylph thrust her tongue at Asta.

"What now? What pheromone?" Asta was getting dizzy with all this talk about his scent. He smelled normal for God's sake! And why were they discussing about something so embarrassing like it was nothing? "And would you stop calling me little? You're smaller than me!"

Sylph ignored his protest as she continued explaining, sounding a bit exasperated. "The curse seems to activate the producing of pheromone in your body, Chibista. You know what pheromone is, right?"

Asta growled at the mocking name-calling again, but he thought about what she said and felt that he had heard about that pheromone thing from somewhere, a long time ago.

"It's what animal produces when it's trying to… reproduce with its mate," Yuno coughed slightly, looking like he was embarrassed despite the clinical term.

"Ah, Yuno is so smart!" Sylph chirped infatuatedly while trying to hug Yuno's neck. Yuno looked upward, rolling his eyes. "You're correct, Yuno. Pheromone is used by animals to attract their opposite sex!"

Both Asta and Yuno cringed at the vulgar word. "Can you word it in politer way?" Asta complained. "Besides, it's not just opposite… gender that's being affected. Most of them are males," he continued thumbing at the direction of outside the window. "And you're talking about animal, I am human and so those people are."

"Human is mammal, they're kind of animals too," Sylph snorted. "They have pheromone as well, just not as overpowering as animals'. The difference is just, human have their logic and brain to control their instinct, but the thing that curses you cause your body to emit pheromone that almost obliterates that control over their instincts, their instinct to mate you." She smirked and Asta shuddered at the thought.

"Not on my watch," Yuno's words and eyes turned icy again, his expression turning serious.

Asta gaped at Yuno now, astonished and speechless. "Wow… Yuno, you look like a prince in shining armor. I'm so moved," he was almost in tears as he hugged his best friend and rival. "You're my hero, Brother. Thanks for always looking out for me."

Yuno was silent for a long moment before he patted Asta's back. "You're being creepy, Asta," he said monotonously and Asta barked out a laugh at his disturbed tone.

"No, yeah. I love you, Bro! Please never change," Asta was still laughing as he patted Yuno's back repeatedly. He laughed so much his tears came out.

Though, for some reason, Sylph became snippy after that and pulled at Asta's robe to make him let go of his hold on her Yuno. "Mou! Get away from Yuno, Chibi!" She sounded so jealous it was kind of hilarious.

"So, when did you get cursed, Asta?" Yuno asked after they all sat back down on Yuno's bed, more comfortable than standing in the middle of the room.

"You should put more chairs in here, Yuno," Asta made an observation. It was kind of inconvenient that Yuno's room had no chair. Did he invite his friends to sit on his bed all the time?

"Focus, Chibista!" Sylph slapped both her tiny hands on Asta's cheeks to get his mind on tract and Asta yelped in surprise because it stung.

"Alrigh, alrigh! Sorry," Asta shook his head to center his thought once again. "I don't know when I made contact with the curse. I don't remember being cursed at all. I mean, the last time I was in a fight, I was with Noelle and we…" Asta's words and thought process grinded to a halt as he remembered the yesterday fight. "Aaaaaah!" He immediately stood up again as he realized what happened.

"What?" Yuno looked up, his expression slightly alarmed.

"I know what's going on! God, I was so stupid. I know who did this!" Asta exclaimed as he immediately rushed to the door. "Come on, Yuno! We have to get to the dungeon of Clover Kingdom main castle!"

~ Yuno x Asta ~

"Move away, people." Yuno opened his Grimoire and produced some of his wind magic to part the mass of people in front of him and Asta. It wasn't strong enough to blow them away, but sturdy enough not to let them come closer and obstruct their way to walk.

Asta whistled in awe. "As always, your magic is so useful." He didn't know what he would do if those guys got to him. He didn't even want to think about that.

"So, who's in the dungeon?" Yuno asked, closing the door to the dungeon's entrance before the guards and the other people outside could follow them inside. Sylph blew some of her wind-magic to lock the door as an addition.

"Some crook with flamboyant dress-robe that claimed he was a Potion Master." Asta grumbled. "He threw some powdery stuff at my face yesterday. Itched as hell, made me cough and sneeze like crazy. That powdery stuff might be magic and could be the cause of this pheromone thing."

"Well, if he is the cause of this mess, it won't hurt to question him. He might have an antidote or another solution to solve this problem." Yuno shrugged again as they entered the main part of the dungeon, where the criminals were restraint magically and physically.

Some criminals were dangerous enough to be restraint individually with layers of magical and physical protection to prevent them escaping, but some were just petty criminals who could be restraint with anti-magic handcuffs and prisons. The petty criminals were banded together in anti-magic prison and Asta found his criminal banded together with those petty criminals.

Asta couldn't believe that petty criminal could cause this kind of mess. Just his luck, his guess. "Hey!" Asta called the guy and he looked at Asta in disinterest before there was a change in his demeanor and gaze as he smiled indulgently.

"Well, well, well, isn't it the gorgeous muscles, how have you been, sweet-heart?" He looked at Asta up and down, like he was enjoying the view, so did every inmate around him.

Asta paled, knowing well that even the potion master wasn't immune to his pheromone. "Cut the crap, Potion Master. Sheesh, your name is so cliché it's not even funny. What did you do to me yesterday? Why is everyone acting like animals in heat around me?" He glared at the man, his flamboyant dress-robe was now changed into the inmate robes, but his make-up was the same and it was kind of disturbing seeing him in half flamboyant get up like that.

"Oh, did everyone get you already? What a shame. I'd love to have my hands on your amazing muscles myself," the man pouted and Asta scowled at him in annoyance.

"I really want to punch him," Asta growled.

"I second that," Yuno agreed.

"Tell me how to fix this mess! It's your magic, isn't it? How do we undo the curse?" Asta demanded.

"Rude. It's not a curse! It's a gift!" the man exclaimed. "It got you laid, didn't it? If you let me get a taste of you as well, I might tell you everything you want to know," he leered at Asta and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively while Asta gagged.

"Gross!"

Yuno made a move and grabbed the man's collar behind bars, pulled hard and slammed his face to the iron bars in the process as he hissed dangerously, "Stop dilly-dallying and tell us how to get rid of it."

"Ow…! You're being too rough…! I'm against violence…!" the guy was whimpering in pain, his face still pressed rigid on the bars.

"Then stop wasting our time and talk." Yuno tightened his hold on the collar briefly before loosening his grip.

"Sheesh… your boyfriend is too possessive," the guy grumbled while pulling back from the bars, tending his bruised face as Asta choked on his spit in shock. "Welp, probably the pheromone increases the possessive behavior as well," he shrugged.

"Yuno is not my boyfriend!" Asta yelled shrilly, blushing furiously and heatedly at the accusation. "He's-, he's my best friend and rival! My brother, you sick perverted old man!"

"It doesn't matter. The pheromone affects people basically the same way. They'll all want to jump your bone, my dear, cute Black Bull Magic Knight," the Potion Master chortled. "They all want a piece of you to taste. Damn, you smell so delicious," he looked like he was salivating as he gulped, his hungry gaze not leaving Asta. It was sickening.

"Stop looking at me like that and tell me how to break the curse!" Asta slammed his fist on the bar hard it almost broke. He forgot his own strength sometimes.

"Told you it's not a curse." The man smirked. "It is potion, chemical. Essentially you are on drug." He chuckled. "You can only wait until the effect wear off, mister adorable."

"How long?" Asta asked apprehensively.

"Who knows, a week? A month? How much did you inhale yesterday? Probably a year worth?" he licked his lips, probably trying to look seductive, but it just made Asta's hair stand on end.

"You've to be kidding me! There has to be a way to get rid of it faster!" Asta paled at the thought of having to avoid human contact for a year. It would be incredibly lonely!

"Or you can always enjoy the attention and have sex with everyone. The drug effect is bound to run its course if you do what it tells you to do, right?" the man grinned.

Asta paused and then looked upward at the man for a few seconds before he smiled widely at him, motioning him to get closer. "Oh, you're finally inter—AARGH!" His word was cut short as Asta punched his face between the bars.

"Gross!" Asta repeated his word a few moments ago as he huffed at the man holding his bloody, probably broken, nose.

Yuno was silent the entire exchange earlier, even when they came back up while Asta was muttering what a disaster this was and he wouldn't be able to hold off of meeting people for a freaking week, more impossible for an entire year. Yuno's magic was ready once more to prevent people coming closer to get a bite of Asta, and Asta was grateful that he didn't comment on anything as Asta was still whining non-stop until they were back safely on Yuno's quarter.

"So, what will you do?" Yuno asked after that.

Asta covered his face with his hands. "I don't know… becoming a hermit for a year?" He wanted to laugh at his own joke, even though the direness of the situation wasn't funny at all.

"What can I do to help?"

Yuno sat down beside Asta. He felt the dip of the bed rather than seeing it, since his hands were still on his face. He dropped his hands slowly on his thigh before he looked upward at Yuno who wasn't looking at him, but gazing at the sky that was visible from the window of his room instead.

"I… I really don't know, Yuno." Asta sighed, not even having any power left to resist the urge to drop his head on Yuno's shoulder. He was so, so grateful that Yuno wasn't affected by the cursed pheromone. He really didn't know what would happen if even Yuno was affected. "Stay here, I guess. Just… be you and stay beside me," he closed his eyes, sighing deeply, resting for a bit. He was mentally exhausted after all the forced affection, the confusion and the mess.

Yuno was silent for a moment before Asta felt a touch on his head. Yuno was caressing his hair gently. "Okay," he said slowly and Asta couldn't help smiling at how nice this felt.

Asta could get used to this. Yuno being affectionate with him felt very comfortable. Yuno was usually aloof and immensely reserved in human contact, but sometimes, sometimes he could be so kind and compassionate as well, luckily, not overbearingly so, but in his silent, gentle way to make Asta feel better whenever he was upset. Yuno was doing it now, letting Asta do as much body contact as he desired to reassure him, and it was incredibly thoughtful.

Asta didn't know how long he was resting on Yuno's shoulder, but when he blinked open his eyes, it was already dark on the outside. "Oh, no. Did I sleep on you? Sorry, Yuno," he pulled back and looked upward at Yuno who only shrugged slightly, moved to stand up and pulled off his formal guild robe to hang on the hanger once again.

"Do you want to stay for the night?" Yuno asked, already walking to his closet to pull some clean clothes for Asta to change if he decided to stay.

"Yes, I can't exactly walk outside if people are still under influence of the pheromone," Asta sighed. He should check in to his own guild to inform that he was alright, but he didn't know what they would do if they knew Asta wouldn't be back to the Black Bull Guild Head Quarter and instead would be staying with Yuno for the night. He didn't want them to storm the Golden Dawn Guild in the name of retrieving Asta back. "Where is Sylph?" he looked around then, looking for the small Wind Spirit, but the little girl wasn't around.

"Sent her back to the Grimoire," Yuno answered nonchalantly. Asta blinked, rather skeptical. It was unusual for the spirit to leave Yuno's side, even by command.

"It's probably for the best if you lay low for a while," Yuno said then, changing the topic while handing him the black night shirt.

"Yea," Asta looked at the shirt for two seconds before he looked upward at Yuno again. "Do you own any other color beside black?"

"What, you don't like black? Aren't you in Black Bull, Asta? Your formal dress-robe is in black color as well," Yuno smirked and Asta rolled his eyes at him.

"Not that. It's just… a lighter color will be nice to change the mood and you only seem to have dark color in nature. Black, distressing black, darker than black," Asta muttered as he disrobed his own formal Black Bull Guild coat before he undressed his undergarment as well.

Yuno coughed lightly and Asta looked up at him, finding Yuno looking the other way. His expression looked rather difficult, soft hues dusting his cheeks. "You shouldn't be so defenseless just because I'm not affected by your pheromone," he said, turning his back to Asta.

"Yuno?" Asta was puzzled.

"I think… what this pheromone does to people affects individual differently," Yuno said while he himself changed his attire to a night shirt.

"Oh, I think so too!" Asta said, remembering his interaction with William. "Your captain just wanted a hug when he was affected earlier," he elaborated and Yuno turned back to face him with a raised eyebrow.

"My captain?"

"Yes, William said that… I smelled like home to him and he was distressed when he thought I was leaving him. It was rather weird. I thought he was a very calm person at first, rather odd with his catchy mask, but…" Asta smiled softly as he remembered how gentle yet firm William's hold on his body. "I think… he's secretly a very soft and kind soul."

"William?" Yuno repeated the name while frowning.

"Yea, William Vangeance. Your captain, the Masked Captain? He told me to call him William," Asta nodded, tilting his head while smiling softly.

"You… you like him." Yuno's voice was weird. It wasn't exactly a question the way his tone went, but there was a faint tremor in it and Asta looked upward once again to look at his expression more closely, which didn't help him understand much, because Yuno's expression was blank. And somehow he felt a need to clarify his statement just then.

"I don't dislike him," Asta stated firmly. "He's a respectable person, just like Captain Yami," he grinned. "You alright, there, Yuno? You seem rather shaken just now," and that was rather alarming. It would take big thing to rattle Yuno's composure after all.

"I see…" Yuno let out a sigh, seeming relieved then, before he looked upward at Asta again and now his expression looked determined. "Yes, I am alright." He finished dressing up and walked back to the bed, before he sat beside Asta once more. "So… about this pheromone thing, the guy that did it said that you could get rid of it faster if you… do what it told your body to do, right?"

"You mean… mating?" Asta grimaced, feeling extra weird saying it like that. It wasn't like human had mating seasons like animals after all.

Yuno coughed once. "Yes, that."

"But, Yuno… we've never been taught about that kind of thing before we left the orphanage," Asta sweated slightly, blushing and fidgeting. "Even though I wanted to do it, which I don't by the way, I wouldn't know how to start…"

"There is… a book about that," Yuno said, looking the other way again as Asta perked up, looking at Yuno's slightly flushed cheeks with wonder.

"Did you—?"

"It was purely for knowledge!" Yuno sounded defensive while looking flustered now and he looked very endearing right then.

"Really?" Asta smirked, feeling mischievous that he could tease Yuno about his curiosity in things that adult men did to procreate.

Yuno scowled at Asta in retaliation. "If you don't want my help then—"

"Whoa, whoa! I do! Please don't abandon me, Yuno!" Asta felt contrite that he went too far with his joke. He wouldn't know what to do if Yuno kicked him out of the room now. He wasn't sure he could defend himself from the extremely amorous people outside that was after his body.

"So… you should read the book and you can decide what you want to do after reading it," Yuno said as he stood up and fetched the book from the collection of books on the bookshelf beside the bed.

"Where did you get the book, Yuno?" Asta accepted the discrete looking book in brown leather-bound cover, no tittle, before he opened it and promptly went red in the face after seeing some demonstrative pictures on it. He couldn't believe people actually read this kind of book. This was really embarrassing even though it was quite informative.

"Captain Vangeance gave it to me. I don't really care about this kind of thing, but he insisted I read it for informative and knowledge purpose, just in case, he said. He seems to learn from experience that men need to know this kind of things," Yuno sat back down beside Asta, looking upward at the ceiling, probably still trying to control his discomfort.

"But really, I am so glad that you're the usual, normal Yuno. I'd feel devastated if I couldn't see you as well because you were affected by the pheromone," Asta chuckled while reading some technicalities about making love that had to be done to satisfy your partner. It was really awkward and he needed the distraction so he wouldn't blush like a boiled lobster.

"Pheromone or not, it won't change what I feel for you, Asta," Yuno said, not even looking at Asta direction when Asta looked upward from the book, to see Yuno's expression. The dark haired teen looked rather melancholy then.

"Yes. You're always be my best friend and rival too, Yuno," Asta smiled, feeling warm that he could always trust Yuno to be his brother no matter what.

Yuno was silent again then. Both of them were. Asta was back to reading while Yuno seemed to contemplate something.

"It won't make me love you more than I already do."

It was a soft whisper and Yuno probably didn't intend for Asta to hear that, but he did. Oh, Asta did. He almost dropped the book he was reading, but he clenched the book harder to prevent that, to stifle his shock and reaction so as not to alarm Yuno that he had heard his words.

Asta hid his face with the book, his cheeks heating and his heartbeat racing as he mulled about Yuno's soft confession. He didn't hear Yuno wrong, did he? Yuno just said that he had already loved Asta so much that even pheromone couldn't increase the level of his love toward him.

But… Asta could understand what Yuno felt though. If their position was reversed, Asta couldn't imagine that there was a feeling of affection or love that could compare for what he felt for Yuno right now. He meant, they were already in each other orbit since they were born. They were already together then, he couldn't imagine a world without Yuno in it.

Yuno was everything for Asta.

Best friend.

Rival.

Brother.

And so much more…

Lover?

Asta wasn't sure about the last one. He had never thought about other people or imagined about them as a lover. Even when he decided he would marry Sister Lily, he had never imagined how she would be as his lover. She was a mother figure and she was the epitome of perfect woman who every guy should want to marry, but imagining her as a lover… Asta wouldn't dare.

And now… what about Yuno? How would he be as a lover? Probably nothing would really change. They would still bicker and banter with each other, still compete to become the Magic Emperor, still fight side by side to defend their kingdom from the enemies, and still push each other buttons and drive each other crazy, but then Yuno would look at him fondly and affectionately, and at the end of the day, they would hug and kiss and—

Asta flushed harder at the thought of being intimate with his rival and best friend. But he could imagine that life as his. He could live that kind of life.

Asta peered at Yuno once again from behind the book, looking at his calm and beautiful face. Dang. He really was handsome. Asta stared at the book he was reading for a moment before making a decision. He closed the book and put it down and Yuno turned to look at him curiously.

"You're done reading?"

Asta nodded. "I only half understand what's being written on the book," he smiled sheepishly and saw Yuno roll his eyes at him. "Would you teach me the rest?" he asked slowly, tentatively, looking at Yuno's expression more closely to detect the hint of rejection.

Yuno widened his eyes slightly then, seemingly stunned. "What?" there was a hint of disbelief in his tone and Asta suddenly felt anxious if he had interpreted his words wrong after all. Maybe Yuno's love for him wasn't that kind of love.

"I… I think, I'd rather do this with someone I trust," Asta said, looking down slightly before looking upward at Yuno again. "But, if you're not up to it, it's al—"

Asta blinked in surprised when he was suddenly enveloped in a hug. "I am. Up to it, I mean," Yuno sounded rather edgy. "So don't tell me you'd rather do it with someone else. That'd be… that'd be distressing for me, Asta…!"

"Yuno…" Asta hugged him back slowly, rather dumbfounded.

"Sorry… I'm sorry. Maybe I'm affected by that pheromone after all," Yuno chuckled, but his voice sounded desperate and he tightened his hold on Asta. "I'd always been able to hold myself back when it's about loving you. It was harder this past year because of stupid hormone teenager, but I could hold back. I swear I could always hold back. But today…! After seeing those marks on your neck, I…!"

Yuno's body was quivering, his arms and hands clutching harder at the shirt on Asta's back. "I was so furious that someone would force themselves on you, even though I already promised myself that this time… this time I was going to protect you…!"

"Hey, hey," Asta tightened his embrace on Yuno, holding him as firmly, reassuringly, "Yuno, I am alright, nothing really happened, I swear. And you did protect me earlier, right? You kept me safe with your magic," he closed his eyes and sink his face on Yuno's shoulder. "I am safe with you, that's why it's alright if we do this. We keep each other safe, right?"

"Are you sure you're really okay with this?" Yuno asked a few moments later, after he seemed able to collect himself.

"Yes," Asta said, stroking Yuno's back softly.

"What about Sister Lily?" Yuno asked again, his voice lowering.

"Sister Lily is a Nun. She can't marry," Asta repeated what everyone had told him when he declared his intention to marry her again and again tirelessly.

"That never made you give up before," Yuno pulled back slightly, looking at Asta while rising one of his eyebrows.

"She's a safe woman to love," Asta answered honestly. "Deep down, I realize she will never say yes, that's why I think I could safely love her, always, always," he looked upward at Yuno's golden eyes softly. "But you… I don't know how to categorize this feeling I have for you, Yuno," he dropped his gaze slightly on Yuno's thin lips. "Sometimes, you drive me absolutely crazy, but… I can't imagine living in a world without you in it, without you beside me."

"Asta…" Yuno dropped his gaze as well and he looked at Asta's lips briefly before his gaze was back to Asta's eyes.

"We've been together since we're babies… I am already yours even before I realize we could be more," Asta leaned his face upward at Yuno and Yuno leaned his down into him. "I don't plan to change that anytime soon," he whispered when Yuno's lips collided with his, tenderly at first before the pressure increased steadily until it became a real kiss, a lovers' kiss.

Yuno's lips were soft, pliable, it felt good to kiss him like this. It last a minute or three before they pulled back and Yuno dropped his red face on Asta's shoulder as well. "I love you, Asta. I really, really love you."

"Me too," Asta said softly on Yuno's ear and he pulled back before he surged and kissed Asta once more.

And this time, Yuno didn't stop kissing him while he was pushing Asta's willing body to lay down on his bed, and then proceeded to touch his bare skin under his night shirt, caressing and worshiping his body until Asta moaned and groaned in pleasure, until heat and lust and most importantly, love, consumed them completely.

~ Yuno x Asta ~

Asta woke up the next morning feeling refreshed.

He cataloged what he could feel of his body. There was aches in places and muscles that weren't usually used, but it was a good ache. It was like the ache after a nice workout and it felt enriching.

He turned his body and face around slightly and met Yuno's sleeping face. Yuno was sound asleep, probably still tired because he didn't stir at all despite Asta lightly wiggling in his embrace, his right hand draped loosely on Asta's waist, his left arm being a pillow of Asta's head. His breath was calm and steady and when Asta remembered how single-mindedly focused Yuno's attention on him last night was, Asta couldn't help feeling warm and content in snuggling Yuno closer.

This felt okay. More than okay, this felt really good. Being with Yuno this way felt so right.

Asta's left hand moved to touch Yuno's face, caressing his pale cheek and sweeping some of his bangs aside so he could see Yuno's still closed eyes. His eyelashes were so long. Yuno was so pretty like this. Asta had always noticed how good-looking Yuno was and the girls at Hage Village always looked at Yuno with hearts in their eyes despite Yuno never paying any thought to them. Those girls always turned their nasty glares at Asta because he was the one getting Yuno's attention all the time, but he couldn't even feeling resentment toward Yuno because he felt peculiar satisfaction whenever he thought that he was Yuno's number one.

At first Asta assumed it was a weird thought to have because he was supposed to be jealous of Yuno for getting all the girls' attention, but now he understood why he never got jealous. He always had the confidence that Yuno would not welcome their affection, because Asta had a subconscious conviction that Yuno would always choose Asta over anyone or anything.

It was the same for Asta though. He would always choose Yuno first for everything. He just hadn't realized at the time that he could choose Yuno to hold his body and heart as well as to hold their dreams and ambitions together.

Asta curled closer to Yuno, closing his eyes, intending to go back to sleep, but before he could, Yuno stirred lightly. His eyes blinked once and twice before meeting Asta's half lidded ones. "Hey," he greeted drowsily.

"Good morning, Yuno," Asta softly greeted back. "Go back to sleep. You seem to be still a bit tired," he continued, caressing Yuno's fluffy messy black hair.

"No, I'm already well rested," Yuno moved slightly and yawned, letting go of Asta's waist to rub at his eyes lightly. "It's been awhile since I've had such good night sleep." He smiled then, gazing at Asta fondly. "Thank you, Asta."

Asta blushed slightly before he chuckled. "That was supposed to be my word, Yuno," he got up to sit, causing the sheet to cascade down, pooling on his laps, revealing his bare chest and stomach and this time it was Yuno who flushed slightly, probably witnessing the evidence of his possessive markings of Asta's body last night.

"Sorry for getting carried away," Yuno drooped slightly, his hand moved to touch the bruise on Asta's hip, the place Yuno had gripped hard last night to steady Asta's movement because he couldn't stop squirming.

Asta's face got hotter at that. "Uhm, well… If I recalled alright, we were both kind of to be blamed for that," he muttered softly, his left hand covering Yuno's on his hip. He looked upward slightly at Yuno's flushed face as well. They looked at each other for a few moments in silence before both of them grinned, unable to help themselves and then Asta started to chuckle before Yuno joined him in a fit of laughter.

"Oh, man…! I still can't believe we actually did it…!" Asta was almost in tears as he laughed, feeling very funny and happy for some reason. It wasn't at all awkward. It was such exhilarating experience. He just loved Yuno so much right now.

"There…-chuckles- there were so many trials and errors in there… fitting firs time experience…!" Yuno chuckled helplessly as he gathered Asta into his embrace again, hugging him tightly, still smiling as he kissed Asta shoulder. "I'm glad it's you, Asta… I'm really, really glad…" he said softly then and Asta hugged him back tightly.

"Yeah…" Asta still chuckled for a few moments before he sighed deeply, contently. "How are you feeling now, by the way? Still inclined to jump me for some more actions?" he asked afterward, patting Yuno's back lightly.

"That's a very dumb question, Asta. You think I'll be satisfied with just jumping you once?" Yuno bit Asta's ear and Asta yelped in shock and surprised laugh at that.

"Alright, Mr. Casanova, that's not what I mean!" Asta slapped Yuno's side playfully, and Yuno seemed to feel ticklish there because he gasped and pulled back, looking at Asta in a mix of fondness and exasperation.

"I'm under the curse of pheromone, remember? Do you still feel the 'urge to mate me this instant' or not?" Asta asked again and Yuno seemed to think carefully about that. "Well?" After a minute, Asta was getting impatient for his answer.

Yuno shrugged. "Making me your point of reference will be inaccurate, don't you think? Since even without the pheromone, I will still want to sleep with you," he said, making Asta flush again.

"Well, then we have to see if the curse is lifted by testing it outside," Asta scratched his cheek nervously, thinking that it would be bad if even though he had slept with Yuno, the pheromone was still in turmoil. He hoped he had stopped producing them excessively though. Yuno would get mad if someone else tried to jump Asta.

"I'm coming with you," Yuno said, looking serious and determined.

~ Yuno x Asta ~

Contradicting the popular belief, despite their status of… whatever they were after they had intercourse with each other, Yuno and Asta didn't hold hands.

It wasn't because they didn't want to, but it was just weird after both he and Yuno had graduated from that phase when they turned thirteen. In private, maybe they could try again, but outside… they were not that comfortable with that level of PDA.

However, even though they were not holding hands when they were walking outside together, Yuno walked much closer to Asta, his arm almost brushing Asta's shoulder and it was already intimate enough to read that they were much closer as relationship went.

"Okay, here they are," Asta whispered as they both spotted some Golden Dawn Magic Knights on the corridor. Asta braced himself as soon as he made eye contact with those guys, but they just widened their eyes a bit before they moved their gaze from Asta to Yuno who stared at them with cold glare.

"Uh, g-good morning, Yuno-san," they greeted Yuno and then promptly blushed as they turned to face Asta. "Good morning, Asta from Black Bull Guild," they greeted Asta as well, strangely with full tittle, and their awkwardness was so palpable to cut with imaginary scissors.

"Good morning, Golden Dawn guys," Asta greeted back, not bothering to address them individually since he didn't know their names. "Are you alright? You seem feverish," Asta noted at their red faces, and they seemed to blush harder.

"Er…" they looked at each other for a moment before they suddenly bowed to him. "We're sorry for our yesterday inappropriate behavior!"

Asta blinked once, bewildered, and Yuno huffed with satisfaction.

~ Yuno x Asta ~

Yeah, well… there were more.

Everyone that had felt that they had done something inappropriate to Asta had apologized to him, in person, even Langris, and he was a prideful little shit while apologizing, claiming it was Asta's own fault for getting cursed in the first place, but he had behaved inappropriately and he'd like them to forget that it had happened in the first place and he wasn't above apologizing if it was what it took for him to forget about his school-girl like behavior when he was under the influence.

And there was Mimosa who blushed furiously while apologizing for her un-lady-like conduct and Klaus almost went into dogeza for being so remorseful for touching Asta without consent in public.

There was also formal apology in letters being announced publicly at the castle ground from the Magic Emperor and many, many guards and magic knights alike to Asta after he was summoned to the castle. Leopold and Riil also apologized in person, while blushing from head to toe remembering what they had said to Asta the previous day.

"It was… untactful," Leopold said, scratching his cheek awkwardly, still flushing. "But there was no lie in the words itself," he murmured afterward, a bit wistfully and Asta raised his eyebrow at him, slightly confused with what Leopold meant.

However then, Yuno narrowed his gaze at Leopold and the long, red haired boy seemed to realize that he was being glared at by Asta's best friend and rival and he narrowed his eyes back at Yuno for some reason, causing electricity to crackle between them. They seemed to communicate—or was that called warring (?)—with each other with their eyes before Asta was pulled aside to have some of Blue Rose girls, along with their scowling captain, Charlot Roselei, apologize to him for disrespecting him and themselves, for actually flirting with him so openly.

Asta didn't know if he was being mocked sarcastically or if they were being honestly genuine with their opinion of the matter, but he assumed they were sincere in their apology.

And there was the matter of Asta's guild.

Yami refused to apologize on principle despite muttering to himself that he was only interested in women and not a child (he seemed to be pretty in shock of his own conduct and still wasn't recovered from the blow of almost laying his hands on his subordinate) and Noelle just plain refused to see him because she was mightily embarrassed. Vanessa, Luck and Magna seemed contrite enough as they apologized and Gauche suspiciously seemed rueful, but he kept his distance as he muttered his apology, Gordon mumbled incoherently while looking at Asta like a kicked puppy and Asta understood that he was very much regretting his action and Grey had to turned herself into Asta so she could apologize without stuttering messily and fainting again like if she apologized in her own form.

Charmy offered him a year-worth food as an apology for almost eating him, probably figuratively, but you never knew with Charmy. She could even try to eat Asta literally if she was up to it. Asta chuckled as he declined the heart-full offer. He was happy enough with what Charmy shared to him and their guild mates in regular basis.

Then there was Finral who had almost succeeded in kissing Asta. He was down on the corner of the common room, being gloomy and feeling a bit sorry for himself and immensely repentant for getting his paw on Asta, his most junior –and most inexperienced in love department— member of the team, and still got rejected in the end and it was really pathetic of him after all.

Asta's sweat dropped as Finral apologized like a zombie and he chuckled as he moved to hug Finral and said he was flattered that Finral liked him and felt honored even though he couldn't reciprocate the sentiment. "If I didn't have Yuno, I might say yes to that date," he whispered before he pulled back and grinned at Finral. His senior just blinked once before he looked at Asta in stunned silence.

Asta went back to Golden Dawn Guild in the evening to talk to Yuno and snuggle with him again, but before he went to Yuno's room he stopped by William Vangeance throne room. He didn't know if that was William's personal quarter, but he seemed to be there all the time when he wasn't on mission or on meeting, so Asta knocked on the door twice before he was let in by the voice giving him permission from the inside.

Asta entered the room and closed the door and William wasn't seated on the throne this time. He was sat on conference chair just at the side of the throne and his eyes widened slightly as he saw Asta there.

They were silent for a moment, just locking eyes and there seemed to be invisible tension in the air around them before Asta blinked once, severing their connection as he grinned. "I come to fulfill my promise!" He said cheerily and William seemed to be bemused for a second before his eyes widened a fraction, seeming to remember what Asta was talking about.

"I was… under the influence," William said, sounding a tad hesitant. "I apologize for saying and behaving inappropriately around you yesterday."

"I am not sorry," Asta countered, striding toward the still seated William. He stopped in front of him then, offering both his arms and hands, reaching out to the masked man before enveloping William in a hug despite the obvious surprise from the Golden Dawn Guild Captain. "It was a nice Hug, Captain Vangeance, and I just want to return the favor." Asta's grin widened then, satisfied and content while hugging the older man tightly.

It took William two cycles of inhales and exhales before he returned the hug and it was as firm as the one he gave Asta yesterday, less desperate and more… relieved. "Thank you," William whispered and he seemed to close his eyes as the line of tenseness in his body eased prominently until he was boneless in Asta's hold.

"You're welcome anytime you need more hugs," Asta patted and stroked William's back lightly, indulgently. "Just call me and I'll hug you anytime you want," he grinned once more.

"Okay," William sighed deeply.

"Just don't ask in front of Yuno, though," Asta remembered to give the warning.

William blinked once and pulled back slightly, looking at Asta in puzzlement. "Why?"

Asta laughed mirthfully. "Because his jealousy knows no bound and no matter if you're his captain, he will still be a pain in your behind if he knows that you're getting hugs from me."

William blinked twice before he chuckled as well, seeming to understand what Asta meant by being a pain in his behind was.

"I'll heed your warning then," he continued chuckling afterwards.

~ End~

Epilog…

"So… when are you going to tell me that you're snuggling with my captain behind my back?" Yuno asked, deadpanned.

Asta winced. "It… it's not in the capacity of what you think," Asta said, scratching his cheek and looking the other way sheepishly.

"Asta?" Yuno's eyes narrowed.

"He needs it, Yuno. Have you looked at his eyes? He looks like a lonely kicked puppy!" Asta said, a bit frantically and wildly. "Who can't resist that level of cuteness?!"

"Did you just call Captain Vangeance a puppy?" Yuno looked askance, as if he had trouble to decide whether he wanted to laugh at the hilarity or feel offended that the most respected captain of the most high ranked guild of Golden Dawn was compared to a puppy, a cute one nonetheless.

"The point is, he could use a friend," Asta said, almost laughing himself at the thought of what the captain would do if he heard their conversation right now. He couldn't imagine William's angry face. He never seemed to have an angry face after all. "He's a good person, and he's terribly lonesome. Do you know when he last got a hug before?"

"One hour and twelve minutes ago?" Yuno raised his eyebrow at Asta and Asta snorted.

"Before me, Yuno," Asta huffed and Yuno shrugged. "When he was 10 year old. It was Mahou-tei that hugged him," Asta said and Yuno raised both eyebrows now.

"And he was… what, twenty five, now? He asked and Asta nodded gravely. "Well…" Now Yuno just looked uncomfortable. "I guess I can share your hugs with him once in a while…" he muttered softly before reaching for Asta and he came willingly to cuddle Yuno immediately.

"Just once in a while?" Asta grinned as Yuno's cheeks pinked slightly.

"Once in a while is enough," Yuno grumbled and held Asta's body possessively.

"As you wish," Asta smiled and gave Yuno a peck on his lips. Yuno blinked once in surprise before his expression turned slightly predatory and then he moved to give Asta a real kiss.

And that was that.

End of The Course of True Love is Never Smooth (Until It is)

A/N: Have I told you that it'd become a monster one-shot? I believe I have. Ugh. There might have been tons of mistakes there in the body. It got annoying to spell check and grammar-check the whole thing. I hope someone will offer their service to beta-read this. Anyway… yeah, that's a fluffy ending at the end. I'm just such a sucker for fluff.

And no, this is not Vangeance/Asta despite their significant scenes. It could be developed more, but meh, I got lazy there at the end. Finral/Asta is my guilty pleasure since Finral is just so good despite his underestimated role. I love Finral since he's such a good bro.

Anyone interested in Finral/Langris brother-ship (or incest?) I am. No story in that tag yet, but it won't be difficult to write after seeing the latest episode (109). Alright, comments and critiques are very welcome, do your best so I can improve my writing!