A/N: I hope you like it :)

Noelle looked around the small clearing. Asta and her were on a joined mission with Yuno, Klaus and Mimosa to explore another dungeon. Joined missions between the Golden Dawn and the Black Bulls were rare, but seeing that they had worked so well together the last time the magic emperor had chosen this constellation. Normally Noelle wouldn't mind working with her cousin and the two other Golden Dawns, but Mimosa hadn't stopped talking to Asta since they had decided to make up camp in the clearing for the night. Annoyed she looked away from them and made her way into the forest. However not without noticing how close they were standing together. Why should she care if Mimosa was all over Asta? It was not like it bothered her.

A few feet into the forest she was brought out of her thoughts when she saw Yuno train. His wind magic was impressive and the fact that he owned a four leafed clover grimoire made it even more obvious how strong his mana was. A few days ago she had read an interesting fact about wind magic and a thought had crossed her mind after that. Maybe this was her chance to ask him. She had to swallow her pride when she approached him, but she did it none the less. Without so much as a greeting she spoke up.

"As a wind mage you can feel the mana flow better than anyone else, right?" It wasn't easy for Noelle to admit a weakness, but if she wanted to get stronger she need to find out the reason for her lack of control. Yuno being a wind mage could help her with that, so taking a deep breath she spoke up again. "I have problems with my magic control, so can you check my mana flow and tell me if something is wrong with it?"

"I can try it, but I have to stand close to you. Is that alright?"

Noelle was surprised by his question. For a commoner he had great manners and he didn't even mock her for her lacking control of her magic. Whoever raised Asta and Yuno really taught them well. To be completely honest she was a little nervous to be so close to a guy, but if he could help her with her mana flow she was willing to push her shyness to the side. After his words she doubted that he would be disrespectful of her so she nodded.

Having her confirmation she felt Yuno move closer to her until he stood directly behind her.

"You're very tense. I need you to relax so I can feel your normal mana flow." Yuno said after a few seconds.

Noelle took a deep breath and tried to calm down. It was the first time that she was so close to a guy and despite that she saw Yuno as nothing more than a possible friend she was nervous. Determined to relax she didn't even flinch when she felt Yuno touch her arms and pull them a little away from her sides. Yuno was like a brother to Asta and she trusted Asta, so now she had to trust Yuno. In reaction to her finally relaxing she felt Yuno's mana flame up. He had clearly started to scan her mana flow. Little did the two know that Yuno's help looked completely different from a certain guy's point of view.

Asta was walking into the forest after Yuno and Noelle had left. For a while Mimosa had talked to him, but after some time he wanted to see where Noelle had walked off to. It didn't take him long to find her, but what surprised him was that she wasn't alone. She was talking to Yuno and was that a blush he could see on her cheeks? Something about seeing her look so shyly at another guy, even if it was just Yuno, didn't sit well with Asta.

When Yuno moved behind Noelle a few seconds after their brief conversation and whispered something to her before touching her arms, Asta felt his anger rise. If he had to describe the feeling he got it wasn't just anger. It was also the same feeling he had experienced when he had realized that he didn't have mana while everyone else had. He was fine with not having mana now, but back then he had been jealous. However jealousy was surely not what he was feeling right now, was it?

Shaking his head to get rid of that thought he watched closely how Yuno lay his hands on Noelle's shoulders and turned her around so she was facing him. There was still a blush on her face while the two talked and the way her eyes lighted up at whatever Yuno was saying to her, made Asta clench his fists in anger. It was rare to see Noelle so happy and normally he was the one who made her smile. He had never thought much about it, but he wanted to be the only one who was at the receiving end of one of her special smiles. When she smiled her whole face light up and her eyes shone extra brightly. Having Yuno see her like this felt wrong to Asta.

The moment Noelle was out of sight Asta stepped away from the tree that had been hiding his presence.

"What were you doing with Noelle?" His voice held barely restrained anger. He didn't understand why he was feeling this way, but he always let his emotions out when he was feelings them and this time wasn't any different.

"Why would you care?" Yuno asked calmly.

"Just answer me or do you want to fight?"

"You don't need to be jealous, I just helped her with her mana flow." Yuno smirked the slightest bit. He had a suspicion that his longtime rival had a soft spot for the young royal and his behavior just now proved it.

"I'm not jealous." Asta protest, but a light blush was visible on his cheeks.

"Sure you aren't." Yuno's smirk widened. "She went off to train, just so you know."

Ignoring the mocking tone in his brother's voice Asta went after Noelle. It didn't take him long to find her attacking a tree with her water magic.

"You're not using your wand?" Asta asked her surprised when he approached her.

"I want to try it. Yuno told me that my mana is connected to my emotions. Apparently self-doubt is a reason for mana to flow in weird patterns, not that I have any of that, because I'm a royal. I just need to concentrate more and it works already better." With that she released another attack which only missed the tree by a bit. "See. I almost hit it without using my wand."

To Asta she seemed so happy, which he normally would be all for, but that it was because of Yuno annoyed him more than he would like to admit. Before he could stop himself he said what was really on his mind.

"Do you like Yuno?"

"You were talking to Mimosa the whole evening, so why would you care if I was with Yuno. Do you like her?"

Asta didn't understand why she was bringing this up. Why was she asking about Mimosa? They were talking about her and Yuno after all. Despite his confusion he answered none the less.

"I don't like her. I really like you." The words were out before he could stop them, but then again he realized that it was the truth. He really liked Noelle. His heart had spoken and not his mind, but when had he ever listened to his mind before his heart. Stepping closer to her he took both of her hands into his, standing just as close to her as Yuno had. "I really do like you."

"Despite that you're a commoner and I'm royalty, I guess I can give you a chance." No matter how confident her words sounded Asta could hear the wavering of her voice and see the blush on her face. Deep down she was shy, but she always hid it behind her attitude, not that he really cared about that. He liked her just the way she was and as long as she was blushing only for him he was happy.

"Now that we made that clear, let's go back to the camp. I can smell that Klaus is cooking something delicious." With that he let go of one of her hands and pulled her along with him to their camp.

Noelle's blush intensified when she looked at their joined hands. It was not the confession she had dreamed about, but this was still Asta and his words might be the closest he was for the moment to admitting his feelings. Lacing her hand tighter with his she smiled. They had time to explore their feelings for each other, for now she was happy that he really liked her.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think :)